Bilingual search capability

I stumbled upon this website that lets you search chinese news, by inputting english. I tried out a couple of phrases and found that the pages it retreived for me were fairly relevant. Just, F.Y.I.

http://search.adsotrans.com/

Shaq and China

NBA star Shaquille O'Neal signed a five-year contract on Monday with Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning. The new "Shaq Dunkman" line will be marketed exclusively in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Mr. Zhang Zhiyong CEO of Li Ning praised O'Neal as being a wonderful NBA player, with great character, passion and is a hero on the court. Zhang Zhiyong said these traits are not only the traits of Shaq but are reminiscent of oriental heroism and of the Li-Ning brand. Shaq was in Beijing for the announcement and is quoted as saying "I'm excited and happy to finally be able to work with the Li-Ning brand and look forward to a very bright future." I had no idea that Shaq had wanted a contract with a Chinese shoe company.

For those interested, Nike is the leading basketball shoe in China. Adidas is 2nd and Li Ning 3rd. Yao Ming sports Reeboks. Cavaliers' Damon Jones starred in commercials for Li-Ning and wore its shoes in NBA games. In an earlier post I talked about the NBA's growing relations with China, and the article I read today said that more than 1 billion Chinese watched NBA games last year. Basically, everyone in China watched one game.

Of Epic Perceptions

As you may have noticed from yesterdays post, I have been spending alot of time talking with Jot. He wrote some very kind words about me and "Me Thinks." I too have enjoyed our conversations, and hope that we will continue to maintain a dialogue. I myself am very interested in what is going on around the world, and find his posts enjoyable to read. For the convinience of my readers, I have just added a permanent link to "Of Epic Perceptions" on the right hand side of the screen. I would encourage you all to take the time to read a post or two.

D.A.

Chinese Censor Cartoons in Primetime

I know, the acronym for the title of this post is CCCP. How Ironic!!

China has found it in their best interest, and in the interest of their homegrown animators to ban the Simpsons and Mickey Mouse prime-time TV. The goverment cited worries of the effects of foreign cultures on Chinese Children. The prime time slot in China is between 1700 - 2000 (5pm-8pm for those of you who don't read military time). State run media has previously announced a ban on programs that mix animation and live characters. This means that the Chinese children will never find out who framed Roger Rabbit, or be taught by the show "Blue Clues." Maybe this is a good thing afterall, I mean I never liked those shows, and lets not even start on Barney or the Teletubbies. Hmm... so at least the communist party is showing that they have taste!

Okay, back to the story.

There are around 250 million children in China. That is just about the total population of America. Japanese anime dominates the market suppressing the local animation studios, but who can blame the Chinese children for liking the creative minds of the Japanese while the Chinese are putting out cartoons that either directly copy or parralel traditional stories such as Journey to the West, and the Adventures of the Monkey King. The main concern is the fact that it seems as if the Chinese government is forcing Chinese goods upon the people. The Chinese animation studios have yet to come up with something like Mickey Mouse or Pokeman. Though the announcement has yet to become official, this is not the first time that the Chinese have put limits of foreign shows. In 2000 limits were put upon Japanese cartoons, and in 2002 they mandated that 60% of the primetime cartoons had to be government endorsed propaganda in cartoon form. Oops! Did I write that, I meant, 60% of primetime cartoons had to be Chinese.

Todays Chinese Idiom (今天的成语)

This is for all you students out there who go to class and whatever the teachers says "goes in one ear and out the other"

囫囵吞枣 - húlúntūnzao3

囫囵 - húlún means whole。

Literal Meaning: to swallow dates whole. Once upon a time, a doctor said "eating dates is bad for one's teeth, but good for the spleen and stomach. On the contrary, eating pears is beneficial to one's teeth, but no good for the spleen and stomach." Upon hearing this, a person said "I sill swallow dates whole rather than chew them carefully, and will just chew pears and not swallow them. In this way, I will benefit from eating bothe dates and pears.

Metaphorical Meaning: to lap up information without analyzing or digesting it; to study without understanding.

Also Known As: 鹘囵吞枣 - húlúntūnzao3

Idiom usage: Derogatory

Example Sentences:

要真正学到知识, 必须认真请教, 深入思索, 决不能囫囵吞枣。yàozhēnzhèng xuédào zhīshi, bìxū rènzhēn qing3jiào, shēnrù sīsuo3, juébùnéng húlúntūnzao3。

古人读书,据说老师是不怎么讲解的,就让学生去念, 去背, 这种囫囵吞枣的方法不太好。gu3rén dúshū, jùshuō lao3shī shì bùzěnme jiang3jiě de, jiùràng xuéshēng qù niàn, qù bēi, zhèzhong3 húlúntūnzao3 de fāngfa3 bùtàihao3。

在教学中, 有的知识讲得太少, 不深不透, 学生还不懂呢, 就囫囵吞枣地过去了。zàijiàoxuézhōng, you3de zhīshi jiang3 de tàishao3, bù shēn bù tòu, xuéshēng hái bùdong3 ne, jiù húlúntūnzao3 de guòqule。