Week 4 began with an Introduction to Chinese Language: Mandarin, the official language of China, and ended with diplomacy.
Standard Mandarin Chinese was developed between 1912‒1949, and is the official language of mainland China. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations and is spoken by 1 billion people. On Monday, 20 March, we attempted to add to that number. We learned that tones distinguish meaning and, that Mandarin has 4 tones, that Chinese characters are the world’s oldest continuously used writing system; that there are tens of thousands of characters. Each character represents a word, and compound words are written with 2 or more characters, and the same characters may have a range of meanings with different pronunciations. Further, a young child may know several hundred characters, a secondary student may know over 2,000, and a college graduate probably knows 4,000 characters. It was a lot to take in during that 21/2-hour morning session. Fortunately, there were several tea breaks and a lot of repetition, so by later that week, I could recognise the word ‘heart’ in a poem installation.
“Heart” Chinese character in poetry of Naton Group, Haidian District, Beijing
The following day, Tuesday, 21 March, was a long day. We visited Haidian District, Beijing municipality’s international centre for scientific and technical innovation. Haidian houses over 300 libraries and museums, over 100 theatres, cultural and art institutions, 27 institutions of higher education, 99 national-level research institutions, 23 national engineering research centres, 50 national key laboratories and nearly 700 historical relics. We visited Naton Group, Zhongguancun Environmental Protection Science Park, Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone, and Xiaomi Science Park. Our art museum trip was cancelled due to time overruns.
Naton Group’s surgical blue screws, Haidian District, Beijing
At Naton Group, I marvelled at the medical supplies and equipment on show: beds, mobility equipment, polymer bone fracture patches and masks. I was especially taken with a set of blue screws that looked like what I use at home, but this set was for surgical use. The Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone was just that: many journalists jumped at the chance to be driven in a driverless vehicle.
Driverless bus – Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone
At Xiaomi Science Park, we were bowled over by the range of intelligent phones and household products and were tickled by the smart apartment and its fingerprint lock that triggered interior lights, welcoming music and climate control etc., based on AI technology. We covered the Opening Ceremony of the Second International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values in Beijing, China, on Thursday, 23 March. Several speakers shared thoughts on democracy in general, on China’s whole-process people’s democracy and outside interference on a country’s sovereignty.
Smart kitchen in smart apartment at Xiaomi Science Park, Haidian District, Beijing
On Friday, our cultural activity, this time calligraphy, was shelved due to a last-minute briefing on the recent China-Russia meeting. The proviso was that the contents of that briefing were not to be reported. So, mum’s the word. Wrapping up a tight week and looking forward to an uneventful weekend of laundry and relaxation, on Sunday morning, the 9-member group of Caribbean journalists were shuttled to witness the historic signing of the joint communiqué between China and Honduras, establishing diplomatic relations. See the article on Now Grenada.
The Caribbean journalists in China representing (l-r front) Bahamas, Suriname, Grenada, Trinidad, Jamaica
(l-r back) Dominica, Barbados, Guyana, Antigua. Photo: SLCT
Not a bad end to week 4.