Stewart Lee Beck's Blog, page 2
March 13, 2016
AmCham Future Leaders Committee Event
Stewart Lee Beck represented China Simplified in today’s Shanghai AmCham Future Leaders Committee Event on “Language Learning – Approaches, Strategies, Tips and Tools.” Joining Stewart on the panel were John Pasden, Founder of AllSet Learning, and Kevin Chen, Co-Founder of italki.com.
Stewart shared these five language learning tips with the audience:
1. Be clear on your goalsDo you plan to focus on speaking & listening, or also reading & writing? For some, it may make sense to s...
March 5, 2016
A Daoist Master on Conflict Resolution
The Daoist/Taoist philosophers were known for their unforced approach to life, serving as a welcome relief to stultifying Confucian perfectionism. And the Daoist Master, Zhuangzi, more than perhaps any other Chinese philosopher, came to exemplify the anti-rational creative mindset so coveted by the Chinese literati of various ages.
“Making a point to show that a point is not a point
is not as good as making a nonpoint to show
that a point is not a point.”
– Zhuangzi
Zhuangz...
February 21, 2016
Complimenting Male Partners & Friends – Five Phrases Showing Cultural Awareness
When you face a moment where it would help to dish out a compliment, say to a male partner or a friend or a friend’s son, China Simplified wants you to be armed and ready!
The current trendy expressions – 小鲜肉 xiǎo xiān ròua hot guy (lit. little fresh meat), 男神 nán shénmale god, and 高富帅 gāofù shuàitall, rich and handsome – are great among friends to show you know the latest pop culture sayings. In other settings, however, you may want to reach for a more sophisticated compliment, one ab...
February 7, 2016
The Monkey King: A Furry Superhero Heads West
Sinophiles who’ve yet to read the Journey to the West (西游记, Xīyóujì) can still recognize the novel’s shapeshifting protagonist by name. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) author Wu Cheng’en based his fictional masterpiece on the 17-year journey of a real-life monk named Xuanzang, tasked by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to bring a collection of Buddhist sutras back to further enlighten China.
The basic Xiyouji story arc: Sun Wukong (孙悟空, Sūn Wùkōng) aka the Monkey King, paying pen...
January 21, 2016
Chinese Mass Migrations: Past, Present & Future
Humanity has been on the move since the beginning of recorded time. Our world in 2016, in some ways, is not dissimilar, with the Economist reporting 60 million displaced people now roam our planet.
Some among us think nothing of stepping into a metal tube, flying 15 hours to the opposite side of the globe, emerging just in time for a business meeting, all without missing a beat. Imagine time-traveling to the year 1405 and trying to explain that one to Admiral Zheng He: The Floating CEO...
December 17, 2015
Beijing Opera – Unmasking Five of its Biggest Myths
Let’s remove the common misperceptions surrounding Beijing Opera as a Chinese art form to better understand its unique and multifaceted storytelling approach.
Here are five common myths eager to be dispelled:
1. Beijing Opera is the oldest form of Chinese OperaBeijing Opera (京剧, Jīngjù) aka Peking Opera clocks in at a youthful 200 years old and is only one of the 360+ local Chinese operas. By comparison, the influential Kun Opera (昆剧, Kūnjù) musical theater finds its roots in Kunshan,...
November 30, 2015
China Insiders: Jesse Appell on Cracking the Chinese Stand-Up Comedy Market
This week wespoke with Jesse Appell, an American comedian living in Beijing, about his views on Chinese comedy and performing for a Chinese audience.
read short versionread full versionHow’s the comedy scene in China?
There can’t be more than a hundred hard core stand-up comedians in the country, but tuōkǒuxiù (脱口秀, “talk show”) is on every TV station. So it’s gone from three years before, when you couldn’t findtuōkǒuxiù and no one knew what it was, to now it’s everywhere but...
October 22, 2015
China-themed Halloween Costumes
Halloween is coming fast! Is your costume ready? To kick-start your creative process, here’s our shortlist of five Chinese culture-inspired Halloween costumes guaranteed to spark interest at parties, or at least generate a few good laughs while you’re trick-or-treating:
1. The Little Red BookWant to be an instant icon, one of the 5 billion copies of the world’s most printed book, for your Halloween Party? To bring your experience up a notch, memorize a few lines from Chairman Mao...
October 10, 2015
Viral Marketing: Mao’s Little Red Book as a Case Study
Ever wondered how the Quotations from Chairman Mao started as an internal military handbook and became a blockbuster advice guide with total copies in print rivaling the Bible?
Our curiosity got the better of us during the China National Day (October 1st) Golden Week, so we decided to investigate the phenomenon of Mao’s Little Red Book as a product marketing case study and conduct an open experiment (acknowledging the imperfect nature of such comparisons) following the lifecycle of the...
September 16, 2015
“The Mercedes Bends” – Chinese Lucky Numbers & Superstitions
The China Simplified team shows what can happen when a naive foreigner turns what should be a “big face” gift into a complete disaster.
Human beings throughout history have engendered numbers and dates with great significance, drawing upon long-held myths and legends to create an unconscious consensus on which specific digits are auspicious and which are calamitous.
On the scary side, some Westerners battle triskaidekaphobia, fear of unlucky number 13, or hexakosioihex...
