31 October 2014

Gentlefolk,

Feedback on the last post (about my classes & students) suggested it was too detailed . That's useful. I will try to keep posts down to a couple of subjects only, and relatively brief.

This post has two parts: some photos of our new apartment and the bay, and a description of Chinese names.

Our apartment

We have now been in our new apartment for about 3 weeks.  Vera has bought odds & ends to make the place homely, and we are feeling quite settled.  It is a bit smaller than our previous abode, and further from the teaching buildings and dining halls; the TV still hasn't been connected, and the exhaust fan in the bathroom has stopped working, but other than that we are  pretty happy in our new apartment.

Certainly enjoy the "million-dollar-views" across the bay.

Viewed from the entrance door, looking towards the living room and the balcony beyond. The door to the bedroom is on the left.

Looking from the balcony back into our living room and the kitchen.  The entrance door is on the left. Vera is getting something out of the fridge.  

Our bedroom, taken from the balcony end.  We have since acquired a chest of drawers which completes the fit out.

Photo taken at 7am on 24 October 2014 from our balcony where we usually have breakfast looking out across the bay.  It was a hazy morning, and visibility was only about 1.5 km - we could just make out the other side of Tang Dao Wan bay.  Being right on the coast, the air quality is usually not too bad - certainly better than Beijing, which has experienced many days of bad smog this month.

A 'fish-eye' shot of the bay from our balcony window.  I have never seen the tide so low - people were walking across to Cow Island a part of which is visible on the right side of the photo.  There is a deeper channel across the other side of the bay which boats must use at low tide.

A few hours later it was high tide - no way you could walk to Cow Island now!  We could clearly see the Wyndham Hotel across the bay, and Ling Shan Dao and the Yellow Sea in the distance.

A view of the university from the other side of Tang Dao Wan bay.  Our new apartment is on the 13th floor of the building at the right side of the photo (it may be difficult to see, but the sun is glinting off  the windows).  The tall building to the left of our building is still under construction and will be an engineering teaching building.  The rugged Xiao Zhu Shan mountains are in the distance.

It's 12 noon, students have just finished morning classes and are going to lunch.  Most students eat quickly and then have a nap before their next class at 2pm.

Chinese Names

Naming format

Most countries in the world put a person’s given name first, and family name last.  But Chinese always put the family name first and then the given name (Japanese and Koreans also use this format).  As far as I am aware, only one country in Europe, Hungary, uses the same format at China.

 

Family names (surnames)

There are about 2,000 Chinese family names.  The 100 most common surnames are used by 85% of the population.  In fact, the colloquial expression ‘laobaixing’ (老百姓; literally "old one-hundred surnames") is used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks" or "the people".

Table 1 (below) shows the 30 most common Chinese family names. 

If you grew up thinking that Smith, Jones and Brown are the most common surnames in the world, sorry to disappoint you.  The top three Chinese surnames are Li (pronounced ‘Lee’), Wang (‘Wung’), and Zhang (‘Jung’).  They have about 100 million adherents each and would be, by a long way, the most common surnames in the world.

Table 1:  List of the 30 most common surnames in China

1	Li	11	Xu	21	Zheng
2	Wang	12	Sun	22	Luo
3	Zhang	13	Zhu	23	Song
4	Liu	14	Ma	24	Xie
5	Chen	15	Hu	25	Tang
6	Yang	16	Guo	26	Han
7	Huang	17	Lin	27	Cao
8	Zhao	18	He	28	Xu
9	Zhou	19	Gao	29	Deng
10	Wu	20	Liang	30	Xiao

Chinese use European pronunciation of the alphabet, which can be difficult for people who only speak English. For example, Li is pronounced ‘Lee’, Wang sounds like ‘Wung’, Zhang is like ‘Jung’, Liu is 'Lee-you', Chen is the same as in English, but Yang sounds like 'Yung', and Huang is 'Who-ung'.

If you are going to spend any length of time in China, it would be worthwhile to get the pronunciation right, because it really grates when a person's name is not pronounced correctly.

Almost all Chinese surnames comprise one character.  There are about twenty surnames which have two Chinese characters (such as Si-ma, Zhu-ge, and Ou-yang).  A few even have three or four characters, but those are not ethnically Han-Chinese names.  For example, Aixinjueluo comprises 4 Chinese characters (愛新覺羅) and was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing Dynasty.

There are many Chinese dialects which means that the same surname can be pronounced differently depending on where the person is living (China or Taiwan or South East Asia), and the way the name is written in pinyin can also vary.  For example: the surname Zheng  can be written in pinyin (English) also as Chang, Cheng, Chung, Tsang, or Zeng.  But Chinese know exactly which name it is when they see the written character (Zheng: 郑) .

Family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. When Chinese couples marry, the woman/wife keeps her maiden name; children take the father’s surname.

Given names

Chinese are much more aware than Westerners of the meanings of their given names.  Children are given names which are considered auspicious (for example, aspirational names which hope they will grow up to be healthy, beautiful and rich).

 

English given names also have meanings, but often Westerners do not know the meaning of their own given names.  In contrast, when a Chinese student adopts an English name they always research the origin and meaning of that name.

I asked one of my classes for the meanings of their given names; Table 2 (below) shows some of their answers. 

Table 2: Meanings of given names of selected English Majors

Chinese name (in pinyin)  Family name first, followed by given name	Meanings of given names
Chang Lin	There was a Chinese song for the 1992 Olympic Games, the year she was born, which used the word ‘Lin’ and her parents liked it.  Lin can also mean ‘jade’ which is a desirable semi-precious stone.
Xie Pan	Pan means ‘hope’.  Every Chinese family wants a boy, and her parents named her Pan in the hope that the next child would be a boy.  And, true enough, the next child was a boy, her brother, who is now 10 years old.  Her parents had to pay a fine of Y10,000 for having a second child.
Wang Mei Na	Mei means ‘beautiful’; Na means ‘slim’.  Her parents were hoping that she would be a slim, quiet, beauty.  Blanche said that she turned out quite different: she is a noisy tom-boy, keen on adventurous activities!
Zhou Sheng Yu	Sheng means ‘own’ and Yu refers to ‘jade’ so together they represent her parent’s hope for her future financial success.
Wu Han	Han refers to ‘wisdom’.  When her mother was pregnant, she had a dream in which a wise old man recommended the name Han.
Meng Xiang Xue	Xiang means ‘lucky’.  Lucy said that all her extended family uses this character in their given names.  Xue refers to ‘winter’ because she was born in winter.
Liu Miao Miao	She said that Miao refers to ‘a small plant’ or ‘tree’.  A teacher her parents admired was called Miao Miao, and so her parents gave her that name as they dreamt that she would one day also become a teacher.
Liu Guang Yan	Guang means ‘wide’ (Guang is often part of the given names in her extended family) and Yan means ‘colourful’.  Her father hoped that she would be broadminded and have a good life.
Shen Xiao Ru	Xiao means ‘small’ and Ru is an old Chinese word for ‘eating’.  Her friends call her ‘snack’.  The name she was given at birth was Shen Meng Yue, but when she was 9 years old a fortune teller convinced her parents that she would have a better future with a new given name.  So she got the name Xiao Ru – but she prefers Meng Yue!
Wang Yin Huan	Yin means ‘gold’ and Huan means ‘happiness’.  This was also the given name of one of the 4 famous beauties in China’s history, Yang Yin Huan, and her parents hoped their daughter would be like her.
Diao Pin Yu	Yu means ‘rain’ (it was raining the day he was born), and Pin means ‘light’ – so his name means Light Rain or Drizzle.
Huang Chin Xiao	Chun means ‘spring’, and Xiao means ‘morning’.  His uncle chose the name, which is also the title of a famous ancient poem.
Xu Yong Bin	Yong means ‘forever’ and Bin means ‘friend’.  His parents hoped that he would make long-lasting friendships.
Wu Chuan Ze	Chuan means ‘deliver’ and is a common generational name in his extended family.  Ze means ‘growth after rain’.  It is the same character as in Mao Ze Dong, so popular for names.

About 60% of Chinese given names comprise two characters, and about 40% consist of only one character.

When a given name has two characters, the pinyin (Romanised) version is usually written as one word - for example, Mao Zedong – although the Chinese version comprises three distinct characters. You may have noticed that in my blog I usually list each character separately (eg Mao Ze Dong), although I realise that is not normal practice.

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'Papa Andy' (my brother) admiring his grand-daughter, Hinamoana, in Rarotonga. Her name means "moonlight on the ocean".

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Today is my sister's birthday.  Best wishes for today and the year ahead, Angie !!!

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Well, folks, that's it for this post.  As you know, I normally compile a list of major news items each month but will do another post in a day or two with October's events.

Keep well, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Friday, 31 October 2014

25 October 2014

Gentlefolk

In this post I outline my teaching schedule for this semester, and summarise my classes.  The second article refers to the recent passing of Gough Whitlam.

My teaching schedule, September 2014 to January 2015

My teaching load in October is 10 classes a week, although it will reduce to 7 classes a week in November and December.  My weekly my teaching schedule is:

Table 1: Alex’s teaching schedule September 2014 – January 2015

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8 – 9.50am				EM1303 Culture Room NJ303
10.10 – 12 noon		EM1301 Culture NT514
2 – 3.50pm			Drilling Co Oral English (October)		Drilling Co Oral English (October)
4.10 – 6pm	Drilling Co Oral English (October)	EM1302 + DM Culture NT118	NM199 Oral English Room NJ502		NM63 Culture Room NJ404
7 – 8.50pm	NM64 Oral English NT322	NM198 Culture Room NJ112

Notes:

EM = English Major (these students are studying English); DM = Double Major (these students are doing a double degree, for example their main major is Petroleum Engineering and their second major is English); NM = Non Major (these students are not studying English, they are taking this subject as an ‘elective’.)

NT = Nan Tang Teaching Building; NJ = Nan Jiao Teaching Building.

My teaching schedule is 7 classes per week, from Week 2 (week commencing 15 September 2014) to Week 18 (week commencing 5 January 2015); 5 classes of Western Culture and 2 classes of Oral English.  Additionally, in October I am teaching Oral English to a group of 30 from the Great Wall Drilling Company three times a week. 

Mondays and Tuesdays are a bit tight with only an hour for dinner between classes.  But overall I’m happy with my teaching schedule this semester.  Leaves plenty of time for other activities.

Alex’s classes, Sept 2014 – January 2015

Table 2: Class summaries, September 2014 – January 2015

Class	EM1301 + EM1303	EM1302 + DM	NM198	NM63	NM64	NM199
Subject	Culture	Culture	Culture	Culture	Oral	Oral
Number	33	52	60	61	31	30
Boys	25%	15%	57%	55%	50%	33%
Girls	75%	85%	43%	45%	50%	67%
Left handed	2	1	1	2	0	0
Can drive	0	6%	22%	20%	25%	10%
1 character	34%	39%	38%	33%	35%	30%
2 characters	66%	61%	62%	67%	65%	70%
Province
Shandong	48%	50%	27%	28%	24%	22%
Parent jobs
Farmers	21%	25%	26%	22%	20%	20%
Workers	30%	32%	25%	28%	14%	33%
Teachers	6%	7%	6%	5%	12%	9%
Govt	2%	4%	7%	13%	10%	13%
Business	12%	18%	15%	14%	22%	6%
Hobbies
Movies	2nd	1st	3rd	3rd	2nd	5th
Music	1st	2nd	4th	4th		3rd
Reading	3rd	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	1st
Computer	5th		5th	5th	5th	4th
Shopping					3rd
Singing	4th
Basketball		4th	2nd	1st	4th	2nd
Tennis
Jogging		5th

Notes:

(1) Students in “13” classes are Sophomores (i.e. in their 2^nd year of university; they started university in September 2013)

(2) I have combined English Major class EM1301 (Tuesday mornings) and EM1303 (Thursday mornings) in the table, to save a column.  EM1301 has 18 students and EM1303 has 15 students.

(3) EM1302 is combined in one class with Double Major classes DM1303 and DM1304. 

(4) My Liaison Teacher this semester is Zhang Qi (Carol).

Comments on Table 2

English Majors

English major students focus on learning English: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  They will graduate with a BA (English).

Double Majors

These students are doing 2 majors (like a ‘Double Degree’ in Australia):  their ‘main major’ (such as Petroleum Engineering) and English is their ‘minor major’.  They have to be in the top quartile of their main majors before they are admitted into Double Major.  They are the busiest students on campus, with over 40 hours of lectures a week.

In my experience there are usually more girls than boys in the Double Major classes, and this trend continues this semester as verified by the numbers in Table 2.  A Double Major is a big burden to take on, but having good English may help girls when competing for a job.

 

Non Majors

These students come from a variety of Majors, but not English.  All students can apply to do one or two “optional / elective” classes each semester. 

  

About 150 students applied to do each of my Culture classes, and 60 were successful.

Most of the Non Major students in my classes are Juniors (in 3^rd Year), with some Sophomores (2^nd Year).  Occasionally some Seniors (4^th Year) are also in the class, although they are usually preoccupied with finding a job.

Duration of classes

Each class comprises 2 x 50 minute lessons.  The Culture and Oral courses run for 16 weeks (i.e. final exams will be held in the second week of January 2015).

Handedness

My previous research suggests that 4% to 5% of Chinese students are left-handed, compared to 9% to 10% of the population in the USA.  As shown in Table 2, this semester only six of my 267 students are left-handed (about 2%).

Drivers licence

This is a sort of economic indicator .  I’ve noticed in the last 4 years a significant increase in the number of students who have drivers licences, which is a reflection of the rapid economic development of China (either their parents or a close relative now owns a car) .  Four years ago less than 5% could drive - now many more 

Table 2 shows that a much higher proportion of students in my Non Major classes have drivers licences than in the English Major classes.  One reason could be the slightly older age of students in the Non Major classes (Juniors rather than Sophomores).

Given names

Overall, about 40% of Chinese have given names comprising one character and 60% have two characters.  Table 2 shows that my students this semester are pretty much in line with the national average.

Home Province

I am interested to know which part of China my students come from.  The China University of Petroleum is located in Qingdao in Shandong Province and the greatest number come from this Province.  But I am intrigued that my English Major classes (50%) have about twice the proportion of students from Shandong compared to the Non Major classes (about 25%).  Wonder why?

Shandong Province is about the same area as the State of Florida in the US or about 70% the size of the State of Victoria in Australia.  The 2010 census showed Shandong had a population of 96 million (the second largest Province in China by population, after Guangdong).

Parents jobs

This statistic can be a guide to the socio-economic background of the students, particularly how many students come from “the countryside”.  But it must be taken as an indication only, because these days so many farmers have jobs as “workers”.

I am now in my 5^th year of teaching in China, and the decline in the proportion of students who say their parents are ‘farmers’ is noticeable.  Five years ago around 40% of my students said their parents were “farmers” – compared to about 24% in my classes this semester.

Of course that reflects the movement of people from villages in "the countryside" to towns and cities.  Forty years ago the urban population of China was about 20%; it is now 52% and continuing to grow.

Another point to note is that in China the descriptor “workers” is often used in a very general way, covering blue collar and white collar jobs.  So this statistic needs to be viewed with care.

Hobbies

This provides an idea of what the students like to do in their spare time.  But, again, it is an indication only as hobbies can vary greatly with time and place.  For example, many students indicated that ‘reading’ is their main hobby.  But when I quizzed them it often turns out they haven’t read a book in months.  I wonder if they say ‘reading’ to impress me? or because they think that is a ‘suitable’ hobby for students?  or it’s something they would like to do but other things intervene?

An interesting observation is that ‘traditional’ Chinese sports such as table tennis and badminton are being displaced by new sports such as basketball, tennis, soccer, jogging and in-line skating.

Workload of English Major students

Table 3 shows the weekly class schedule for students in English Major 1301 this semester.  They are Sophomores (ie, 2^nd Year students).

Table 3: Weekly class schedule for English Major 1301, September 2014 – January 2015

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8 – 9.50am	Writing English	Oral English	Listening English	Translation	-
10.10 – 12 noon	Physical Education	Western Culture	Reading English	Inter-cultural communications	Reading English
2 – 3.50pm	Marxism	Communication	Writing English	Communication	-
4.10 – 6pm	-	-	Marxism	-	-
7 – 8.50pm	-	-	-	-	-

The students are encouraged to take one or two elective/optional classes each semester, on top of the mandatory classes shown in Table 3.  They can choose from a wide range, including: Oil & gas in China; Nuclear power; Career preparation; International relations; Chinese history;  Military history; Psychology; Marketing; Multi-media; etc.

English Major students must study a second language (French, Japanese, Korean), starting in the second semester of their Sophomore year. 

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Vale, Gough Whitlam (11 July 1916 - 21 October 2014) 

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Gough Whitlam had a dramatic impact on Australia during his 1,071 days as leader of Australia.  Here are some of the things he did (kinda takes your breath away):

Abolished the death penalty

Lowered voting age to 18

Ended conscription and freed draft resisters

Withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam

National Sewerage Program brought sewerage to outskirts of Sydney and Melbourne

Established Australian Legal Aid office.

Passed Racial Discrimination Act

Established diplomatic relations with China

Granted independence to Papua New Guinea

Pushed France to stop nuclear testing in the Pacific

Abolished university tuition fees

Introduced universal health care (now Medicare)

Founded Triple J

Started the movement to indigenous land rights by granting the Gurindji title to traditional lands

Introduced ‘no-fault’ divorce

etc, etc, etc, etc

How did he achieve all that, with a hostile Senate breathing down his neck?

In his spare time he also reformed the ALP, breaking union stranglehold, which made it electable after 23 years of conservative rule.

Here are some photos of this extraordinary man:

Gough & Margaret's wedding, 22 April 1942; they were married for 69 years, until she passed away in 2012.  He always said she was the love of his life.

Gough served in the RAAF during WW2 (1942 - 45) as a navigator, attaining the rank of Flight Lieutenant

Flight Lieutenant Gough Whitlam relaxing with a cup of tea.

The Whitlam family in 1954. Children: Antony (1944), Nicholas (1945), Stephen (1950), and Catherine (1954).

In June 1971, as Leader of the Opposition, Whitlam visited the PRC.  It was a politically-risky move, but he believed strongly that it was time to bring China into the family of nations. Richard Nixon's visit to China was announced a few weeks later (took place in February 1972), which silenced Whitlam's critics.

1972 federal election campaign, wearing It's time slogan T-shirts with singer Little Pattie.

Following the election win, Gough Whitlam and Lance Barnard formed a 'duumvirate government' from 5 - 19 December 1972, until the new Ministry was sworn in.  

PM Whitlam's first Ministry.  Some good ones in that lot, but also some that proved to be disasters!

31 October - 4 November 1973, Whitlam's first official visit to China as Prime Minister.  He was welcomed by Zhou En Lai, China's Foreign Minister.

Meeting Chairman Mao Ze Dong in Beijing.  Mao was already quite sick and feeble, but he lasted another 3 years.

Deng Xiao Ping (right) as Vice Premier responsible for Foreign Affairs escorted the Whitlams on their visit to the Forbidden City museum, November 1973.  Wonder what they made of their diminutive, nondescript guide (Gough was 194 cm, Deng only 150 cm)?   Did the Whitlams have any inkling, after spending a couple of hours with him, that within five years Deng would be the supreme leader and that his "opening & reform" policies would change China forever?

At the 'Echo Wall' of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, November 1973. Dr Stephen FitzGerald, Australia's first Ambassador to the PRC, is looking on.  The Temple of Heaven was our favorite cultural site during our posting to Beijing 1983-86.

PM Whitlam discussing the reconstruction plan with Major General Alan Stretton after Cyclone Tracy flattened Darwin on Xmas Day 1974

The Governor General's official secretary David Smith proclaiming the appointment of the Fraser caretaker government, 11 November 1975. (David Smith was in my political science class at the ANU in the  mid-1960s).

Many people were shocked and dismayed by "the dismissal", but Labor was soundly beaten at the subsequent election.  Whitlam was a visionary leader but not a good manager, and the electorate was fed up with the shenanigans of his Ministers.

28 July 1976 Gough and Margaret were visiting Beijing when a devastating earthquake struck Tangshan (about 250 km from Beijing), inspiring a Peter Nicholson cartoon showing the couple in bed with Margaret asking 'Did the earth move for you too, dear?'  Laborites thought it was disrespectful, but Gough loved the humor, bought the original and hung it in pride-of-place above the conjugal bed!

A personal recollection:

Vera and I met Mr Whitlam when he made an official visit to Thailand in early 1974.  I was on a short-term assignment to the Trade Office in the Australian Embassy (intellectual John Holmes was Senior Trade Commissioner and practical Bill Barry was the Trade Commissioner, a good team).

Everyone in the Embassy was involved in planning for the visit.  One of the activities was a boat trip on the Chao Phraya River, during the course of which Mr Whitlam insisted on spending a few minutes with each member of staff.

A day later, at the conclusion of the visit, several of us went out to the airport to farewell the official party.  He walked down the line, shaking hands.  When it was my turn he said "It was nice to meet you Mr Olah, and thanks for your help with the arrangements." Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather - I couldn't believe that he remembered my name. He must have met dozens of people during his time in Bangkok ... how on earth did he remember the name of "small-fry" like me?  I guess that was the measure of the man.

About eighteen months later I had to look after Malcolm Fraser (then Leader of the Opposition) when he was transiting through Vancouver airport.  He was a taciturn man, and we exchanged few words during the hour we spent together. I'm absolutely certain nothing about me registered with him.

Whitlam and Fraser, adversaries in one of the great dramas of Australian politics, in later life became quite close and even cooperated on a number of social issues confronting Australia.  Time heals.

Gough Whitlam: a great Australian. Rest in Peace.

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That's all for this post.

Congratulations to Alex and Engara in Rarotonga on the birth of their first child, a daughter named Hinamoana.  A little bundle of joy.

Best wishes and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Saturday 25 October 2014