Fortune cookie weirdness

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Dà shi = grandmaster

No. It's "a large piece (or pile) of dung."

Trust me.

[Mao]

hahahaha weeeeee....

The closest thing I've had to General Tso's chicken here is tangcu ji (sugar and vinegar chicken) although I suspect that this dish is actually just a copy of Gen. Tso's delicacy brought from the US, heh...

As to Oriental, there's a few objections to it from various points of view. One I've heard that hasnt' been mentioned is that it basically makes Asian-Americans the "other" by implying that the US or whatnot is the center, and everything is relative to that. Oriental meaning "eastern" and all implies that the US is the center of all. (ironic considering Zhongguo huh?) That's an *interesting* argument, if not particularly strong.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


No. It's "a large piece (or pile) of dung."

Trust me.

Someone's upset. Hey, I've got like several threads that are patiently waiting a response from you. It's seems like you often back away when challenged. Is this true?

Actually, my Chinese name roughly translates as "someone who will make great strides in the world." I think my Chinese teacher, who gave it to me, liked me.

Mao, did you go to the art exhibition last weekend? We had a great turnout of both Chinese and foreigners. If not, you can still see the work at the Red Star hotel until about sept. 23rd. It will then go on to Shanghai, and later Beijing.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DaShi
Someone's upset.

No, I am just correcting Ecthy's Chinese. Afterall, it is a difficult language to learn.

Originally posted by DaShi
Hey, I've got like several threads that are patiently waiting a response from you. It's seems like you often back away when challenged. Is this true?

Somebody thinks he's giving me challenges. Somebody thinks too highly of himself.

/me snickers

Originally posted by DaShi
Actually, my Chinese name roughly translates as "someone who will make great strides in the world." I think my Chinese teacher, who gave it to me, liked me.

Likely story.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


No, I am just correcting Ecthy's Chinese. Afterall, it is a difficult language to learn.

Yes, I remember correcting it for you once. You're response to that was a smarmy insult and you stopped posting in that thread.

Somebody thinks he's giving me challenges. Somebody thinks too highly of himself.

* Urban Ranger snickers

Those threads are still waiting. I believe there is still an issue on your anti-japanese racism that is still unanswered.

Likely story.

Jealous.

Anyway, I grow tired of the name calling. So when your ready to discuss (you can use your dictionary and everything), you know where the threads are. You're a mod afterall.

[Mao]

Originally posted by DaShi
Mao, did you go to the art exhibition last weekend? We had a great turnout of both Chinese and foreigners. If not, you can still see the work at the Red Star hotel until about sept. 23rd. It will then go on to Shanghai, and later Beijing.

I didn't actually, I was too busy getting settled for classes. I might check it out this weekend though, seems like my workload is kinda light thus far. I assume Red Star hotel is just "hong xing jiu dian"?

[DaShi]

Yup. It's a mixed bag of work, since they basically acceptted anything as long as the artist is Irish and it is no bigger than 6x6 (for ease of mailing). For 30 kuai, you can buy a book containing the majority of the collection, if there are any remaining. If not, I can try to get you one, if you want one.

Interestly, you'll see on one wall a collage of the packages the work came in. Since many computer's can't read Chinese, they output nonsense characters. So a simple copy & paste job is understandable, but one person actually wrote out the nonsense, thinking it was actually Chinese. The Chinese patrons were quite amused upon seeing it.

[Ecthy]

is hotel not bingguan?

[DaShi]

Yes, but jiudian seems more common. At least where I live.

[mindseye]

Originally posted by DaShi

Actually, it's just a variant of gongbao jiding, a Sichuan dish that no two restaurants in Hangzhou make exactly the same.

I don't think so. Back in San Fracisco, gongbao jiding is usually called "Kung Pao Chicken" and is very different from "General Tso's Chicken".

Gongbao Jiding is a spicy/hot dish made with diced chunks of chicken stir-fried with peanuts, peppers, etc. "General's Chicken" is nuggets of breaded, fried chicken usually in a sweet vineagar or garlic-vineagar sauce, and not usually spicy/hot.

Around here, Chinese joke that the only Chinese food Americans know is "gongbao jiding" and that tourists invariably order it at restaurants, which leads me to believe that it's also popular outside San Francisco.

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Ecthy
is hotel not bingguan?

There are a number of words for "hotel", causing a lot of confusion for English-speakers. DaShi is right that "jiudian" is common, as is "dajiudian" (large or luxurious hotel). Also there is "bingguan" and the less common "luguan" and "lushe" (at least according to my dictionary).

Same problem for "restaurant", which can be "fanguan", "fandian", "canguan", "canting", "jiujia" or even "jiudian" (same as "hotel", causing still more confusion).

I think the problem is that "jiudian" really corresponds to the idea "wineshop", a place where travellers in the past stopped at for wine, food, and lodging. Now, these three services are more likely provided by businesses that focus on just one of them (i.e. bars, restaurants & hotels). Aiyah!

DaShi -

Did Hangzhou have many blackouts this past summer?

Also, do you spend any time in the world of China blogs?

[DaShi]

Originally posted by mindseye

I don't think so. Back in San Fracisco, gongbao jiding is usually called "Kung Pao Chicken" and is very different from "General Tso's Chicken".

Actually, I think you're right. I forgot about Kung Pao and associated it with the General. I use the chinese names anyway these days.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by mindseye
DaShi -

Did Hangzhou have many blackouts this past summer?

Also, do you spend any time in the world of China blogs?

I wasn't here over the summer. I went home to visit family. And I probably would have stayed in the states, if I didn't have to finish my research here. But I'm glad to be finished teaching.

Sorry, I don't know much about Chinese blogs.

[Mao]

Just on a total thread-jacking note, bikes in China suck-ass. I've averaged more than one trip to the per day to get my bike fixed since getting it last week. At least they do it for free...

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Mao

Just on a total thread-jacking note, bikes in China suck-ass. I've averaged more than one trip to the per day to get my bike fixed since getting it last week. At least they do it for free...

Mao, dude, what kind of wheels you ridin'?

Maybe you oughtta get yourself a Shanghai Yongyuan ("Forever"). I've got the classic model, a copy of a 1932 British Raleigh. Built like a truck. Weighs as much as one, too.

The labor for my last bike repair cost 5 fen, which is like 1/3 the cost of an ice cream bar.