Capturing Chinese — The New Year's Sacrifice

We are happy to announce that the accompany audio files for Capturing Chinese: The New Year's Sacrifice are now available for download.  If you have purchased a copy of the book go to the Chinese audio section of our website: Chinese Audio. The instructions are listed on the webpage.  You will need your copy of the book handy.  Use the last (English) word on page 38 (footnote 686) to access the password protected download page.  You will need access to an email account and the ability to download 108.7 MB.  The total run time of the Chinese audio is one and a half hours.  The Chinese MP3s utilize a native female and a native male speaker.  Each speaks a little differently so you can listen to both for extra practice. If you don't yet have a copy of the book, then you can always purchase a copy on Amazon (Capturing Chinese The New Year's Sacrifice: A Chinese Reader with Pinyin, Footnotes, and an English Translation to Help Break into Chinese Literature) or your favorite bookstore.  While your bookstore might not have our books in stock they can special order through Ingram. Enjoy!  

Happy Chinese New Year!  February 3rd marks the official start of the year of the rabbit.  People say that the year of the rabbit will be an easy one where we can kick back and relax.  The year of the tiger (2010) is known as a very challenging year with lots of ups and downs. Chinese-American relations certainly had a rocky year so maybe with the year of the rabbit relations will be peaceful. Lu Xun was no fan of the new year superstitions.  He thought many of these ideas were holding back China to modernization.  This week's short story is his  祝福 (The New Year's Sacrifice).  Lu Xun recounts the tradition of 祝福 as he remembers it in his hometown while showing some of the ugly sides of superstitions.  Enjoy. We wish you a happy Chinese New Year and please continue to join us in 2011 for our weekly Learn Chinese through Stories postings. 鲁迅－祝福 Lu Xun's The New Year's Sacrifice