A Bridge to Chinese

Just another weblog about China and Chinese

 

This is the gate of Da Shun temple, not a huge one,  which do not match up with the big name of Shun. Shun, is one of the latest five emperors in China.

The Five Emperors in the legendary period are Shaohao (少昊) , Zhuanxu (颛顼) , Gaoxin (高辛) , Yao (尧) and Shun (舜) . Shaohao was the renowned leader among the Yi (夷) people in East China. The Yi people had officials for both industry and agriculture. In my opinion, these five emperors were not from legend, they existed around 5000 years ago.

Zhuanxu was a very wise and intelligent person. He respected the gods and taught his people. He appointed one official responsible for offering sacrifices for the gods in the heaven and one official in charge of the civil affairs.

Gaoxin was said to be a descendant of Huangdi. He enjoyed a high reputation among his tribal people and they were obedient to his administration.

Yao made great contributions to the lunar calendar.

Shun was physically and mentally gifted and he was a man with great virtues. He was selected by Yao as his successor.

 

The portecting of this temple was a historical story. Someone might take it as superstition, but actually, it was a beautiful Chinese legend.

The two dragon pillars, the spirit of the temple, have been pretecting the Da Shun Temple from the Xianfeng Emperor of Qing Dynasty till now.

The Xianfeng Emperor (Chinese: 咸豐帝);  pinyin: Xiánfēngdì; July 17, 1831 – August 22, 1861), born Yizhu, was the eighth Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.

 —–FROM Wiki

The temple was rebulit at the period of Xianfeng Emperor, and later in the time of Dongzhi Emperor. What remains now was from the Xianfeng Time. 

The Tongzhi Emperor (Chinese: 同治帝; pinyin: Tóngzhìdì, April 27, 1856–January 12, 1875), born Zaichun, was the ninth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1861 to 1875. His reign, which effectively lasted through his adolescence, was largely overshadowed by the rule of his mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi. Although he had little influence over court affairs, the time of his reign gave rise to what historians call the “Tongzhi Restoration” (Chinese: 同治中兴), an unsuccessful attempt to stabilize and modernize China.

——-FROM Wiki

The stories telling from the around 50 year-old door keeper there are amazing. With his high and low pitches of narrating, I could feel his deep love of this place, even with his heavy Shaoxing accent(Shaoxing is a city located in Zhejiang Province, China). Then I knew that his childhood was spent in this temple, his studying time was also there,  and how his teachers pretected the siprit, the two dragon pillars,  during the Chinese Culture Revolution, why the uneven ground at the right side of the main building cloudn’t grow anything, why the local people there admire Da Shun so much.  Unbelievable! You should go there, then each piece of wood, stone or brick there are vivid to you, and all the stories are not lengends any more.

 

Hesitation is an unwillingness to do something, or a delay in doing it, because you are uncertain, worried, or embarrassed about it.
           He promised there would be no more hesitations in pursuing reforms.
           …the prime minister’s hesitation to accept a ceasefire.

———from Collins Dictionary

The word “Hesitation” is the attitude of me right now. I hesitate to take the steps because I don’t know what is good for my future. Sore and swollen throat because of too much teaching and little sleep, I will lose my patience on teaching, oh no, that’s terrible!  Career? Publishing? Mandarin? Culture communication? Money? I need money or I need time!!!

To be or not to be!

Which road to go?

Never give up! Never give up what?

What are the important things in my life?

What should I do on the way to achieve my  goal?

Which are the branchs, which is the stem?

These are the  questions to ask myself.

Good everning, Mr. Toastmaster and my dear toastmasters fellows!

The Tiramisu meeting on that Sunday is a wonderful time in my life, even though the dessert tasted a little bit weird at the moment I put into my mouth. But when I stepped out to the balcony, the scenery I saw in my camera made that Sunday afternoon a forgettable time in my life. And it was  at that minute I decided the topic for my C2 speech.

Here are some pictures I took in that afternoon. You can have a look.

 

The old bulidings do not match up with the current envirnment and catch up with the modernzational pace, the only result is removing and replacing with the new bulidings. It might be a pity, if remove the typical traditional ones and rebuild with untypical modern ones. But actually, protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.

There are three points I would like to put forward to show why I say so. No comparison, no power of persuasion. Here, I will illustrate and present my viewpoint in comparing with old chinsese architecture and old western architecture.

First, the materials. Wood was mostly used in old Chinese architecture, whereas stone was the main material in old western architecture. These two different materials have the different characteristics. Stone will prevent the fire from burning down the whole building, but wood is easier to burn down if there is a fire. In the old chinese architecture, there are 80% or more buildings were built by wood. Do you know how many of them were ruined because of the fire? The figure is also around 80%. After hundrends and thousands years of exposing to wind and rain, the pine, fir and nanmu used in old traditional buildings might be eroded, weakedned or earier to burn. In Jan, 2003, the main building  of Wudang Shan mountain, Yuzhen Gong was destroyed in a fire. I cloudn’t believe when I heart the news from TV, so did the chinese people and the whole world. The pictures here I show you are like they were taken yesterday. The gorgeous taoist temple for memorizing Zhang Sanfeng built by Emperor Zhuli in Ming Dynasty disppeared in the history river.

Second, structure and layout. The structures of the old chinese architecture are not the same as the old western architecture. Oweing to “dougong”, the unique chinese interlinking wooden structure, the walls do not bear the weight. Normally, the hall of the old chinese buildings are very tall and huge. And to refurniture or reconstruct the building is not as easy as what does in the old western architecture. The layout of the old chinese architecture is influenced a lot from chinese painting, being in harmony with the enviroment and againt in full view. So not like western architecture, chinese architecture is always in a group of buildings, which makes the experts or government difficult to protect.

Third, and the most important point is people’s awareness on preservation of buildings of architectureal and historic interest. Without the awareness, the tragedies will happen again and again. The cause of the fire on Wudang shan Yuzhen Gong was not the natural factor, but man-made. The removing of some typical buildings, like Beijing Hutong, was not for the ordinary people’s better lives, but for few people’s the profits and interests. One day, I accompanied one of my students to Huqin Yutang Herbal Medicine Museum. When I explained the beautiful wall window to him, he couldn’t help asking me that why you Chinese don’t keep the origial out-looking of the buildings. In Italy, there is a law that the exterior of all the old buildings should be remained as what it was before. I kept silence, not because in china we don’t have this law, but because I don’t know how to answer the question.

Those are my viewpiont of protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.   

Thanks for your time, everybody. And thanks Mr. Toastmaster!

Two days ago,  I had my plan to Shanghai. This time was not for prescribing herb medicine, but for entering into Shanghai Putong Toastmasters Club’s meeting and a 2nd anniversary party held by Lighthouse Toastmasters Club.

A round-trip in one day to Shanghai is a little bit tired. In the morning, I still thought over and over again whether I should come to or not. And finally, I decided to go,  however, done is better than said. Different person has his or her own purpose, not like the other two members of our West Lake Toastmasters Club, they came for meeting old friends and doing a social connecting work for club, mine was very simple, just opened my eyes and heart there, actuallay I am a new member of this almost 80 years old club, there’s a long way to go.

That was so lucky that I benefit a lot from everyone there. So it is worthwhile. The  humour, power and passion they have are the most incredible thing which touched me a lot. Each applauder I gave was from my deep heart. I appreciated all the speeches, no matter good or bad. I yelled for each performance they made, each was with their pains before they put on stage.  And I song with them, cause they are so sincere, then you couldn’t help singing with them. That was a problem, I should be very much careful about my throat because I spoke too much when I taught, so the less I use my throat the better,  but at that moment I forgot all about it.  I just threw myself  into the environment. And I believe everybody did, not only me. 

Someone have joined TMC for 6 years. Some might be a fresh man there, so am I. Some work as  leadership.  Everyone feel free to share his or her experience and experiences, no matter what English level you have, no matter how old you are, no matter which country you belong to, everyone is welcome here in TMC.

http://www.toastmasters.org/

http://hztmc.blog.sohu.com/

1. Put 了after the verb or adjective, indicate the completion of action:

a.Indicating the action is already completed:

大家都来了，我们开始上课吧。

他去中国学了两年汉语。

妹妹已经工作了。

这个问题我懂了。

我昨天买了一辆汽车

我们来得太晚了，电影已经开始了。

 

b.The action will be completed in the future:

飞机快起飞了。

（The plane will leave soon.）

*verbs: future tense, the first future action happens before the second future action:

我下了课就去吃饭。

他要是知道了这个消息，一定很高兴。

做完了作业，你就可以看电视。

 

c. Indicating the change of situation or state is already:

下雨了。

春天到了。

 

d. Indicating the change of situation or state will be completed:

天快黑了。

 

2.The new situation that would be happened in some conditions (Subjunctive)

你早来一天就见到他了。

（if you come 1day earlier, you would see him）

 

3. Suggestion: to do or not to do:

走了，走了，别等了。

好了，不要再说了！

 

4.In the Questions：

a. ……吗？/ ……没有？

(if you choose this format, you can still use “le” in the sentence)

他走了吗？

你昨天去看电影了没有？

 

b. 有没有…….

(if you choose this way, you can’t use “le”in the sentence)

他有没有走？他走了。(note: you still need “le” in the answer)

你昨天有没有看电影？没有。我没有看。（或者：我没看。）

 

V 没 V

他走没走？

你昨天看没看电影？

 

5. Negation （Don’t use “了” in the negation sentence.）

except: 1. “了”：duration of an action

except: 2 “了” in a suggestion: not to do something

A:你吃早饭了吗？

B:我吃了。我喝了两杯牛奶，还吃了一个面包。你呢？你吃早饭了没有？

A:我还没吃呢。今天早上起得太晚了。饿死我了。

B:不吃早饭很不好。你应该去吃点儿东西。

 

他昨天去锻炼了，可是我没有去。

 

6. 状态性谓语句和动态性谓语句中“了”的用法：

  With “be” or without “be”:

a. all the verbs except “be”

他昨天吃了3 个苹果： (Yesterday he ate 3 apples.)

 

b. with the verb “be” – never use “了”

现在很热。Now it’s hot.

昨天很热。Yesterday it was hot.

他现在是老师。Now he is teacher.

他去年是老师。Last year, he was teacher.

他现在在看报纸。Now he is reading newspaper.

他昨天下午3 点在看报纸。Yesterday afternoon at 3pm he was reading the newspaper.

 

7. Where to put “了”？

Examples:

a. Put “了” after the verb or adjective or noun:

他去中国学了两年汉语。

我昨天买了一辆汽车

我下了课就去吃饭。

他要是知道了这个消息，一定很高兴。

做完了作业，你就可以看电视。

他昨天吃了3 个苹果。

 

b. Put “了” at the end of the sentence: = Put“了” afterverb/adj/noun

电影开始了。

现在房子便宜了。

下雨了。

春天到了。

他不爱我了。

天快黑了。

 

c. Repeat“了” after the v./adj./n. and at the end of the sentence: = a perfect tense

他去了中国，学了两年汉语。He went to China,and learned Chinese for 2 years..

他去了中国了。He has gone to China.

(In this case, you may also add “已经” before the verb) 他已经去了中国了。

他学了2 年汉语了。He has already learned Chinesefor 2 years.

我昨天买了一辆汽车。 I bought a car yesterday.

我昨天买了一辆汽车了。I’ve bought a car.

他要是知道了这个消息，一定很高兴。He would be happy when he knows this news.

他(已经)知道了这个消息了。He’s already know this news

他昨天吃了3 个苹果。He ate 3 apples.

他昨天（已经）吃了3 个苹果了。He’s already eaten 3 apples.

我们到了汉城。We arrived Seoul.

我们（已经）到了汉城了。We’ve already arrived in Seoul.

 

Two past actions:

我下了课就去吃饭。After class I’ll go to eat.

我下了课就去吃饭了。After the class, I went toeat.

做完了作业，你就可以看电视。You may watch TV afteryou finish the homework.

做完了作业，他就看电视了。After he had done the homework, he watched TV.

 

8. Duration of an action:

In this case (duration of an action), “了” or without “了” at the end of sentence: BOTH ARE CORRECT.

a. perfect tense

这本书我看了3 天了。I’ve read the book for 3 days.

这本书我看了一个星期。 I’ve read the book for a week.

我有20 天没见到你了。I havn’t seen you since 20 days.

我来美国已经两年多了。I’ve been in US for more than 2 years.