By 阿楓 LITMK, on May 10th, 2012 
I liked the lighting in this alley, so I shot this innocent photo of a couple checking their mail. The man didn’t like it very much, so he confronted me and asked me why I was taking his photo. I told him because he was interesting. He didn’t appreciate that very much and started yelling at me to delete it. I didn’t delete it and he became even more upset, and began saying things along the lines of, “this is China” blah blah blah. I told him it was a public place and asked him if being rude was a part of Chinese culture.
Continue reading Checking The Mailbox
By 阿楓 LITMK, on May 4th, 2012 I’ve haven’t been doing any real study in the last several months in Cantonese or Chinese characters (or blogging for that matter). I use Heisig’s book – Remembering Traditional Hanzi to learn how to write characters through mnemonics, and when combined with a flashcard system like Anki, I find it works really well. The only problem is that if you stop doing daily reviews or near daily reviews, then it tends to pile up.
Today I read a post from the Peckish Laowai (or the Peckish Gwailou in Cantonese ;)) about how she just finished the 1500 Hanzi in book 1, and about her experience with what she refers to as the “Heisig Dip.”
Continue reading Back in the 學 Back in the Heisig
By 阿楓 LITMK, on May 3rd, 2012 
At the shoe market, behind Canton Train Station.
Adam and I shortly after getting our arses handed to us by Mr. Public Security Uncle and looking quite downtrodden.
We were at the Canton train station [廣州火車站] and were taking photographs of the interesting people and things going on, when a police officer approached us and started telling us that we weren’t allowed shooting around there. Adam (very politely I might add) started to argue with Mr. Public Security in Mandarin, and told him that we, being in a public place, were allowed to photograph. The officer started to spout something about this being China and that we non-Chinese don’t know their ways, blah blah blah, so I became more than a little annoyed. I started mocking him (in Cantonese no less) and that’s when it went bad. He caught on to the obvious sarcasm (bravo!) and asked us to produce our passports. In China, one must always keep one’s passport on hand regardless of where one goes. Of course we didn’t have our passports, so Mr Public Security Uncle decided to detain us, and starts radioing for backup. We were really worried now. I’ve never actually been in any sort of real trouble with the authorities in China, and my life for the past 4 years has been here. I have no intention of leaving, especially by being detained and then deported. That probably wouldn’t have happened, but we didn’t want our day wrecked because I was a huge idiot. Luckily he decided to let us go after a few minutes, and we got away unscathed. Except for my pride. I love arguing with Chinese authority and usually don’t get busted, but now I’m not so sure I’ll continue doing that. Adam even forgave me shortly thereafter. I took this photo to remind myself NOT to be an arse (at least not when I don’t have my passport).
By 阿楓 LITMK, on December 23rd, 2011 A doodle I made of 聽 [tēng1 - to listen; to hear; to obey] and the man who you should be listening to!
It is composed of ear [耳] to the top left and king [王] to the bottom left. On the right is virtue [㥁] which is composed of straight or direct [直] on top and a heart [心] on the bottom. It’s beautiful and has deep meaning. You can imagine how the virtuous king will hear his people or that a virtuous servant uses both his ears and heart to listen to his king. Unlike the simplified form: 听, which is composed of a mouth [口] and a phonetic component (for Mandarin anyway), catty [斤].
How do we listen with our mouth I wonder?
By 阿楓 LITMK, on December 6th, 2011 
I was finally able to meet Cecilie! She’s just as funny in person as she is on her Youtube series. She signed her book for me and bought me a beer in the Honolulu Coffee shop in Central. While there, she showed me how to write ngong geui geui [戇居居]. She told me it meant “moron” in English but I thought she said “moral,” and told her so. I really felt like a ngong geui geui [戇居居] afterwards. :)
Her book is really funny and gives great insight into China and all the effed up stuff here. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in China for travel, living or just plain interested in The Middle Kingdom!
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