Tag Archives: China

New Apple Releases

Last week Apple’s CEO Tim Cook announced the release of the new iPhone 5S and 5C.  The 5S features a fingerprint security system, faster processor, IOS 7, and a higher quality camera, while the 5C is available in several different colors. The 5C is a new lower priced phone that was created to target customers in China and India who do not have a lot of money but still want the iPhone. This is the first time Apple has released two model phones at a time. This week they hit record sales, selling 9 million phones in the first week.

Some critics say Apple is losing it’s touch and is not releasing good products. I personally think that they are doing good because they  have already sold 9 million.  That’s a huge number. Also, customers have lined up days before the release and have stood in line to be the first handful of people to own the new phone.  I think Apple is doing  the best they’ve done in a while because they released two products at once and a have broke their own sales record.

~Sophie

Its Not Just Chess

For many people not familiar with it, observing those circular pawns, the game is a mere variety of draughts or checkers. Of course, they are quite wrong; this is a real Chess game in which its complexity is comparable to the one of European Chess. Generally, pieces are in form of token with the name written on the upper face, with a Chinese sinogram. Both sides have different colors.

SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Xiangqi is played on the intersections of a board. Opposite sides are separated by a central “river”. Each camp has a “palace” which is constituted by an intersection at the center of South and North sides.
Armies are formed by 16 men each. Red plays at South and (generally) starts the game. Black (or Blue) plays at North. In Xiangqi, not all the pieces have the same name for both sides:

  • The “royal” piece is a Governor (Shuai) for Red and a General (Jiang) for Black.
  • The “pawn” is always a Soldier but two different synonyms are used to distinguish them. Red has Bing and Black has Zu.
  • The Elephant (Xiang) – that gives its name to the game – is only for Red. Black has also a Xiang but it is written differently as it is a homonym which stands for Minister.

Cultural Identities Distinguished

Chess is popular around the world, while Chinese chess is mainly popular in China; almost half of its population knows the rules. I had began to play Chinese Chess myself as a pretty small child, and fell in love with it after a few games, I felt excited to move pieces to fight, for the game is the epitome of a real war; from this point of view, chess is the same with Chinese chess, however, the differences between them reflects the different culture between China and the western world.

In Chinese chess Game: 1.There is no queen on the board; this is because the contribution of women was not emphasized in ancient China.
2. The pawn, or soldier in Chinese Chess, can not be promoted: In ancient China, everyone’s destiny is pre-determined.

3. There are four cannons on the board: because at the time when Chinese chess was invented, cannons were also invented, so the powerful cannon was integrated on the board.

4. The king is fastened in a fort. You see, in ancient China, the emperor would never go to battle. Also, the emperor has 2 triggermen (shi in Chinese) and 2 prime ministers (similar to bishop in chess).The king is well-protected, however, sometimes, the lack of freedom killed the king. In the game, the limited movement usually leads to a more rapid defeat than the traditional, international version of chess. There are clear historical example of this especially during the Manchu invasion of Han controlled China. Interestingly enough, the King is housed in a fort of sorts, so the classic move, castling, is not possible in Chinese Chess.

5. There is a boundary called the Chu River (or also the Han boundary) on the board. The boundary can be traced to the time of the Han dynasty, when Liu Bang and Xiangyu shared central plains for over 2000 years ago.

~Jake Rinaldi

I Bet Willy Wonka is Even Jealous?

Shanghai, China has welcomed visitors to its new Theme Park. I guess your thinking something different like roller coasters and water slides, but no this is a theme park where everything is made out of chocolate. The reason this wonderland was created was to unite the East and West. Bringing together these cultures, creators where allowed to come up with different ideas. They used the western and eastern cultures history together to come up with clever and unique exhibits. A day before they opened the Chocolate Wonderland, there was a fashion show. This wasn’t just any fashion show, but the clothes the models wore were made out of Chocolate.

Not only is this a interesting place, it makes it more fun when you love sweets. Its pretty much a dream come true for kids.At this wonderland of chocolate, there are many different things they created. One example is Chinese porcelain vases. The other thing about this interesting place is that the different articles made are almost as if they are real.The Chocolate Wonderland is for both young and old(I would sure love to go there). The Chocolate Wonderland will remain open until February 19th, 2012.

~Marli Green