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Category Archives: personal

Sweepy, sweepy, sweepy

On puddle control
For sensory overload, try Shàngdì (上地), Beijing after a summer downpour:
eyes: cotton-ball white cumulus against shockingly blue sky [hope someone can offer some good pics to link to!]
toes: warm rain and wet sand

mouth: gulps of cleansed air as if you could make up for the lost days
nose: a disconcerting shortage of allergens and [...]

Posted 25 July 2009 † syz § ‡ Comments (6) °

Zhonglish for two-year-olds

On how English messes with even the kids’ Mandarin

After months of exile in Minneapolis, Siberia, the nominal proprietor of Beijing Sounds now has concrete plans to return to the main studio location in beautiful suburban Shàngdì in the northwest outskirts of the capital city. The mood surrounding this semi-permanent move, to take place around the [...]

Posted 25 January 2009 † syz § linguistics § music § recipes § society § street § teacher § tones § wàidìrén § zhonglish ‡ Comments (8) °

Statistical analysis: Zhonglish-Chinglish conference a success

On how to give away T-shirts, a taxicab Tāngr-Tāng recap with a bit of Zhonglish, and the bonus: a groundbreaking announcement for the 2009 conference

Posted 30 November 2008 † syz § beijing-r § běijīnghuà § tones § zhonglish § érhuàyīn ‡ Comments (8) °

First Annual Zhonglish / Chinglish Conference

Coming to Beijing exactly one month from today: November 17. Mark the dinnertime.

Posted 17 October 2008 † syz § ‡ Comments Off °

The rearview mirror

On Beijing Sounds’ first birthday, the year’s stats, wasting time, and the fastest recitation of 千字文 ever recorded

Posted 10 October 2008 † syz § meta ‡ Comments Off °

Self-indulgence

Princess and Mrs. Beijing Sounds sent text as soon as the wheels touched ground at PEK last night. By 10:30, they’d entered the Beijing Sounds studios in Shàngdì (上地 in northwest Beijing) and managed to include your editor (who they’d left holed up in Minnesota) in most of the evening rituals: the book-reading, the talk [...]

Posted 27 July 2008 † syz § kid culture § meta ‡ Comments (9) °

A bird flaps its wings near 工人体育场

[Sound files are all at the bottom of the post]

Wallowing is a vile, unworthy habit. You inevitably get sucked into it from time to time. But too often and you become, as GB Shaw put it,
a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you [...]

Posted 25 December 2007 † syz § street ‡ Comments (6) °