To explore Sir Robert Hart, the first generation of Queen’s graduate and Inspector General of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs of the Qing Dynasty, with respect to his trajectory of learning Chinese from his diaries at the Library Special Collections;
To promote Chinese for non-specialist courses to a wider community of students, staff members, as well as members of the public who would have interest in Chinese language and culture;
To introduce Chinese learning resources, approaches and platforms at Queen’s.
Happy Niu 牛 Year! We have had a great launch of CNY2021 last Friday!
Thanks for many of you who joined in our CNY2021 celebration launch event last Friday. It was a great opportunity for us to get together in a different way to previous years, and it was great fun being with you! In particular, we would like to thank the volunteers who performed for us, and Dr Frances Wood who shared an interesting and inviting topic on Great Books of China. We hope you all have enjoyed it!
If you missed it, you can view the main parts of the programme via the following link.
At the launch we proudly introduced two exhibitions – the ArtEast Exhibition and Sir Robert Hart Exhibition, both of which are freely accessible online for your appreciation. The ArtEast exhibition will end with an online panel discussion on Friday 5th March. Your thoughts and comments are welcome and we look forward to seeing you in the panel discussion.
What’s coming?
Our CNY Culture Forum 2021 will start from Tuesday 16th February until Friday 26th February, covering a wide range of topics shared by scholars and students from AHSS and EPS. You are mostly welcome to join in some sessions, if not all, to enrich conversations within our multicultural campus. We also welcome more people to contribute to the Chinese Culture Forum which remains an ongoing platform of sharing knowledge and enhancing intercultural communication. For full details and registration, click the button below.
– The mostly favoured flavour of wintry snack in Northern China
If you think that in winter a hot coffee (or tea) is all that you need to treat yourself while outing in China, especially in the north, you may have missed your sweet memory. Our Chinese LIG volunteer, Xiaohui, whose hometown in South China, is receiving pre-service training in Beijing currently. She will tell you what she has discovered in her spare time wandering around capital city, as shown below.
Have you been to China and seen this? Are there anything similar to this in your own country?
Ingredients: typically 山楂 (shānzhā, Chinese hawberry) or more recently a variety of other fruits like 桔子 (júzi, mandarin orange), 苹果 (píngguǒ, apple), 猕猴桃 (míhóutáo, kiwi), 草莓 (cǎoméi, strawberry), 香蕉 (xiāngjiāo, banana), and many more; 糖浆 (tángjiāng, sugar syrup)
Eat as it is, one by one – similar to eating BBQ skewers but very different feel – it is best to eat in winter as the sugar coating is hardened by the cold weather as if one’s tasting ice
Sweet (from sugar coating), sweet and sour (from fruits)!
Only 7 块 (kuài, the colloquial of RMB yuan) per skewer (less than one pound)
Additional information It has nothing to do with fruit gourd in ingredients but that it somewhat resembles the shape of bottle gourds put together. Hence, the name.
Singles’ Day or Bachelors’ Day (光棍节 Guānggùn Jié) is a day unofficially made for young Chinese who are single to celebrate on the 11th of November (11/11 – two elevens – aka “双十一”节 Shuāng Shíyī Jié). The date was chosen for the connection between singles and the number ‘1’. The four ‘1’s ironically refer to the individuals who have no boyfriends/girlfriends yet, therefore, becoming the bachelors or bachelorettes.
Initiated in 1993, this celebration has become popular among young Chinese, especially university and college students. In celebrating their festival, young singles organise parties and Karaoke to meet new friends or try their fortunes.
In more recent years, the festival has become commercialised as the largest physical and online shopping day in the world, compared with other shopping events such as the Black Friday shopping.
The photos below were taken when I undertook my fieldwork in China on 10/11/2008. With great interest I attended an English class in a university in which two students were presenting their topic on the Singles’ Day. The mascots they explained are represented by two common and typical Chinese breakfast food – 油条 (yóutiáo) and 包子 (bāozi).
Language points
光棍 (guānggùn) – single, unmarried people; bachelor or bachelorette (esp. male, oft. derogatory)
节 (jié) – festival, special day
双十一 (shuāng shíyī) – double 11(th)
油条 (yóutiáo) – deep-fried long twisted dough strips
包子 (bāozi) – steamed bun with fillings
Question
In their presentation, the two girls claimed that only in China a special day was set for the singles. Is that true? What about in your country/culture? Please leave a reply below in the comment box.
This year the Double Ninth Day falls on Sunday 25th October. In Chinese it is called as 重阳 (Chóngyáng), also known as Seniors’ Day. What does it mean then? Why is it related to the elderly historically and contemporarily in Chinese society? What do Chinese people do on the day?
Come join in our latest session of the Chinese Culture Forum 2020 series, delivered by Sihua Tang, a Master in Education candidate from SSESW, Queen’s and also enthusiastic volunteer in promoting language and culture.
For members of the public who would like to attend, please leave your name and email contact in the comment box (will not be displayed) below so that we can send you the invitation link.
This year the Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋节 (Zhōngqiū jié) in Chinese, falls rightly on the 1st October, which coincides the Chinese National Day.
At Queen’s we are hosting an online celebration including a culture talk with language taster session, cultural performances, a culture quiz and poem appreciation, contributed by Queen’s Chinese students and alumni. The event is scheduled between 12:30 and 13:45 on the day. You are all very welcome to attend the session with the information and registration link below:
Festive greeting with invitation from the Language Centre
Normally people would greet each other by saying 中秋节快乐 (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival). However, in this special time of facing pandemic threat, we can add 安康 (ānkāng), meaning peace and healthy, after 快乐 (kuàilè), which becomes “中秋节快乐安康 (Zhōngqiū jié kuàilè ānkāng)”.
中 (zhōng) – middle, centre
秋 (qiū) – autumn
中秋 (Zhōngqiū) – mid-Autumn
节 (jié) – festival, day
快乐 (kuàilè) – happy
安康 (ānkāng) – peace and healthy
To learn more Chinese vocabulary and expressions in a structured way, you are welcome to attend one of our Chinese courses for non-specialist purposes.
Please submit your answers in the comment box below.
Q1. Mid-Autumn Festival is the time for people to ______ in China. A. travel for sightseeing B. have dragon boat races C. worship family ancestors D. have family reunion
Q2. When is the Mid-Autumn Festival due, according to the Chinese lunar calendar? A. the 1st day of the 8th month B. the 8th day of the 8th month C. the 15th day of the 8th month D. the last day of the 8th month
Q3. What particular dessert do Chinese people like to eat on Mid-Autumn Festival? A. pan cake B. moon cake C. pork pie D. jiaozi dumpling
Q4. What do Chinese people, home and abroad, particularly do on this particular occasion? A. watching TV and playing cards B. making moon cakes and pies C. watching the moon and thinking of family D. going to pubs and eating out
Q5. In which year did the Mid-Autumn festival become an official holiday in China? A. 2008 B. 2004 C. 2010 D. 2001
Q6. What kinds of Chinese mythology are closely related to Mid-Autumn Festival? A. The Monkey Myth B. The Moon Goddess Chang’e C. Yu, the hero who rebuilt the Earth D. Yi, the hero who shot suns
Q7. How many suns did Yi shoot down from the sky? A. 10 B. 9 C. 8 D. 1
Q8. Why did Chang’e leave Yi? A. Yi could not afford the cost of living B. Chang’e’s parents did not allow her to be with him C. Chang’e did not love Yi anymore D. In order to keep the elixir, Chang’e swallowed it and ascended to the moon
Q9. What does this radical part ‘𥫗’ mean in the character of ‘筝 (zheng, or Chinese zither)’? A. bamboo B. wood C. Stone D. Grass
Q10. What is normally written on the surface of a mooncake? A. Greetings and wishes for the festival celebration B. The company trademark/logo/slogan which made the mooncake C. Instructions of how to taste the mooncake D. The ingredients of the mooncake
With new students’ arrival and returning students back to Queen’s, the campus is full of welcomes and smiles – although social distance should still be maintained. The first charted airplane from Beijing to Belfast in ready on its way, due to departure in the evening on the 18th Sept. Let’s wish them a smooth and pleasant journey!
How to say ‘welcome’ in Chinese?
Photo taken at the Belfast City Airport. The welcome board displays multilingual expressions of ‘Welcome’ messages. However, some messages, including Chinese, are hardly visible due to background colour. Image@ Liang Wang.
So, to say ‘welcome’ in Chinese, one would at least say the word ‘欢迎’ twice to demonstrate a real welcoming atmosphere, plus a smiling face, and perhaps shaking hands in formal and business contexts. One seldom hugs or kisses to welcome people in the Chinese culture.
How to say ‘Welcome to Queen’s University Belfast!’, then?
The gate and The Lanyon Building of Queen’s University Belfast. Image@QUB
Now that you know how to say ‘welcome’ – 欢迎, the order of the message is exactly the same as in English in this expression. Let’s learn a few more vocabulary, including Queen’s in Chinese.
来 (lái) – to come
女王 (nǚwáng) – queen
大学 (dàxué) – university
贝尔法斯特 (Bèi’ěrfǎsītè) – Belfast
Queen’s University Belfast (Queen’s in a known context) has its Chinese equivalence， which is called 贝尔法斯特女王大学. It can be further shortened as 女王大学 in the local context. Therefore, put together, the whole expression can be 欢迎来(贝尔法斯特)女王大学！
TIME FLIES! It’s coming to the end of July when many of us have been in our summer holiday mode whether travelling around or having staycation. Here’s the update of the Chinese LIG.
Two of our Language Interest Group volunteers, Zhenru Shang (尚珍如) and Xiaohui Liao (廖小惠), return to China this month and we’d like to thank them for their contribution to the LIG activities as well as the Spring Festival celebrations earlier in the year. We wish them good luck in completing their degrees in the coming months and make further pursuit in their respective life. While they are back in China, they can still be in touch via Teams, if you would like to continue to make appointments.
Meanwhile, let’s welcome a new volunteer, Shamisha Tew (张蜜莎), to join the team in supporting Chinese language practice in real life communication. As a learner of Chinese, she can speak native level of Mandarin Chinese and is happy to meet you online and share with you her intercultural language learning experience.
This year the iconic Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 Duānwǔjié) falls on Thursday 25th June. Although it won’t be the same as before that we could get together to celebrate, we welcome you to join the Chinese Culture Forum via MS Teams.
Date: Wednesday 24th June Time: 4 – 5 pm Access: MS Teams > QUB Chinese LIG
The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu (“Rain of Millet”), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 20.
To celebrate the UN Chinese Language Day as part of the promotion of multilingualism and cultural diversity, ALL Queen’s staff members and students are welcome to sign up for the Taste of Mandarin Chinese online course which is a self-paced learning resource.
