我早在六月飛到北京了, 已經呆在這個城市三個月了!雖然我快學了兩年的中文了, 這個夏天是我第一次來到中國大陸, 終於能親眼看到課本裡所描寫的文化, 食物, 歷史等等. 可是我很快就發現還有很多事情是課本裡沒有提到的 – – 下面寫的是其中的三件事.
1) 北京的公園太棒了
北京的人民可多, 他們大部分都住在大樓裡面的公寓, 不會有自己的花園. 可能由於這種原因, 加上空氣汙染的嚴重情況, 市政府給人民提供的公園, 都非常的美麗. 有山, 有水, 可以坐下, 可以跑步, 能在擁擠的城市裡面找到平靜的環境.
2) 在北京能吃到各各省分的食物
根據我去北京前吃的中國餐, 如果不是廣東菜, 就是包子餃子種類. 可是我到這裡以後吃的最多的原來是雲南和四川菜. 另外我也愛上了我們附近的新疆餐廳 – 我回國以後能在哪裡吃到這麼好吃的串兒?
3) 沒有人說 ‘標準’ 的普通話
我們在大學學的普通話是北方的 – 以後在台灣習慣了南方人說話的方式. 但是北京人來自大陸各地, 應該只是中央電視台的主持人會說人所崇拜的 ‘標準’ 普通話. 這麼說, 雖然我花了幾百個小時學好普通話, 現在我好像剛開始學習真實的 ‘中文’.
China Park
ENGLISH:
Having flown in to Beijing in June, to work for a short time before my year abroad I have somehow already been here for three months! Although I have been studying Chinese for almost two years, this has been my first trip to mainland China, and I have finally seen first-hand the country described in my textbook. However, after I got here I soon realised that there was so much about China that I never learned about in class – below are three things that have made an impression in me while living in Beijing.
1) The parks are amazing!
The population of Beijing is huge, and most of its citizens live in huge blocks of flats that dominate the skyline, therefore practically no one has anything you could call a ‘garden’. Maybe because of this, as well as the looming cloud of pollution which is starting to set in, the parks in the city are beautiful. There are lakes and hills, people relaxing or exercising; in such a crowed place they are welcome areas of calm.
2) There is a huge range of regional cuisine
I mean this is obvious, China is the size of a continent, but from the Chinese food I had eaten in Britain, it seemed to all be either Cantonese style dishes or steamed buns and dumplings. But since I have been here, I have actually eaten more Yunnan or Sichuan dishes than any other cuisine. Also I have fallen in love with our nearby Xinjiang restaurant which mixes Middle Eastern and Chinese flavours – I am already worried about where am I going find good chuanr (Chinese kebabs) in England.
3) Learning Mandarin and communicating in Mandarin is very different
At university, we learned northern pronunciation, then studying in Taiwan introduced us to the southern accent. However, people living in Beijing are from all over China, and it’s really only the TV presenters on CCTV who speak the idolised ‘standard’ form of Mandarin. So after all those hours learning Mandarin, it still did not prepare me for communicating in Sichuan, Guangdong, or, possibly worst, Beijing style Chinese.