Chinese for Dummies

386 Pages·2005·6.18 MB·English

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Chinese
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Wendy Abraham
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Chinese
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
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Chinese
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Wendy Abraham
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Chinese For Dummies®
Published by
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Copyright ©2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of my Nadymama and Papa, Julia and
Joseph Abraham, whose incredible love and time spent with their grandchil-
dren left a lasting imprint on our lives and has been a great source of strength
throughout the years.
Their nicknames for me when I was just a child (“Monkey” and “China Doll”)
can only be attributed to some long-lost Hungarian Jewish gypsy roots in our
family, for how else could they have known so long ago that I was, indeed, born
in the Year of the Monkey, and that my life would be so deeply connected to
all things Chinese.
Author’s Acknowledgments
It all started with dinner at Woo Fong Restaurant in Bayside, Queens, where I
grew up. Although the place no longer exists, it’s the first distinct memory
Ihave of falling in love with China—more specifically, with spring rolls and
the little old proprietress in her golden qípáowho took me under her wing
when I was barely 4 years old. It was the beginning of a love affair with the
Chinese culture, and later with the Chinese language, which has yet to end.
My first order of thanks, therefore, goes to my mother and father for intro-
ducing me to my first Chinese meal. To my father, George, for inspiring me
with his own great love of language learning (currently centered on Egyptian
hieroglyphics) and for always pushing me to study, study, study.
To my mother, Marilyn, for her unwavering support through thick and thin and
for her reminders to relax and enjoy life in between all the studying. (No sur-
prise then that her choice of foreign language in high school was Italian.)
To my sorella, Susan, for her amazing courage and strength and for her incred-
ible talent as a sculptor, which I can only aspire to in another lifetime.
To my father’s wife, Rhoda, for her immense wisdom, great help in emergencies
of every kind, and plain old common sense.
To Michael and Daisy Fogarty, for their loyalty to the Abrahams and for the
fun they bring wherever they go.
I would also like to thank my entire extended family for reaching out to me
this past year in ways I couldn’t have imagined and will not soon forget.
Special thanks go to my aunt, Maxine Cooper, and cousin, Michael Ian, for
being there with both humor and love.
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Right up there with Woo Fong Restaurant was The Inn of the Sixth Happiness—
that 1958 classic that had Ingrid Bergman, the missionary, saving all those
orphans in northern China during the Sino-Japanese War. Acknowledgments
to those who played a part in my early childhood exposure to all things Chinese
can’t be made until that film’s name has been solemnly uttered. In addition to
clinching my passion for China, it made me want to adopt a hundred orphans
from Xi’an, and it began my great love affair with the movies.
First in line for childhood recognition is my beloved aunt, Carol Rothenstein,
who regularly schlepped a gaggle of us cousins down to New York City’s
Chinatown and plied us with all manner of colorful Chinese knick-knacks to
take home.
To my childhood friend, Cynthia Sargent, who went with me on jaunts to visit
our elementary school buddy Wanda Chin at her family’s Laundry (Chin’s) on
Springfield Boulevard, where the back room doubled as home for the family
of four. I can still smell the freshly starched shirts and see the swirls of steam
wafting up from the ironing boards as we passed by on our way to the back.
From my days at Hunter College, where I distinguished myself by being the
only Jewish kid to try to join the Chinese Students Association, I’m proud to
have hung out with the likes of Jon Ho, Winnie Chin, Mon Lan Jee, Nora Lee,
Karen Lee, and our classmate Conmay, whose untimely death while we were
all undergrads bonded us for one brief but memorable moment. Jon and Winnie
in particular have remained good, loyal friends, and I’m grateful for their fun
(Jon) and calming (Winnie) presence this past year. Mention of Hunter College
in the ’70s wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t also include a serious note of
thanks to my very first Chinese language teacher, professor Yu-shih Chen,
whom we all loved.
From my Georgetown days, I would like to especially thank my best friend of
nearly three decades now, Pei Dalin, for being his wonderful self. Thanks also
to his wife, Mian, and my little talented Godchildren, Julia and Christopher.
Dalin also helped immensely with the “cultural” editing of this book; he was
on call at all hours as emergency questions popped up.
To my dear friend Wen Yang, for all his help as technical editor of this project
and for our great years at Georgetown together. Some things really do come
full circle.
I would also like to mention places of particular importance in my study of the
Chinese language. To Middlebury College, for an incredible summer intensive
language program, and to National Chengchi University in Taiwan, for giving me
the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study oracle bones from the Shang dynasty
for one whole glorious year. And especially to my former language teacher
from Nankai University in Tianjin, Professor Pang Bingjun—poet-laureate
andscholar-gentleman—who spent countless hours helping me transcribe
my taped oral histories of the Chinese Jewish descendants of Kaifeng.
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To all the Chinese Jewish descendants of Kaifeng, whose lives have so deeply
touched my own and whose regional dialect I can never hope to master.
At Stanford, I’d like to thank Carl Bielefeldt, Director of the Stanford Center for
Buddhist Studies, for his compassion, patience, and understanding these last
few months and, as always, for his signature Zen sense of humor. To Rabbi Dov
Greenberg of Stanford Chabad, for his amazing ability to listen for the spoken
as well as the unspoken, for his wise counsel and keen intellect, and most of
all for his humorous common sense. To Carol Zimbelman, for her dedication
and innate decency. And to all my new friends in Palo Alto, who keep showing
me why not to give up just five minutes before the miracle happens.
For entrusting me with this project in the first place, immediate and heartfelt
thanks go to my literary agent for this book, Carol Susan Roth. Immense thanks
are also due to Project Editor Tim Gallan for his patient prodding and gentle
suggestions while making sure this book went to print, to Acquisitions Editor
Stacy Kennedy for keeping tabs on the whole process, and to the incredible
trio of Copy Editors, Josh Dials, Kristin DeMint, and Tina Sims, who made the
book come alive.
Finally, words can’t quite express my deep gratitude to Christine Huo,
Kristina Smith, and F. Marland Chancellor III for ensuring that this book
would be only the first of many to come.
About the Author
Wendy Abraham is the Associate Director of the Stanford Center for Buddhist
Studies and the Asian Religions & Cultures Initiative. She has taught courses
on Chinese language, Chinese literature, and Asian cultures at Hunter College,
Georgetown University, New York University, and Stanford University, where
she’s currently pursuing her second doctorate in modern Chinese literature.
She spent a year researching Shang Dynasty oracle bones in Taiwan, which
sparked her deep interest in the development of China’s written language.
Wendy has directed Chinese language programs for American students in
Beijing and Shanghai and has interpreted for high-level arts delegations
fromChina. Her first doctoral dissertation from Teachers College (Columbia
University) was on the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, a subject about which she
has written widely and continues to lecture frequently throughout the United
States. She also created Jewish Historical Tours of China, bringing people to
visit Shanghai and Kaifeng on educational trips. Her interest in all things
Chinese continues unabated.
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