Famous centuries old terrace rice fields in Longsheng龙胜, Guilin

 

Our trip to the mountains of Longsheng to see the centuries old Longji龙脊terraced rice fields carved on the mountain sides was considered quite lucky. We started the journey raining. We were lucky that the rain stopped when we reached the entrance to this attraction. Many batches of tourists who arrived earlier under the rain had departed and they were unlikely to see anything with dark clouds and rain. There were also quite a number of European tourist groups that went earlier. They would have to make another trip for the sight.

The entrance was crowded with many tour groups waiting to take the local buses into the mountain park. We were among the later groups and by the time we set out the rain stopped. We disembarked somewhere mid hill inside the mountain ranges. The sky brightened slightly for us to take a look at the rice terrace with fully ripen rice ready for harvesting. 

The lighting was not idea for photography. After the bus dropped us off, we were on foot to descend down the mountain side. As the hours got by, it got brighter slightly for us to take some photos. We were lucky that at some points there were gaps in between the hazy clouds to let in some light for a few minutes for us to get better pictures.

When we reached our lunch destination, a small village restaurant, it was still dry. While we were having lunch, rain came pouring down again. No more chance to take more photos. We took the bus down the mountain in heavy rain. Yet again, the rain stopped when we finally finished our journey back at the entrance of the site.

How to kill the interest to learn Chinese in schools?

 Learning Chinese has become too difficult for kids today, and that’s not okay

Is it just too hard for kids to learn Chinese in Singapore schools? This mum-of-two explains why she thinks the answer might be yes – and why that bodes ill for young Singaporeans trying to develop a love for their mother tongue. Vivian Teo, CNA

When I read the title of this article, my first impression was that of a non Chinese speaking family struggling with learning Chinese. But when I see the list of Chinese words below, I was dumbfounded. I too could barely read a few words though I could easily get around in China during my travel there. To read and understand these words would mean one is highly proficient in the Chinese language, can write and converse in Mandarin like a native Chinese speaker.  Oops, I think the ordinary native Chinese speakers would also have difficulties knowing and using these words. You need to be a literati in Chinese language to know and understand these words. This is definitely too much for a 15 year old Singaporean, probably doing her O level, a non native speaker, taking the language as a second language.

I agree with the author that this is killing the desire to learn Mandarin. It is not easy for a 15 year old non native speaker in Singapore. Whoever raised the standard of Mandarin teaching in schools here needs to rethink again.  The intent to raise the command of the language is noble but too demanding at this stage. This list of words would floor many students and kill their interest in learning Mandarin. In my view, learning these words would also be too demanding for Higher Chinese at A level.

The standard of Mandarin at O or A level should be appropriate to what a 15 or 17 year old needs to know, to be able to read and write and conduct a decent conversation in Mandarin, not to the extend or level of a native Chinese speaker. There is no comparison between a native Chinese speaker swimming in a Chinese language environment versus a Singaporean in an English language environment.

 

I must say this is a sure way to kill interest in learning Mandarin for good. It is just too much and too demanding and unnecessary. The number of Chinese words and syllabus need to be greatly toned down if MOE wants more students to learn Mandarin as a second language in schools. Many of these words can be acquired at later stage of life when there is a need for them. At O and A levels, do not demand so much from the students. There is no need to know all these words to conduct a decent conversation with the Chinese counterparts, to read the Chinese news. Many of these words are hardly used in the main media, in Chinese newspaper. 

Wanting to raise the standard of knowing Mandarin is one thing, killing the desire to learn the language is another. I would suggest that these words should be learnt at university level for those who want to specialise in the Chinese Language, in Mandarin, to be fluent Mandarin speakers, maybe to work as a translator or doing Chinese majors.

How could this syllabus even be approved for O and A level students is itself a big question. There is no need to know all these words to read and understand the Chinese newspapers. I am really shocked beyond belief. Many native Chinese speakers would also have a hard time reading and knowing these words. Are they really necessary at O and A levels?

What do you think?

European Mickey Mouse states still think they can bully and conquer the world

Now, instead of plundering, which is over, they are resorting to piracy by seizing assets of countries. The seizure of Russian assets was just the beginning. When they are really desperate, they will go for assets of other countries by fabricating National Security issues. There is a new game in town.

NATO vis a vis the EU is scrapping the bottom of the barrel for funding for Ukraine and has taken steps to use those assets seized from Russia to bankroll the war. TACO Trump is now pushing Zelenskyy under the bus by threatening him if he does not go for a truce. Trump threatens one side and then the other, depending on which side of the bed he wakes up from. He is not moving the needle at all, just using rhetoric to make himself look imposing.

Now the Netherlands has gone one step further using a test balloon, by seizing Nexperia, a Chinese chip maker in the country, thinking China will just stand idly by. The retaliation by China is going to be devastating for vehicle manufacturers in Europe.

The fallout is not just about chips for carmakers in Europe. It is a signal to investors that their investments in Europe can be seized by using National Security issues. This is going to be a very big mistake, especially when the EU is facing economic hardship. There are about 13.8 million jobs tied to the vehicles manufacturing sector in Europe which are now in limbo.

China is now going to play hardball with the Dutch, after being badly treated by ASML earlier. This move will realistically kill off the EU vehicle manufacturing sector in the EU, a blessing in disguise from heaven. As many have said before, China will just let the USA and the West self-destruct without having to go to war. The silence of China is something that the West does not fathom, thinking it is a weakness.


Anonymous

Xi telling Trump and Western leaders to grow up

I came across a video of an interview on the site 'Global Insight Hub' during which the guest was John Thornton, the former co-President of Goldman Sachs and Director of Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who gave an outstanding piece on Xi Jinping and why Xi is pursuing his present agenda and path for China. Xi had a very difficult time in childhood caught up in the Cultural Revolution of 1966, that coated his desire to lift the Chinese people out of poverty en masse. Xi's thinking is not a flash in the pan, but a long-term approach he harbored, working his way up the hierarchy in the Chinese Communist Party to became Chairman. His background is tempered by his experience during his early difficult years, which has been put into very humanistic terms for his vision for China.

The West never understood the Chinese Communist Party, using it mainly for demonization purposes without looking at the underlying agenda that resulted in the rise of China and how it came to dominate global manufacturing and innovation, that even Western industrialists are awed. The USA and the West never move beyond the thinking of the cold war period harping on Communism being a threat to Democracy, a stand that they never grow out of even today.

China is now telling Trump and Western leaders to grow up and move beyond the restricted and narrow mindset of containing and hampering China's and every country's growth, mainly because China's socialist system is now doing better than the highly touted democratic system. But with the propaganda machine working overtime, China's voice has never been heard or will be heard.

The USA refused to work with China, just obsessed with the mindset of wanting to put China down and out. The USA was even invited to join the BRI earlier, with Xi sounding out John Kerry if I am not mistaken, who returned home with the suggestion, but was shot down by the war hawks in Washington. Of course, how could the USA work with China when the BRI was the brainchild of Xi. It resulted in all the brickbats and demonization thrown against the BRI to sabotage the move. Co-incidentally, India also was invited but refused to join, a doggie following in the footstep of its master.


Anonymous

Trump bankrolling another war between Pakistan and Afghanistan to give China a headache.

Trump is bankrolling another war between Pakistan and Afghanistan to give China a headache. Both the latter two countries have good relations with China, and the USA wants to rip them apart. It is all in the USA playbook.

Pakistan is a long-time ally of China, with the former leader Imran Khan an avid admirer of China's progress and poverty eradication success and wants to follow. That was an affront against the glory of democracy, indicating that socialism is working better globally and had perhaps been the impetus for his removal and the installation of a pro-USA leader, Shehbaz Sharif, who is in charge. A regime change that has succeeded without a doubt.

Shehbaz Sharif just visited Washington in late September. We do not know what transpired, but certainly not what is not to be expected. What does a pro-USA stooge do when in Washington never is about sanity or peaceful co-existence.

Trump had gloated earlier about taking back Bagram Military Base from the Taliban, a base he claimed was built by the USA and he wants it back. It was actually built by the Russians and later used by the USA for nefarious activities linked to punishment and torture of prisoners. As we know very well, Trump needs a proxy to do his bidding and starting a new proxy war with Afghanistan. So, here comes Pakistan into the picture. After that meeting in Washington, we know what was agreed, with even Shehbaz Sharif going to the extent of nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

China is moving closer in its relations with Afghanistan and the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan is testing its divided loyalty towards the two countries. It was undoubtedly a move that was created to sour relations between Pakistan and China.


Anonymous