The Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (HSK) 汉语水平考试

Chinese gave me a headache.

So motivation time...

my actual aims:

- mastering the language of course

- chinese university voyage 

- language certificate! 

There's only one kind of Chinese certyficate (unlike English). I mean:

The Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (HSK), (Chinese: 汉语水平考试),

6 levels of written exams

3 levels of oral exams

HSK - required characters

HSK1 grammar

HSK2 grammar

HSK3 grammar

HSK4 grammar

HSK5 grammar

HKS6 grammar 

CHINESE TEST ONLINE

I registered on this side. I don't get in 100% what it is about, but you can practice doing the test. Right now i tried to copy with level 1 - and my results are quite depressing.

how it is to be a caveman?

Today I was told that Chinese people do live in caves. Not everybody of corse, but 30-40 millions of them. I was super suprised and then did some research.

They say that cave homes are cold in summer and warm in winter.
Also cave homes have stuff like running water and electricity - even Internet connection.
Aren't they ecological too?
But they are dangerous during earthquakes.

Now I'm super curious, I would like to them badly. And make photos and so on...


窰洞 - yáodòng - cave hause

2 months

I told my dear cousin how many asian movies I have seen. She told me that's a lot of... but I got suprised by her answer. I thought i had seen not that much. Maybe in comparison to her, she has no interest in Asia area :)

Anyway, I asked my chinese teacher for some recommendation.
Im curious of what do chinese people watch, not  in what do europeans think that chinese look at.

Anyway... next 2 month shall be crucial, a lot of work for me, and a big decision will be made - who's going to China in October? There's 23 people in my group, and only the lucky choosen ones can go. I can smell some competition in the air :>

north korea documentaries

all the movies about north korea i have seen.  
(list will be updated)

if you know some titles there aren't here - let me know, i will be very much grateful.

in parenthesis polish titles. translators as always show 'creativity' :|
so, the oryginal title is always the best.

Defilada, Poland, 1989
by Andrzej Fidyk

Children of the Secret State (Dzieci złego państwa), UK, 2000
by Carla Garapedian

Noord-Korea: Een dag uit het leven (Korea Północna - jeden dzień z życia), Netherlands, 2004
by Pieter Fleury

Access to evil (Na osi zła - kraj cichej śmierci/Przepustka do piekła), UK, 2004
by Ewa Ewart

Unterm Roten Stern - Alltag in Nordkorea (Kraj pod czerwoną gwiazdą), Germany, 2005
by Bernd Girrbach (?)

Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, USA, 2006
by Patty Kim & Chris Sheridan

Crossing the Line (Za Linią Demarkacyjną / Przekroczyć granicę), UK & North Korea, 2006
by Daniel Gordon

Yodok Stories (Historie z Yodok), Poland & Norway, 2008
by Andrzej Fidyk & Torstein Grude

season 1, episode 5 'La Corée du Nord' from TV show 'Ne dites pas a ma mére...' (Nie mówcie mojej mamie, że jestem w Korei Północnej) - France (?), 2009 or 2010 (?)
by Diego Buñuel (host of programme)

Kimjongilia, France & USA & South Korea, 2009
by N.C. Heikin

Det røde kapel (Komedianci w Korei Północnej), Denmark, 2009
by Mads Brügger

Vítejte v KLDR! (Witajcie w Korei Północnej), Czech Republic, 2009
by Linda Jablonská

Mes vacances en Corée du Nord (Wakacje w Korei Północnej), France, 2010
by Jean-Christophe Brisard & Alexandre Spalaikovitch

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korea out of the north (korea północna - ucieczka z piekła)
seen in TV. sadly, i can't find any info in net...

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Sadly, filmweb and imdb database are lacking. So I cannot create convenient & handy imdb list about North Korea.

terracotta army in Krosno

Short time ago I went to Podkarpackie Museum in Krosno and I spent 2 złoty on the ticket. There's a a copy of chinese teracotta army. Original is very far away, in Lintong district of Xi'an prefecture, Shaanxi province of China - as Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum.

秦始皇(帝) Qin Shi Huang(di) (260-210 BC) - First Emperor of China, but not the first ruler.

"Terracotta Warriors and Horses" or "Teracorra Army"
兵马俑 bīngmǎ yǒng
兵 - soldier
马 - horse
俑 - figurine buried with the dead (i guess...)

Teracotta is a ceramic made of clay. Well... More piece of work than piece of art, but quite impressive anyway.