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.

Chinese Graveyard

This is my Grandfather's tomb. We offered him liquor.

This is a Chinese graveyard. Due to the limited space in China, when you die, you are cremated. When you die, the Chinese believe you are sent to an afterlife just like in reality. The difference is that your living relatives must give you your likes and necessities. For example you like to drink, your living relatives would leave wine and beer at your grave to send to you in the afterlife. Also you can burn fake money for your relatives to use in the afterlife. You also have to clean it and decorate the grave with flowers.

这是一个中国的墓地. 在中国,由于地方有限,人们死后都是被火化的.中国人相信人死了以后就会活在另一个世界. 活在现实中的亲属 应该给他们的先人送去他们生前喜欢的东西和生活必需品. 比如说, 他喜欢喝酒,亲属们会把酒 留在他的坟上. 亲属们会烧纸钱给他,让他死后可以用. 亲属们还要献花和清扫坟墓.

World Expo

These are some exhibits in the World Expo

This is the mascot of the World Expo, Haibao.

We went to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. The World Expo features many different countries showing off what their country has. The theme of this World Expo is: Better City, Better Life. Each country participating in the Expo sets up a building. Inside the buildings are the countries’ best features. The World Expo is extremely large and extremely populated. Everyday at least 500,000 people come in to look at the buildings and exhibits. Almost every one of the buildings had lines. All of the lines required at least one hours’ worth of waiting. The most popular building required 9 hours of waiting. The Chinese building was booked for 2 months straight.

我们去参观了上海世博会. 世博会是世界上各个国家展示它们特有的东西. 这届世博会的主题是: 城市, 让生活更美好. 每个参加世博会的国家都在园区里建了自己的展览馆. 在这些展馆中,每个国家都展出了它最好的东西. 世博会非常盛大,去参观的人特别多. 每天进入世博园参观的人至少有五十万.几乎每个馆门口都有很多人排队.每个队伍至少要排一小时. 最热门的展馆甚至要等九小时. 中国馆的票已经予约到两个月以后.

Train

This is the hallway.

These are the beds. There are three tiers of beds in each room.

This is the outside of a moving train.

While the train is never used in modern-day America, it is probably the most common way to travel long distance in China. Because planes are too expensive, and buses take too much time, people use trains to get to their destination. Trains are effective in China because they don’t use as much fuel compared to planes and can hold hundreds of more people. Also they are much faster than buses. Finally, trains are more comfortable than a plane or bus. They have larger chairs or even beds you can sleep on. Trains are a mix of speed and comfort and are usually the first choice of transportation in China.


在当今的美国,人们很少坐火车旅行,可是在中国坐火车是长途旅行最普通的方法.因坐飞机很贵, 坐长途汽车太慢, 人们都坐火车去他们想去的地方. 在中国, 火车是很有效的运 输工具. 因为和飞机相比,火车用的燃料少,但是能装更多的人.火车比长途汽车快多了.而且火车比飞机或长途汽车更舒服, 因为他们有比较宽大的椅子, 有的 火车甚至有床可以睡觉. 坐火车又快又舒服,因此是中国人首先选择的交通工具.

Hot pot

This is a Chinese Hot pot

In China, the hot pot is a popular dish. A lot of Chinese people like it. I went to a famous hot pot restaurant in Beijing. This is how people in the restaurant had Chinese hot pot: Every person gets their own pot. A waiter lights a flame under the pot and you wait for the water to boil. Once the water is boiling you put in thin meat strips and vegetables inside the pot to cook. When the raw meat turns brown, you can take it out the pot to eat. Once the meat is cooked you can put it in a sauce of your choice. While eating the cooked meat, you are supposed to drink a special type of juice. The juice is helps digest the meat. I think hot pot tastes great.

在中国火锅是很流行的. 很多中国人都喜欢吃火锅. 我去过一个北京非常有名的火锅店. 人们是这样吃中国火锅的: 每个人有自己的小铜锅. 一个服务员会帮你把火锅点着, 等水开了以后就可以把切好的肉片儿和蔬菜放进去涮. 当肉片儿从红色变成浅棕色时,你就沾上你喜欢的调料.好吃的涮肉就做 好了. 吃肉的同时,你应该喝一种特殊的果汁.这种果汁会帮你消化你吃的肉. 我觉得火锅很好吃.

Apartment

This is my Grandmothers house. This is the size of a typical Chinese home.

This is the house I lived in.

Chinese people generally live in apartments. Due to the extreme amount of people in Chinese cities, the apartments are usually very cramped. They are built as huge buildings that are usually seven to eighteen floors. Unlike our spacious two story homes, Chinese homes are usually one story with two bedrooms and one bathroom. They usually also have a living room and a kitchen. The apartment I live in is considered a large apartment by Chinese standards. It has two floors and is much bigger than an average home.

中国人通常住在公寓楼里. 因为中国城市的人口很多很多, 所以他们的公寓非常挤. 这些公寓通常建成七到十八层的高楼. 不象美国人通常住的两层的房子. 中国人的家大多数有两个卧室, 一个卫生间, 一个厨房 和 一个客厅.我这次在中国住的公寓以当今中国的标准来看是很大的. 它有两层, 比一般的公寓要大得多.