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2012 Newsletters: 2011 Newsletters: December, 2011 issue |
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Chinese Language Programme February Newsletter
Lunar New Year Celebration Continues! The above gilded bronze dragon dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-906) and was excavated in 1975. it is now in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum in Xi'an.
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For the 9th year in a row, our programme is offering a popular three-week summer study programme at Nanjing University in 2012. The programme dates are Monday, 9 July to Friday, 27 July. Classes are held Monday to Friday with a total of 4 hours per day and 20 hours per week. Courses include conversation and reading classes. All students who are enrolled in a Chinese class and have completed at least Level 2 are eligible to apply. Tuition and housing are covered by the Chinese government and the international travel is your own responsibility. Upon the approval of your supervisor, staff members in the Secretariat will receive Special Leave With Pay. For detailed description of eligibility requirements and application procedures, please visit http://unclp.org/nandaprog/nandaprogram12.html. The deadline for application is 31 March, 2012. Registration for the Spring Term The registration period is from 27 February to 16 March. For details, please visit http://www.un.org/depts/OHRM/sds/lcp/UNLCP/english/registration.html.
Chinese Cultural Events at the UN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the evening of Wednesday, 1 February, the Chinese Mission, in collaboration with a number of Chinese literary and cultural organizations, sponsors a major concert in the GA Hall celebrating China's intangible cultural heritage. Our programme does not have any tickets. Please inquire with your department, Chinese Mission or DPI.
On the evening of Thursday, 2 February (6:30 pm), there will be the opening ceremony of an exhibition featuring the calligraphy works by a number of famous Chinese movie actors and other performing artists. It will be attended by the Chinese Ambassador and other distinguished guests. The actors and artists will be present at the opening. The exhibition will be in the Delegates Entrance. No tickets are needed for this event.
Useful Resources
Advanced online courses for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, developed at the University of Hawaii, exemplify distance learning through text, video, CD-ROM, and synchronous and asynchronous use of the Internet. For more information, click here to go to the University of Hawaii website.
2. Perapera Pop-up Chinese Dictionary Free ad-on to be used with Firefox Internet Browser: move your mouse over Chinese characters for immediate translation. For more information about this language tool, visit Perapera's website here.
3. Hanzi Grids A free online tool to create printable Chinese practice sheets. Click here for details.
4. DianHua Dictionary DianHua Dictionary is a free Chinese English dictionary for the iPhone and iPod touch. The dictionary provides search support for English, Mandarin Chinese (with or without tones), traditional characters, simplified characters and mixed searches consisting of any combination of the above. Search on the internet for the app.
New Publication What the U.S. Can Learn From China by Ann Lee
In What the U.S. Can Learn from China, Ann Lee adopts a counterintuitive approach and suggests taking a look at America's greatest competitor for answers on how America can stay competitive well into the next century. From Confucian philosophy to governance to foreign aid, she details the policies and practices that have made China a global power and outlines those that may be incorporated into the U.S. capitalist political system. Filled with sharp insights and thorough research, the book adds much needed nuance to the debates over China's role in the global economy and as a rising world power.
Ann Lee is currently an adjunct professor of finance and economics at New York University and a senior fellow with Demos.
The book's foreword is by Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group, a leading global political risk research and consulting firm.
Community
Events
1. New York Theater to Stage Chinese New Year Gala
The first "US Chinese New Year Gala" will be staged in New York's Hammerstein Ballroom during the Lantern Festival in early February 2012. The four-hour gala will feature a wide range of performances that showcase Han culture, ethnic minority culture, Chinese opera, folk dancing, traditional music instruments, martial arts and acrobatics.
This item is taken from China Daily without the show date indicated. For information, please contact the theater by clicking here.
2. Moon over Manhattan:
Lunar New Year
Saturday,
February 4
Ring in the Lunar New Year at Asia Society! Enjoy special performances and traditional craft activities inspired by Lunar New Year traditions throughout Asia. Tickets $12; $7 for members; $5 for students, seniors, and children
725 Park Avenue
3. Lunar New Year Celebration Continues!
For celebratory events around town, please click here.
Articles of Interest ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Huntsman Wouldn't Be the Only U.S. President to Speak Chinese
By Patricia Zengerle Reuters, Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman’s language skills have been in the spotlight since Saturday, when he said during a presidential candidates’ debate that his rival Mitt Romney does not understand U.S. relations with China — underscoring his point by saying so in Mandarin. Huntsman is a former U.S. ambassador to China who learned the language as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan in the late 1980s. His campaign says the former governor of Utah also speaks Hokkien, a Chinese dialect used in Taiwan.
Is bilingualism a political liability in the United States? American President Herbert Hoover spoke Chinese – but kept it a secret. Listen to this eye-opening podcast from National Public Radio. 2. Go East, Young Man By Jonathan Levine New York Times, 8 January, 2012
BEIJING -
NOT long ago, I was stuck in a dead-end job near Greenwich, Conn. I was
in my early 20s, overeducated with a series of non-performing degrees
from New York University and Columbia, and frustrated. When I saw the
Occupy Wall Street protesters on TV, fed up with the economic status quo
in the United States, I saw myself.
3 . Squaring Off with Chinese
By Xu Lin China Daily, 5 January, 2012
BEIJING - When Deng Shenyi used a brush to write calligraphy in New York City in 2008, most of the audience couldn't understand the pictographic words.
"Although they look like ancient Chinese, they are all English words written in a Chinese style," said Deng, a member of the China Association of Inventions.
"On a second look, one can identify these words," said Deng, 49. "After my explanation, the audiences began to understand the words and tried to read them aloud."
He calls this new artistic form "square English", a combination of the English language and Chinese calligraphy.
t
4. Mandarin Program Makes Sense
Houston Chronicle, 2 January, 2012
Beginning next year, the Houston Independent School District will offer a magnet school program for elementary-age students in which core subjects will be taught in Mandarin Chinese - the most-spoken language in the world. The program will be at the former Holden Elementary on West 28th Street. President John F. Kennedy said that the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis." One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, it's important to be aware of the danger - and to recognize the opportunity. Appropriately, students in this Mandarin language immersion program will learn that wisdom in more than one way.
Interesting PPT
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UN Chinese Programme http://unclp.org |
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