25 May 05 Singapore Chinese Language Meetup May 2005
Last Thursday, we had the Chinese culture and language meetup. We got to talk about Mandarin learning and Chinese history and culture in general.
In Southern China when someone serves tea to you, you tap the table gently with your fingers to thank the person. Jacky told us about the origin of this custom. One of the Tang emperors was visiting the kingdom incognito along with his ministers. To maintain the illusion that they were commoners, all took turns in serving the tea. When the emperor served tea, the ministers could not bow to show respect. Instead, they used the tapping of the fingers to symbolise bowing down and touching the ground - the middle finger denoting the head and the two neighbouring fingers denoting the shoulders.
Tea - from a teahouse in Chengdu
Jia Bae spoke about the Chinese influence on Korean culture and how the Koreans are more traditional than the Chinese next-doors. She also reminisced about her experiences of learning Chinese characters back in her school days in Korea.
I spoke about travel in Sichuan, one of my favourite places. (my fascination with Sichuan has led some friends to speculate that I was a panda in my last life - quite close actually - I am equally lazy and I do like bamboo dishes though I am nowhere as cute as the panda). The budget airline ValueAir has now started flights to Chengdu- the capital of Sichuan province and also one of the more laid back and interesting cities in China. Some of the other places to visit near Chengdu- Jiu Zai Guo (the heavenly scenery) , Leshan (for the giant Buddha), Zigong( for the lantern festival) and western regions of Kangding.
The Giant Buddha in Leshan
The next meetup is on Thursday, June 16, 2005. We will be talking about some classic erotic literature from China, travel in Hunan province. We would like to do something on Taiwan too - ideas welcome.
I was in Ubon Ratchdhani in Eastern Thailand over the weekend and I spotted this advertisement for a popular English language and IT training centre. They have now added Mandarin to their offering. In Thai bookshops too you find more and more “learning Mandarin” books and multimedia.
I also attended the Bookcrossing Meetup organised by Ivan Chew at the NLB on May 24. It was nice talking to the people in this group.
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interesting stuff. I will try and make it to the next meeting. I love the jasmine tea at Tea chapter, never miss to take a pack home each time.
Preetam, what’s with you and Erotica man?
Nevermind, inside joke (you folks gotta be at last BookCrossing meetup to know what I’m talking about). Preetam, see you at Tea Chapter, Just signed up to join the meetup group. Give you face mah, seeing you’re the organiser and all.
Hello Ashwin, . do join us. And Ivan - well i like that erotica as they are the best way to studdy social dynamics and not to mention the costumes of the period - as the author describes in detail the undressing scenes..You are welcome, we do end up talking mostly in English as most people including me speak only very little Chinese.
hi, my name is jane, from malaysia. received mail from Preetam. i will try to meet up for the Tea Chapter.
Welcome Jane. Hope to see you at the next meetup.
This all looks so cool! I really want to go to Asia now.
Keep up the good work. ^.~
I like the giant buddha.
Great pics. I love the big buddha too