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Chinese for Dummies PDF

386 Pages·2005·6.18 MB·English
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01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page iii Chinese FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Wendy Abraham 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page ii 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page i Chinese FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page ii 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page iii Chinese FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Wendy Abraham 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page iv Chinese For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright ©2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP- RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CRE- ATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON- TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR- THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT TRAVEL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME, AND THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF PRICES. WE THEREFORE SUGGEST THAT READERS WRITE OR CALL AHEAD FOR CONFIRMATION WHEN MAKING TRAVEL PLANS. THE AUTHOR AND THE PUBLISHER CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXPERIENCES OF READERS WHILE TRAVELING. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2005923781 ISBN-10: 0-7645-8375-1 ISBN-13: 978-07645-8375-9 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1O/SR/QW/QV/IN 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page v 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. 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page vi 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. 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page vii 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. 01_583751 ffirs.qxd 6/1/05 9:11 AM Page viii Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator:Maridee Ennis, Senior Project Editor:Tim Gallan Shannon Schiler Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy Layout and Graphics: Denny Hager, Stephanie D. Jumper, Lynsey Osborn, Copy Editors: Josh Dials, Kristin DeMint, Heather Ryan, Janet Seib Tina Sims Proofreaders:Laura Albert, David Faust, Editorial Program Assistant: Courtney Allen Betty Kish Technical Editor: Wen Yang Indexer:TECHBOOKS Production Services Media Development Specialists: Sarah Faulkner, Rich Graves Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle Editorial Assistants: Hanna Scott, Melissa S. Bennett Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan,Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings,Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey,Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services

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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 A
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