Summary

My trip to China was very enjoyable. I learned many new things and did many new things. I improved my ability to speak Chinese greatly and had fun doing so. It was slightly overwhelming at times because I couldn’t understand some parts and couldn’t read some stuff, but it was a learning experience. The number of people was slightly overwhelming too. Everywhere you went there was always a ton of people. There was never an empty area. However it’s still a great country to visit. I would love to go back to China again and learn more about it.

我的中国之行很愉快. 我做了很多以前没做过的事儿, 学了许多新东西. 我的汉语口语得到很大提高, 我也从学汉语中得到很多乐趣. 当我听不懂或看不懂有些中文时, 我有点紧张. 不过这也是 一个学习的过程. 我觉得中国人口太多了. 不管你到哪里, 都有很多人. 很少有空的地方. 但是, 中国仍然是个伟大的国家. 我会再去中国并学习更多的关于中国的知识.

American fast food in China

There are many traces of American culture in China. Huge franchises such as McDonalds and KFC have made it to China and become a household name. However, China mixed in their own culture to create something of their own. For example, in America when we go to KFC we mainly see chicken and some side dishes. However in China, they have rice, Chinese twisted crullers, and other Chinese foods on their menu as well. In fact there is barely any chicken at all. The same is in McDonalds. I think China has many strange foods in fast food restaurants.

美国文化在中国有很多渗透. 麦当劳和肯德基这些连锁店在中国很流行.中国人把他们的饮食文化和美国的快餐文化结合, 创造出他们自己的快餐. 比如说, 美国的肯德基主要卖炸鸡和附加菜. 但是在中国, 肯德基卖米饭, 油条, 和其他中式食品. 实际上, 中国的肯德基很少卖炸鸡. 麦当劳也是同样的情况. 我觉得中国的美式快餐店有很多奇怪的食品.

Birds' Nest

This is the Birds' Nest stadium

This is the Water Cube

The Birds’ Nest is where the 2008 Beijing Olympics took place. It is called the Birds’ Nest because the person who designed it tried to make it look like a birds nest. It is a huge stadium capable of holding around 50,000 people. Around the stadium there are several parks with monuments and statues to see, and there is also the pool where the swimming events took place. The Beijing National Aquatics Center, or the Water Cube, is one of the best pools in the world. Twenty-five world records were broken in this pool during the 2008 Olympics.

鸟巢 是二零零八年北京奥运会的主赛场. 这个场馆的设计者把它设计成鸟巢的 形状. “鸟巢”因此而得名. 这是一个可以容纳五万人的巨大运动场. 运动场旁边是奥林匹克公园,公园里有一些雕塑, 还有山和湖. 鸟巢对面是北京国家游泳馆, 也叫水立方. 它是举办奥运会游泳比赛的地方. 水立方是世界上最好的游泳馆之一. 二十五项世界记录在二零零八奥运会上创造.

Talking in Chinese

Talking in Chinese is hard for a non-native speaker. Even though I have the advantage of actively being surrounded in Chinese it still can be challenging. Sometimes someone you’re speaking to will say some vocabulary or phrases you don’t know and expect you to understand. Other times you find it difficult to express your thoughts. For example, you know how to say it in English, but you don’t know the correct words to say it in Chinese. So I want to talk to more native Chinese speakers to improve my speaking ability.

讲中文对于一个中文是非母语的人来讲很困难. 我,虽然生活在讲中文的环境中, 但是讲中文对我来说仍然不是一件容易的事儿. 有时侯, 同你讲话的人会用一些你不知道的词汇, 以为你会懂.还有些时候, 你会发现很难用中文表达自己的想法. 比如, 你知道英文怎么说, 却不知怎样用中文表达. 我应该和更多的母语为中文的人交谈,以便提高我的中文口语.

Hutong

These lanes are the Hutongs. They used to be ordinary houses in the Yuan Dynasty. The Hutongs were 9-meter wide roads and as time passed the widths of Hutongs changed from the traditional 9-meter wide roads to 6-meters or less. As the city modernized, the number of traditional houses such as Hutongs decreased, so the government decided to preserve the remaining ones. Today, the Hutongs is a famous tourist attraction in Beijing and the houses have been turned into tourist shops selling traditional Chinese art. People come from all over the world to see the traditional Beijing courtyards and lanes.

这就是胡同. 在元朝的时候, 胡同是普通的住宅. 胡同原来都是九米宽, 随着时间的推移, 传统的胡同有九米宽变窄为六米或更窄. 随着城市的现代化, 像胡同这样的传统住宅变的越来越少. 政府决定保护这些剩下不多的胡同. 现在胡同是一个北京著名的景点. 胡同中的住宅都改成小商店. 这些商店都卖些中国艺术品. 世界各地的旅游者都到北京来参观这些传统民宅.

Forbidden City

This is the Forbidden City.

This is Tiananmen gate.

Tiananmen Square is a city square and is one of the most famous places to visit in China. The square is surrounded by a large number of important buildings such as: The Great Hall of people, The Chinese National Museum, and Mao’s Tomb. Inside Tiananmen is the Forbidden City. It is a preserved palace that it hundreds of years old. The palace was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The palace was said to originally have 9999 rooms and 8000 have been restored.

天安门广场是一个城市广场, 它是中国最著名的景点之一. 天安门广场有许多重要的建筑, 比如人民大会堂, 中国国家博物馆, 毛主席纪念堂. 走进天安门城楼就是紫禁城. 它有几百年的历史. 紫禁城是明朝和清朝皇帝们的宫殿. 它原来有九千九百九十九间房间, 现在有大约八千间被修复了.

Shopping for food

In China when buying food you generally don’t go to Kroger or any kind of grocery store. Instead, if you want food you usually just walk to a nearby stall and just buy what you need. There is a person selling one type of thing and you go to many different stalls to get everything you need. The food you buy is usually much fresher than the ones at a grocery store. Also they are usually much cheaper as well because you can talk the price down if you really want to. People can also go shopping everyday for vegetables and meat.

在中国, 人们通常不去食品店买食品.如果你想买菜, 你可以步行去自由市场买你想要吃的东西.一般来说, 一个小贩只卖几种蔬菜. 你得去不同的摊点买你所需要的菜. 这样买来的蔬菜通常比食品店的要新鲜, 而且便宜. 因为在自由市场买菜,你可以通过讲价钱买到最便宜的菜.人们可以每天去买新鲜的蔬菜和肉.