Ipinapakita ang mga post na may etiketa na Chinese culture. Ipakita ang lahat ng mga post
Ipinapakita ang mga post na may etiketa na Chinese culture. Ipakita ang lahat ng mga post

Sabado, Hulyo 15, 2023

Chinese Shoes

   你好! Hello dear readers! I am back again. Still busy juggling life work and family matters. I am in my early 40's now, looking back I never forget my first love which is my interest and love for the Chinese culture. 

For today, I am going to share with you my Chinese shoes. I usually buy my Chinese shoes online. Usually they cost $10 up. I am just using dollars as an example for readers abroad to understand me with regard to the price of these shoes. 

These shoes are partly made of cloth, and somewhat wood in the inner part. You can see from the photo, they are like wooden mat. The soles are made of rubber. Before they are just made of many thick cloth pieced together. You can see this on the video of popular vlogger Li Ziqi 李子柒. As you can see from the photo I have four pairs of shoes. There are two style, one with a strap and without. They are like flats. It is very comfortable to wear. I usually wear mine in the office or whenever I go out, like going to the mall. These embroidered shoes are called "xiuhua", meaning embroidered shoes. You can choose from a variety of designs, from flowers to crane. I also have Hanfu shoes. I especially bought this to go with my Hanfu clothes. I like the Hanfu shoes, they are called "gong xie". Usually they have an exaggerated upturned toe , it is used to hold up the hem so the hem of the Hanfu would not get in the way. There many kinds of Chinese shoes. In the Manchu era they have this heel platform shoe. In the olden days shoes were made of straw. If you are interested in buying Chinese shoes you can order them from Taobao in Lazada. Happy walking! 

Sabado, Setyembre 29, 2018

Chinese Studies in Massive Open Online Courses

   Wayback, I took a free online course at Open2Study, and today I just finished another course, this time at Coursera which is a very popular platform online for learning free, and verified paid courses. Coursera has been around for quite sometime. There is also another popular MOOC website, and that is edX.

I am a Chinese culture and language enthusiast, and anything that has to do with Chinese studies has always piqued my interest. There aren't a lot of universities, and colleges here in my country that offers Chinese studies courses. Top universities here that offers Chinese studies is way too expensive. Same with universities abroad. So imagine my glee when I found out about different MOOC that offers Chinese studies, and language.

The first Chinese studies course that I took online was the Chinese Language and Culture Course at Open2Study, provided by South China University of Technology taught by Prof. Liu Cheng (Brady). This is a sort of introduction, and the basics of Chinese Language and Culture. This is a free course, and you need not pay, all you need is dedication.

In Coursera, I took a paid, and verified certificate course in Chinese Culture and Contemporary China. Coursera partnered with Nanjing University. The lecturers in the video were all from Nanjing University. Professors Cheng Aimin, Zhang Bin, Julius Vaitkevicius, Pan Wang, Ao Xuegang, Ding Fangfang and Sunmin. The video lectures here were 5 to 10 minutes long. There is also an optional discussion page. The courses here in Coursera are not that lengthy, and in-depth unlike the courses in edX, nevertheless the lessons are concise.

Why did I choose to take Chinese studies online courses? Well, mainly because it is my interest, and I will be more knowledgeable in a particular subject matter. It will also be a plus or an asset in my credentials. Also, I want to show that I am really passionate in my interest. As the Chinese say it 加油! ( jiayou)

Linggo, Hulyo 20, 2014

My Article at Nin Hao magazine: Confessions of a Chinese Culture Enthusiast

"Never be tired of learning or teaching others." - Confucius

I spent almost half of my life collecting books, reading, and studying anything with regards to Chinese culture, language, arts and anything that has a connection with it. So I was really, really happy and proud seeing one of my blog entry published in a Filipino-Chinese newsletter/magazine. It's more than twice the happiness that I felt seeing my letter to the editor (comment about Nin Hao magazine) being published before. 

I have included all the names of my Filipino-Chinese friends and acquaintances in this article of mine in the credits part. I am grateful to them because, they were all part of my life's journey, my own 'Silk Road' journey. I'm also thankful to GOD for giving me the chance to realize my dream because without His help I wouldn't be able to meet all these wonderful people who helped me along the way, who helped me fulfill my dreams little by little.

Truly I can attest, if you really want something, just don't give up. Pursue your passion. If one person believes in you then that's enough to make you go on, and never stop. I'm thankful to 施華謹先生 Shi Hua Jin  (Chinese studies scholar, and translator of Chinese works into Filipino, former president of KAISA Heritage Center, former secretary general of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and at present Manila Doctors Hospital Corporate Secretary) for giving me a chance to share my article, and for appreciating what I wrote. Because of him I was able to fulfill my dream of being a real writer. 

My article was published last May-June 2014 issue of Nin Hao 您好! Nin Hao magazine. (Nin Hao means good day in Chinese Mandarin). You can get a copy of this magazines for free in Binondo area and some business establishments there like PSBank. Truly it is indeed a good day!