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Mid-Autumn Festival, or zhong1 qiu1 jie2, is a celebration of the roundest, fullest moon of the year, known to some Western cultures as the harvest moon. During this time Chinese all around the world celebrate by eating mooncakes (round cakes filled with dates, egg yolk, bean paste and other tasty goodies), carrying lanterns and revering some ancient Chinese deities, such as Chang E (pronounced Ch*ahn*uh).

According to one version Chinese mythology, Chang E was a beautiful young girl serving the Jade Emperor and relished by the immortal, Hou Yi. This brought about all sorts of disharmonies, and they quickly fell out of favor from the Jade Emperor (heavenly ruler) and were banished to the earth. At the time, the earth was scorched by not one, but ten suns, making life miserable (mythological global warming?). There, Emperor Yao asked Hou Yi, who besides being immortal, was an excellent archer, to shoot the suns. Having great foresight, he left one sun. Houyi was rewarded with a magical elixir from Emperor Yao. Instead of drinking it, he saved it, but Chang E got her hands on it and drank it herself. She quickly found herself floating into space and eventually landing on the moon. Houyi himself retired to the sun.

In Chinese culture today we have the concepts of Yin and Yang. The moon and women are represented by Yin, often attributed to the legend of Chang E, and men and the sun are portrayed by Yang, due to the excellent archery skills of Houyi. This story is just one of many that create the legend of Mid-Autumn festival. It is a very pleasant time to have a holiday. Most places are enjoying comfortable autumn weather and families often get together for the festival to celebrate.

Why is the first step to learning Chinese listening? Well listening is the most fundamental form of communication. We all hear from the moment we are born. Others are speaking to us, we hear the sounds of our surrounding environment and become accustomed to picking up language. We learn to distinguish sounds and separate noise from language. Perhaps this is the biggest barrier as an adult learner, as adults are already well accustomed to categorizing the sounds they encounter in their environment. Young language learners are just picking up the queues and reactions we make in communication via language. Given the capacity of the human brain, it makes no difference what language young learners hear or how many languages they are exposed. They have the capacity and open mind to learn to categorize these sounds into language where adult learners would struggle. The way the human brain is quite amazing!

Sound gives us that exposure to spoken Chinese that allows our open minds to process and categorize the language. In later interactions, the brain picks up on communication queues when encountering the same sounds that it has been exposed to prior, and thus language fluency begins to take root.

Naturally, the Ting Ting Press recommends learning from sound as the first step to Chinese language acquisition. We offer a variety of Chinese materials both spoken and sung. Singing adds a more creative and enjoyable element to the learning experience. As far as kids are concerned, listening and singing along with these songs is a fun game. Little do they know that their expanding minds are absorbing the Chinese language.

The New York Times (click on link) is reporting that Chinese securities regulations require that senior managers that hold key positions must be able to pass a language skills test in reading, speaking and apparently writing Chinese. The article goes on to say that,

Government rules requiring language skills could damage efforts by investment banks to bring top employees to China.

Already, Goldman Sachs has experienced difficulties filling in top management positions for its business in China.

China is not a plaything for the worlds investment banks to dabble in. To be able to understand and comply with government regulations the most senior managers at all investment firms must be able to use the Chinese language fluently. Think of it the other way around… Can someone with only a rudimentary knowledge of English attain a Series 7 securities license? Companies like Goldman Sachs are going to have to understand that you can’t criticize the Chinese government for the way it regulates the financial markets without being able to understand it.

This example exemplifies the current state of globalization we are in. Companies like Goldman, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and others are going to have to wait another 10 to 20 years for the next generation of global business leaders to build up their language skills to be able to work effectively with China. The Chinese language is going to be demystified, and truly skilled leaders are going to be using it in business all over the world. The Ting Ting press is only a stepping stone to launch in this direction.

Oregon is slowly positioning itself as a leader in educating itself in Mandarin Chinese language. Here is the text of our letter of support of HB 2763 which would bring $350,000 to the Oregon Department of Education to contract for “development of an articulated kindergarten through grade 12 Mandarin Chinese language curriculum for public schools” and to “recommend to the superintendent how best to build an educational infrastructure to provide more students with Mandarin Chinese language instruction.”

Here is the text of the letter I wrote to Oregon Representatives and Senators in support of HB 2763:

Dear Senators and Representatives:

As an active and aware community member, business owner and parent, I sincerely hope that you will strongly consider HB 2763 - by Representatives Buckley, Richardson, Senator Bates; Representatives Cannon, Clem, Dallum, Esquivel, Komp, Krummel, Lim, Maurer, Roblan (at the request of Peter Coyl) (at the request of Peter Coyl) — relating to Chinese language instruction; appropriating money; declaring an emergency.

This bill, currently in the Joint Ways and Means Committee, addresses a critical competency facing Oregon’s future, how do Oregonians face the global challenges ahead in the US-China relationship. We can face the future with China by opening our minds and learning its language and culture, for China has in the past decade taken it upon itself to learn about America’s language and culture. Oregon can be a leader in the US-China relationship. Oregon exports to China have already topped $1.4 Billion in 2006, making it Oregon’s second largest export market.

As Oregonians we need to ask ourselves, “are we laying the groundwork for a prosperous future?” How will we make trade with China contribute more substantially to Oregon’s jobs, economy and its future? The answer lies within a strong foundation of education, exchange and friendship. China has proven it is open for business and wants to make friends with the world. Oregon can reciprocate by speedily passing HB 2763 and supporting further education and exchange with China. To this, we can seal Oregon’s prosperous future through supporting the fundamentals now.

Jess Laventall
Ting Ting Press LLC

If at any time inter-cultural conflict arises between the US and China, the best way to solve it would be through our stomachs. Nina and Tim Zagat, the folks who produce the Zagat guide, have an intriguing op-ed piece in the NY Times located here. In it they argue that Americans have been deprived the the “true” tastes of China, namely food that is truly representative of the eight major cuisines of Chinese food. Yes, China with its glorious history of 5,000 years, has mastered its cuisine and has defined it down to even the theoretical sense. The eight major cuisines of China are only the beginning a complex organization of tastes, ingredients and philosophies of just exactly how to eat, drink and be merry. Read more »

Pinyin is the official modern romanization system used for Mandarin Chinese in China and throughout the world.  Pinyin is able to represent all Chinese sounds and inflections through the use of standard latin script with specialized marks at the top of each word.  While pinyin is a flexible system that is capable of representing modern Mandarin Chinese, it does have a learning curve in terms of correct pronunciation.  The products at the Ting Ting Press all have pinyin on them, but it takes a few lessons in pinyin before you can pronounce these words correctly.

There are a few resources on the net that can help.  One that I view as the English authority on the subject is www.pinyin.info.   This is the site by Mark Swofford of Banqiao, Taiwan.  A full background and primer on the usage of pinyin is offered, as well as links to other resources regarding the correct pronunciation.  For the computer geek in us, this site offers tools for correct pinyin character coding (something that I’ve been able to implement at the Ting Ting Press store).

In sum, this is an invaluable resource, and I highly recommend it to all those who are curious to the usage of pinyin.  Enjoy.

Living between both US and China’s cultures, one of the biggest things that strikes me lack of knowledge and understanding of history.  The actions from history very much explain why we are at where we are at today.  Yet with such a rich history, why don’t we know more about China.  Chinese history is a fascinating tapestry of stories dating back 5,000 years.  Great stories about rulers, soldiers, teachers and the very landscape of China itself is what adds color to Chinese language and culture.  This is where true inspiration can be found. Read more »

Behold!  The Ting Ting Press is (re)-born.  As promised, we have put together a web store for your Chinese language and cultural materials needs.  It has been a long road coming to this point, and it still has an exciting direction to go.

First, where we’ve been…

We decided on our own e-commerce solution after considering many sales channels.  The Ting Ting Press webstore (http://www.tingtingpress.com) is the best way to reach out to audiences both near and far to distribute Chinese learning materials.  In addition, it is a promotion channel through using the internet.  From having some technical background, we’ve adopted the zen cart OS shopping cart solution.  It is a great platform with a strong supportive user base of other like minded internet shop keepers.  We also like the scalability for future expansion.

And now where we are going…

We’ll if you are in the Portland, OR area and looking for language learning materials for children between 3 and 12, then you will definitely want to see our catalog  and peruse our selection.  We have materials from China that you will not find anywhere else in the United States.  These materials are published by name brand publishing houses in China and were carefully screened for suitability.

In the not so distant future, expect to see even more products from the Ting Ting Press.  Our travels and tribulations have started many exciting conversations with partners in China who want to contribute to our success.  Learning Chinese is the future, and it can begin with the Ting Ting Press today.

In case you were wondering, we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  Quite the opposite, we’ve been traversing many different places across this small planet.  Life continues to blossom for us in China, with my daughter picking up Mandarin by leaps and bounds these past few weeks.

The Ting Ting Press itself is about to under go significant transformation.  If you stumbled upon this place looking for Chinese language tools and fun things to buy, you’ll soon have an opportunity to do so… once I figure out how to configure our new store.  In the mean time, feel free to contact us through a comment or send an e-mail on the contact us page.  We’ll notify you when we’re open for business.

Products that we’ll soon have available for you include pinyin posters, poster books, picture books, flashcards and writing practice books.  And this is just the tip of the ice berg.  More things are coming down the channel in the future.  So do please check back, if not only to read our blog.

Look for another update by, or around, mid-April.

Well almost… half of us are in China and half are back home in the US. We are using this opportunity to work together to expand the possibilities of what the Ting Ting Press can bring for you. In the very near future we will be offering our first products, including a series of bilingual posters (Pictures, Chinese characters, pinyin and English translation), poster books (with pages of pictures, characters, pinyin and translation), flashcards and writing workbooks. These products were carefully sourced through ceaseless searches in book markets, publisher expos and trade venues. The result are stimulating and practical materials that truly can support learning Chinese. Though geared mainly for children, these posters, books and flashcards are versatile for all ages to use. Check back soon for information on how to purchase these.

Our “first” trip to China was very successful…

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