Words & Visual Art

"Words are for communication and cities are for living...Traditional Chinese characters became simplified characters; old cities have become new cities..."

-Hung Keung

Kinetic Typography animation by Matt Rogers

Loanword in Mandarin Chinese

Could you understand the following story?

I got a call from a friend inviting me to go to a pàiduì tonight when I was lying on my shāfā, after doing yújiā. I said while sipping my píjiŭ, "Kù! Let's go xuĕpìn this afternoon?"

After my friend had put her new clothes on, I heard her whispered to herself, "I am beautiful, I look like a mótèr!"

At night in the pàiduì we drank xiāngbīn and ate sānmíngzhì, while someone was playing jítā in the background.

When we left a friend asked me if I cared for a ride in his jípŭ chē. "No, you have had too much xiāngbīn, I'd better take a bāshì!" I turned down his suggestion and walked away.

Hightlight here to see the pinyin in English:

pàiduì party

shāfā sofa

yújiā yoga

píjiŭ beer

xuĕpìn shopping

mótèr model

xiāngbīn champagne

sānmíngzhì sandwich

jítā guitar

jípŭ chē jeep

bāshì bus

Party Lover Roberto

A short story about Roberto, a party lover.


By my student Jihoon


罗伯特喜欢派对。


他很幽默和随和。他长得不太好看，但是他常常笑，笑的时候让他活泼的脸看起来更好看。


他很有自信，也常常能猜到一个人喜欢怎么样的派对。


罗伯特很会玩，常常开很奢侈的派对，但是他不是有钱人。


他不在派对的时候，性格完全相反，在工作的时候他很认真和成熟，他努力地赚钱；


但是就在派对把钱全部花光。


他重复着这样奇怪的生活，只有一件事情不变：


他总是很忙，好像他明天就会死去一样。


如果有的事今天不做，以后没有机会做。


我可以在他身上感到他对生命的爱。

Taxi Cantonese 2

Taxi Cantonese 1

If you don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere, and being charged a fortune; it would be better to speak some Cantonese while you are taking a taxi in Hong Kong.

Here are some useful phrases for telling the taxi driver your destination. More to come in the next few posts!

Click the images to enlarge, or even print them out!

Naughty Donkey Making a Mess

An interesting, creative food name can definitely make an impression, especially on the foodies.

Last Wednesday I met a friend for dinner. My friend was planning a trip to Beijing next month. As a foodie, she told me the first thing she wanted to do in Beijing was to try a famous Beijing snack named “Rolling Donkey”(驢打滾；驴打滚; lǘ dă gŭn)-glutinous rice rolls with sweet bean-flour.

Our first encounter with the snack was in “My Memories of Old Beijing”, an autobiographical novel written by Lin Haiyin in 1960. The book was a very interesting read and was highly recommended by schools back then.

Sadly and interestingly enough, my friend could recall nothing from the book but only “Rolling Donkey”. The reason why it was named as such was because the rice rolls are covered with yellow bean-flour, looking like a donkey making a mess on a dusty, sandy ground. A playful name like this made itself impossible to slip away from her memory.

Here are some other interesting Chinese food names I have heard of:

(Click the Chinese names for the photos)

羊乳扇; yáng rŭ shàn: Goat’s Cheese Paper Fan (Yunnan Snack) –Thin, crispy goat’s cheese slices, looking like paper fans

硬面鐲子;硬面镯子; yìng miàn zhuó zi: Floured-Bracelet (Beijing snack)-Baked ring-shaped bread with sesame seeds.

蛤蟆吐蜜; háma tŭ mì: Honey-Spitting Toad (Beijing Snack)-White sesame bread stuffed with red bean paste. The bread cracks in the middle making the stuffing visible.

燈影牛肉；灯影牛肉；dēngyĭng niúròu: Light-shadow Beef (Sichuan snack)- Beef cut thin as if light can shine through, like a piece of canvas of a shadow play.

Love Pre-Anno Domini

First attempt to translate and rewrite one of the greatest pieces of Vincent Fang, a Taiwanese multi-Golden Melody award nominated lyricist.
This translation couldn't be completed without help from a friend, who is a poet.
Visit Arturo Leone's website here.

愛在西元前

古巴比倫王頒布了漢摩拉比法典 刻在黑色的玄武岩 距今已經三千七百多年

妳在櫥窗前 凝視碑文的字眼 我卻在旁靜靜欣賞妳那張我深愛的臉

祭司 神殿 征戰 弓箭 是誰的從前 喜歡在人潮中妳只屬於我的那畫面

經過蘇美女神身邊 我以女神之名許願 思念像底格里斯河般的漫延

當古文明只剩下難解的語言 傳說就成了永垂不朽的詩篇

我給妳的愛寫在西元前 深埋在美索不達米亞平原

幾十個世紀後出土發現 泥板上的字跡依然清晰可見

我給妳的愛寫在西元前 深埋在美索不達米亞平原

楔形文字刻下了永遠 那已風化千年的誓言 一切又重演

我感到很疲倦離家鄉還是很遠 害怕再也不能回到妳身邊

愛在西元前 愛在西元前

Love Pre-Anno Domini

It was 3700 years ago
that the King of Babylon
erected the black basalt stele
where the code of Hammurabi was inscribed.
You are studying the epigraph
at the front of the glass box
while I am adoring your face
in complete solitude.
The priests, the shrines, the wars, the bows and the arrows,
to whom did they once belong?
And why should I care if I know
I am the one you belong to?
Before Hera I made a vow in the name of the goddess;
my love flew through like the Tigris.
When the tangled tongues who
spoke in abstruse languages,
and salivated the dusty ash
of their ancient civilization,
legend turned into a poem to live on.
I left to you my love
pre-Anno Domini.
It was buried deep, deep under Mesopotamia.
Unearthed was the dozens of centuries-old tuppu
with my words clearly imprinted on it.
I left to you my love
pre-AnnoDomini.
It was buried deep, deep under Mesopotamia,
where immortality was cuneiformly carved;
where my words were everlastingly revived.
The history is about to repeat itself.
I need a rest but it will be a long way home;
how I long to return to where you belong.
Love pre-Anno Domini.
Lovepre-Anno Domini.