Floating Refrigerator Doors, Crushed Bones, and Once upon a Blue Sky

Hello my lovies! 
Sorry I've been away so long. I made a post about making a video of how to cut dragon fruit but I couldn't get the video to play and ended up deleting the post. I'll figure out how to do that somehow.

So like I promised in my previous post I am going to answer some of the questions I have received
 about my travels here in China. The question everyone keeps asking me is 
Are you learning Chinese?
This requires a post on its own. 
No and yes. Chinese is popularly misconstrued as a language and almost always we don't do anything about it to correct it. 
Its like people saying "Do you speak American?" 
Or even dumber saying, "Do you speak Mexican?" 
The correct term is Mandarin. However, it has become very common, even among the Chinese people to say "Do you speak Chinese?" Because the literal word for the Chinese language is Zhongwèn and it can be used as an adjective or noun to literally mean Chinese. Complicated? You bet. You can also say Zhongguo ren when talking about a Chinese person.
Ren means person or people depending on the context.

But as to the answer to your question 
Yes, I am learning Mandarin Chinese .




I find it very difficult to get into the tonal (yes tonal) side of Chinese. Yet little by little I am learning.
My Mandarin is basic I can get by with a few phrases like "I would like iced water." Wo yao bing shui.
Or ask people not to take pictures of me if I'm doing something like shopping at a market. Wo bu yao paizhou.

The sky is so blue on the pictures, is it blue in reality? (About Beijing's sky)
'Yes, The sky can be really blue in Beijing. 
In no way, shape or form have I ever altered my pictures unless it was a selfie of me with a fat cat face on.
Even if its a really polluted city, it can be a hit or miss sometimes if you're going out so always make sure to carry a pollution mask. 
There was one month in Beijing where it became mandatory for everyone to wear a face mask because the pollution was so bad the air was orange grey due to a massive dust storm that mixed with smog that hit Beijing and covered everything in a cloud of orange dust. 
Other than that, the sky can vary depending on the wind. I got pretty lucky when I was in Beijing and got to see more blue skies. However, I also went back to my hotel with massive headaches if I ran out of ibuprofen due to the terrible air pollution. According to the Air Quality Index of the U.S.A., safe levels of air pollution are safe below a 50 yet 97% of the time, Beijing has a air pollution level of above 100 which is very unhealthy and dangerous for most people. 


So many beautiful and peaceful locations! Is the water polluted? (Talking about Gulangyu Island.)

Yes, unfortunately I did not even step foot in the water at this beautiful island for fear that I might come back home (to Taizhou) with a possible staff infection or worse. The water was disgusting but city workers clean the beach everyday and make sure they remove the debris that floats to shore. This is why we cannot have nice things. 
I saw anywhere from diapers to Styrofoam to refrigerator doors on the shores or floating on the water. It made me extremely sad to see how little people cared about the ocean. I even saw a couple boxes fall from the island's package delivery boat and float on the water for a long time. The person on the boat kept going, either unaware of his lost cargo or indifferent, I'm not sure.






Do you plan to attend one of this opera or theater performances? Who are these friends you mention? Are they [in] Chinese?  (about Tian ling street)

I would like to see at least one or two performances while I am here. I have seen that during the beginning of summer, they have put many day time performances but its during working hours and I can not see them. I have been told that they have some night time performances too so maybe one of these days I will see these for myself.
Yes, the performances are in Chinese but they are in dialect. Some are in old dialect so it might be hard to understand for the unpracticed ear. One of the interesting things I have found out about Chinese opera, is that there are 360 different types of Chinese opera and some even have juggling and fire-breathing acts!
Some are Chinese opera travel troupes that go city to city like they did back long time ago and the make up on their faces represent the character's feelings and intentions. In ancient times actors would grind up bones to a fine powder and use it to make layers of make up as well as make it say on their face longer.
Much like Kabuki, a Japanese opera, Chinese opera is not so much about their singing but about their movements, the garments, and the story. 
 

As always,
Zai Jian!

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