Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck – Ambassadors of Good Will

September 10, 2010

 Imagine a diplomat in China who will influence future generations to love America and see it as a peaceful fun nation to be friends with.  That’s what is happening and Walt Disney is doing it.

The Financial Times says that Disney Publishing Worldwide is opening English language schools in China and plans to have 148 schools in the country by 2015 earning well over $100 million.

The curriculum features Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, the Little Mermaid and other Disney characters.

Enrolling children in this privately funded Disney language school is not cheap. It costs between $1,800 and $2,200 annually depending on which publication you read.

The Economist in Middle Kingdom meets Magic Kingdom pegged the price at $1,800, and says, “(Disney) has ten schools in Shanghai, five in Beijing and plans to double that number in the next year, slowly extending from China’s two largest cities to surrounding areas.”

I’ve written before about how important an education is to Chinese parents so it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Disney isn’t having problems finding students.  The challenge is to find enough qualified teachers.  Each classroom has “a local and a Western instructor.” 

Disney’s language schools are where the West truly meets the East without the bully tactics of real politicans.

See Teaching English in the Middle Kingdom

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Translating “We Do Chicken Right”

September 9, 2010

中學老師把 KFC 肯德基店裏的廣告 A middle school English teacher in China asked her students to translate China’s Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisement “We do chicken right”, and she received twenty-eight different translated answers.

Please keep in mind that the word “chicken” also means “prostitute” in modern Chinese slang depending on context.

[ We do chicken right!]（烹雞專家）     發給學生練習翻譯，結果有以下答案：

Here is what the students wrote:

1. 我們做雞是對的！                    It’s correct that we be prostitutes,

2. 我們就是做雞的！                    We are cut out to be prostitutes.

3. 我們有做雞的權利！               We have the right to be prostitutes.

4. 我們只做雞的右半邊！           We want only be the right side of a chicken.

5. 我們只作右邊的雞！               We want to be chickens on the right side

6. 我們可以做雞，對吧？           We can choose to be prostitutes, right?

7. 我們行使了雞的權利！           We perform a chicken’s right.

8. 我們主張雞權！                        We call for chicken’s rights.

9. 我們還是做雞好！                    It’s better that we be prostitutes.

10. 做雞有理！                               It makes sense to be prostitutes.

11. 我們讓雞向右看齊！             Let’s ask the chickens to look right.

12. 我們只做正確的雞！             We only want to be the correct chickens.

13. 我們肯定是雞！                      We are prostitutes–no doubt.

14. 只有我們可以做雞！             We are the only one who could be prostitutes.

15. 向右看！有雞！                      Look at your right, there are chickens.

16. 我們要對雞好！                      We must be kind to chickens.

17. 我們願意雞好！                      We wish chickens all our best.

18. 我們的材料是正宗的雞肉！ We use real chickens.

19. 我們公正的做雞！                 We must feel justified to be prostitutes.

20. 我們做雞正點耶∼∼               Time is right to prostitute.

21. 我們只做正版的雞！             We only want to be original prostitutes.

22. 我們做雞做的很正確！        To be prostitutes is to be correct.

23. 我們正在做雞好不好？        We’re making chickens – will that be okay?

24. 我們一定要把雞打成右派！We must turn the chickens into rightists.

25. 我們做的是右派的雞！        We are right-winged prostitutes.

26. 我們只做右撇子雞！            We are right-handed prostitutes.

27. 我們做雞最專業！                We are professional prostitutes.

28. 我們叫雞有理！                    The chickens and prostitutes are always correct.

China is a tonal language. There are four tones for each Chinese written symbol.  Each tone has a different meaning. Say something in the wrong tone, and you could insult someone.

Sir Robert Hart, the main character in the “Concubine Saga”, knew the importance of translating English into Chinese properly. Translation mistakes turn into insults that end in bad feelings that may lead to war.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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China’s Holistic Historical Timeline

2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, cultural differences | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Changing Names

September 9, 2010

It was suggested in a Reuters news piece that because of 200 people, China should change hundreds of millions of computer keyboards.

Let’s examine the logic behind this suggestion, which I see as another example of Western meddling in China.

Due to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. bends over backwards and spends billions to make bathrooms and sidewalks usable for people who may be blind or use wheel chairs.

This happened in an individualist culture that puts the individual above the whole. To improve one life, twenty may be ruined or sacrificed—even the national debt may be increased.

The Braille Institute reports that there are 15 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States. That’s about 5% of the population.  What did it cost the U.S. to add that chirping noise to crosswalks for that segment of the population?

In my life, I’ve seen less than a handful of blind people with red tipped canes walking on sidewalks let alone crossing intersections.

Then according to AskJan.org, there are an estimated 1.4 million wheelchair users in the United States—that’s less than half-a-percent of the population, yet America spent billions converting sidewalks so there are ramps for wheelchairs to roll down to cross streets.

At the high school where I taught, there was one wheelchair bound teacher, who worked there for a few years.

He complained that there were no handicapped restrooms near his classroom. He had to go too far to pee.

The school district, because of the law, had no choice and spent about $30,000 to convert the nearest teacher’s restroom. A few years later, that handicapped teacher left the high school to work elsewhere.

One example I found estimated that providing free paratransit service to people with disabilities in Illinois would cost between 141.5 and 202.9 million. That’s one state of fifty and one service, which doesn’t include crosswalk conversions. Source: Transportation Research Board

Now, those values that have contributed to America’s national debt have cropped up in a Reuters piece that says about 200 villagers in Eastern China are being “forced by the country’s unbending bureaucracy” to change their family name as the character is so rare it cannot be typed.

How many millions or billions would it cost to add a symbol to the Chinese language and replace all those keyboards so 200 out of 1.3 billion would be able to spell their last name as they have for centuries? Aren’t there better things to do with that money?

See China Bashing

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Ancient Chimes

September 9, 2010

In 1977, a discovery was made in China—a complete set of chime bells were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi, who lived during the Warring States Period (475 to 221 BC). These chimes were older than the Qin Dynasty’s famous Terra Cotta warriors (221 to 206 B.C.) were.

When the chimes were discovered in Hubei Province, a plot of land was being leveled to build a factory.  The Red Army officer in charge of the work had an interest in archeology.

The officer discovered that the workers were selling the ancient bronze and iron artifacts they were digging up. He convinced local authorities there might be an ancient tomb buried below the site.

When the tomb was unearthed, a set of chime bells was found.  These musical instruments were an important part of ritual and court music going back to ancient times. An American professor in New York City even called these chimes the eighth wonder of the ancient world.

The sixty-five chime bells weighed about 5 tons.

No other set of chimes like this had been discovered in China before and this set was in excellent condition.

A project was launched in 1979 to duplicate four sets of these chimes. More than a 100 scientists and technicians were recruited.  In 1998, twenty years after the discovery, the project was completed. One of the sets was sent to Taiwan as a gift.

See The Sheng, one of China’s Oldest Musical Instruments

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Revising History Belongs to the Victor

September 8, 2010

The Economist has a Blog called Asia view that reported the Chinese Communist Party is planning to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its founding in 2011.

It seems that John Woo, the director of Mission Impossible II will be involved in shooting a film called The Great Exploit of Building the Party.

I am sure that surviving Chiang Kai-shek’s purges will be there along with The Long March and Deng Xiaoping’s Getting Rich is Glorious.

However, China’s Sexual Revolution will be absent.


American Revisionism – Who will win?

The Economist mentions that thousands are working on a book, the publication of the second volume of A History of The Chinese Communist Party. Since the victor always writes history, I wonder if China’s George Washington chopped down a fictional cherry tree too.

What’s interesting is that Communist officials say they will propagandize the valuable experiences the party has accumulated through a long struggle, etc. etc. 

Asia view says, “Nothing new there,” but doesn’t bother to explain that it isn’t very Chinese to act like an American and share the dirt while going to therapy so he or she may learn to forgive his or her parents for being human.

I’ve written before that most Chinese do not like to share embarrassing news with strangers.  This has nothing to do with Communists and everything to do with being Chinese. When history is revised in China, it is Saving Face.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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