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2011 Newsletters: October, 2011 issue |
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Chinese Language Programme November Newsletter Photo of the Month: A woman is reflected in a window of an office in the financial district of Pudong in Shanghai, on September 22, 2011.(Reuters/Carlos Barria). The photo is taken from The Atlantic's "In Focus" that features 49 spectacular photos taken recently in China. See all the photos, please click here.
Programme News ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registration for the Winter Term
Registration for the winter term has started. For registration info, please visit http://www.un.org/depts/OHRM/sds/lcp/UNLCP/english/registration.html. For our course schedule, please visit http://www.un.org/depts/OHRM/sds/lcp/UNLCP/docs/chinese_schedule.pdf. Our course offerings next term are exactly the same as this term except that we are not offering the calligraphy class because the instructor is returning to his university in China (we hope that he returns soon).
Students currently in a regular class do not need to register in person. They will be automatically advanced to the next level once they have passed the final exam. Students who wish to register for a special course need to register either in person or by form, even though they are currently enrolled in that special course this term.
End of the Fall Term
The fall term ends on 2 December. Final exams for regular classes will be held on Tuesday, 6 December and Wednesday, 7 December. Your instructor will inform you of the details.
iSeek Story on Our Programme
iSeek carried an article on 26 October entitled UN Chinese Language Programme Goes to China. If you missed it, click here if you have access to iSeek or here if you don't have access to iSeek.
Useful Resources
1. Chineseocw: Pinyin Training ( Pinyin chart with voice files embedded ) www.chineseocw.com has added a new download to its website. This PDF (with embedded voice files) is all you need to master pinyin pronunciation. They have the entire pinyin chart with sound files embedded in a PDF that may downloaded for free, at this time. They have included a section to clarify some of the confusing points, such as the pinyin spellings that have more than one pronunciation. (i.e. the "uan" in "guan" is different that the "uan" in "yuan" and a few others) All of the examples have voice recordings embedded in the examples.
They will be rearranging the website soon so it will be easier to navigate, for now this file is available for download on the "downloadable programs" page. Don't forget to have a look at the downloads available on the wiki-projects page.
2. Net site thrives providing goodwill language help
The banner on an Internet site set up by a Chinese man in Kyoto says "Learn a language the right way from native speakers," and takers are lining up worldwide.
The language-learning site, called Lang-8, allows registrants to post writings in a foreign language so other registrants well versed in that language can correct the grammar. At present, the site offers the service for free covering about 80 languages — not just English, French and Chinese but also minor languages such as Afrikaans — and has been accessed from 190 nations.
Click here to see details.
3. Film archive launches '100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies'
Heralding Hong Kong’s rich cinematic heritage and widespread global success while celebrating its own 10th anniversary, the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) has launched “100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies.” The new program will feature 100 films from 1916 to 1999, including silent movies, documentaries with historical significance, films of different political views, studio works and independent films, so viewers can experience some of the best movies made in Hong Kong.
Click here to see details.
4
http://chinesepod.com is probably the most popular podcasts on the internet for students of Chinese. You can hear over 20 podcasts from there by clicking here. New Publication China in Ten Words Written by Yu Hua Translated by Allan H. Barr Published by Pantheon Price: $25.95
Click here to see details.
Community
Events 1. The following two events are in China Institute (125 East 65th Street, NY, NY 10065: (1) Safeguarding Dunhuang: An Evening with Fan Jinshi, Director of the Dunhuang Academy and Mimi Gates, Chairman of the Dunhuang Foundation Join us for an inspiring evening with Fan Jinshi and Mimi Gates, steward and protectors of the World Heritage Site at Dunhuang. This remarkable Silk Road oasis, where hundreds of exquisitely decorated grottoes hold China’s most important repository of Buddhist art, is a splendid legacy for China and the world. Ms. Fan, Director of the Dunhuang Academy, has worked at the site for 48 years. An indomitable woman with a powerful vision for its future, she remains Dunhuang’s guiding force, conserving its ancient murals and sculptures for future generations at a time when surging tourism threatens to overwhelm the site. Joining in the conversation will be Mimi Gates, Director Emerita of the Seattle Museum who has formed the Dunhuang Foundation to preserve Dunhuang and raise awareness about its artistic treasures. Date: Friday, November 4, 2011 Time: 6:00 to 7:30 pm Admissions: $5. RSVP at http://chineselectures.org/110411.html This event is bilingual in English and Chinese with our Ben Wang Laoshi as the moderator. (2) HUANG RUO ON HIS NEW OPERATIC WORK: SUN YAT-SEN
Heralded by China Daily and selected by New York City Opera’s Vox: Contemporary American Opera Lab, Sun Yat-sen is a grand opera in three acts about Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the founding father of modern China, in the tumultuous time of the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the last of the Chinese imperial dynasty. More than just a work on the revolutionary movement itself, the opera also deals with the personal journeys and sacrifices that Dr. Sun and his compatriots had to make in their efforts to reach their goals for nationhood. Commissioned by Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong government to celebrate the 100th- year-anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, this two- hour work is being developed by composer Huang Ruo and librettist Candice Chong in both English and Mandarin. It will be orchestrated for both Western- style orchestras, supplemented by traditional Chinese instruments (Sheng, Chinese mouth-organ; Zheng, Chinese zither; and Pipa, Chinese lute) and for Chinese orchestras featuring Chinese instruments only. Acclaimed composer Huang Ruo was awarded First Place by the prestigious Luxembourg International Composition Prize in 2008 and has been cited by the New Yorker as “one of the most intriguing of the new crop of Asian-American composers.”
Date: Thursday, November 17
Time: 6:30-8:00 pm
$10 member / $15 non-member
2. The Art of Dissent in 17th-Century China — Masterpieces of Ming Loyalist Art from the Chih Lo Lou Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Date: September 07, 2011–January 2, 2011Location: Galleries 210-216 The collapse of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and subsequent conquest of China by semi-nomadic Manchu tribesmen from northeast of the Great Wall comprised some of the most traumatic events in Chinese history. This wrenching era also spurred an enormous outpouring of creative energy as many former Ming subjects turned to the arts to express their loyalty to the noble but doomed cause of Ming restoration and to assert their defiance and moral virtue. Drawn from one of the finest and most comprehensive private assemblages of the art of the Ming-Qing transition, this exhibition showcases more than sixty landscape paintings and calligraphies that highlight the intensely personal styles created by the leading artists of that time. Particularly noteworthy are the clusters of exceptional works by Huang Daozhou, Hongren, Bada Shanren (Zhu Da), and Shitao. Click here to see details.
3. The following
two events are at Asian Society ( (1) Amitav Ghosh and Jonathan Spence — A Dialogue Cross Sino-Indian borders and join us for the launch of the inaugural Asian Arts & Ideas Forum, 'The Chindia Dialogues,' a festive four-day forum of dialogues, conversations and performances that bring together established and emerging writers, thinkers, and performing artists from China and India to engage in a vital cultural dialogue. Confirmed speakers include: Amit Chaudhuri, Siddhartha Deb, Amitav Ghosh, Yu Hua, Zha Jianying, Ha Jin, Meena Kandasamy, Amitava Kumar, Andrea Lingenfelter, Suketu Mehta, Sharmistha Mohanty, Emily Parker, Allan Sealy, Jonathan Spence, Su Tong, Xu Xiaobin, and Murong Xuecun . Date: November 3, 2011 Time: 6:30pm -8:30pm $10 Members; $12 students with ID/seniors; $15 non-members Click here to see details. (2) Underground & Undercover: Literary Reportage Literary reporters bear witness to the effect of modernization – from massive internal migration and the commercialization of culture to the ravages of corruption and environmental degradation – with novelist/essayist Yu Hua (China In Ten Words); author and media critic Zha Jianying (Tide Players); Siddhartha Deb, who survived a stint as a “cybercoolie” at a call center in Mumbai to write The Beautiful and the Damned; and China’s pioneering cyber novelist-turned-investigative journalist Murong Xuecun (best-selling novel, Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu), who reported on a mafia-style “direct-selling” pyramid scam in Jiangxi that exposed the inequities of China’s capitalistic development. Moderated by Orville Schell, Director of Asia Society’s Center for U.S-China Relations. Date: November 4, 2011 Time: 12:30pm -2:00pm Free. No reservations required. Click here to see details.
Articles of Interest ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mandarin has the edge in Europe's classrooms
By Stanley Pignal Brussels— Financial Times, 17
Asked at the start of their first Chinese class what motivated them to take up the language, the students of the Institut de la Providence, a secondary school outside Namur in Belgium, give their new teacher varied answers. “It’s a big country,” says one. “I’ve been to China and would like to go back,” ventures another. The two dozen teenagers are part of a pilot project started this autumn in nine Belgian schools to promote Chinese language learning. More broadly, they are among hundreds of thousands of students in the West who are opting to learn Mandarin Chinese, often at the expense of traditional languages such as Spanish or German.
2. How China Is Winning the School Race By Yojana Sharma BBC News, 11 October, 2011
China's education
performance - at least in cities such as Shanghai and
Hong Kong
- seems to be as spectacular as the country's breakneck economic
expansion,
outperforming many more advanced countries.
Click here to see more.
3 . What's in a name? Just about everything
B y Ellie BuchdahlChina Daily, 12 October, 2011 Business cards are almost as important as the names themselves in China. I'd perfected the technique of accepting someone else's business card - receive with two hands, make sound of great reverence, peruse, comment on how impressive his or her job/street/mobile number is, peruse again, nod with satisfaction, place into wallet in manner that suggests you will peruse once more at home. However, it was getting somewhat embarrassing that I couldn't complete the last step of the ritual - handing over my own business card.
Click here to see more.
4. Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language
By PERRI KLASS, M.D. The New York Times, 10 October, 2011
Once, experts feared that young children exposed to more than one language would suffer “language confusion,” which might delay their speech development. Today, parents often are urged to capitalize on that early knack for acquiring language. Upscale schools market themselves with promises of deep immersion in Spanish — or Mandarin — for everyone, starting in kindergarten or even before.
Click here to see more.
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UN Chinese Programme http://unclp.org |
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