Tag Archives: Chinese

Chinese Language DVDs: Mei Mei Hu

video01

Edit: Okay, I just saw some of the later videos, so I have to correct what I wrote.  Some of the later DVDs in the series are quite high tech and shot from China.  They look like they had professional choreographers and makeup artists, and the sound quality is professional.  So the following only applies to the other ones we saw.  My bad, Mei Mei.

My original post:

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Podcast: bigWOWO Interviews Dave Porter, Activist for Bilingual Education

Dave Porter

Dave Porter

I had the opportunity this past weekend to interview Mr. David Porter, a local Portland activist for bilingual education.  Dave has been working with the Oregon State Legislature to bring a greater focus on foreign languages to our schools, and his work heavily emphasizes Mandarin Chinese immersion programs.  Download our podcast here, or hear it below:

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The podcast is around 30 minutes, 13.7 megs.

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John DeFrancis, Chinese Language Scholar, Is Dead at 97

One thing nice about reading the obits is that you learn about cool people who did cool things.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve heard of John DeFrancis, probably when I was studying Chinese in school.  According to his obituary, he was “one of the most influential scholars and teachers of the Chinese language in the last century.”

These days, it’s relatively easy to pack the ol’ passport and head out to the Far East, but back in the day, one had to have a sense of adventure to travel from West to East or vice versa.  The early twentieth century was a busy time for China with the Boxer Rebellion and the downfall of the last emperor, and anyone traveling during that time had to be pretty brave.

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Racism in Malaysia

I’ve been busy as f#$@, so apologies if my blogging is very short for the next few weeks.  For example, I had a lot more to say about the two immediate prior posts, but I had to cut short because I’m out of time.  So fill in the blanks if I’ve left any.  I do have a very important post that I’d like to make on Tuesday the 6th.  Hopefully I’ll get that one out.

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Chinese Doctors in the News

Pretty amazing that you can watch ER and never see a Chinese doctor, but if you look at the news, they’re changing the world.  Just saw these on CNN.

First, an eight year old blind American girl travels to China for a stem cell infusion that enables her to see for the first time:
Second, a Chinese doctor in Australia performs a liver transplant by using a ping pong ball:

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