Take away Chinese, where you can take some Chinese away and experience progress day by day.
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Nihon, puan shiu ting soi sing hai yi.
Welcome to Take away Chinese, I'm Nihon Lin.
Joining me today Steve Hatherley, hello Steve.
Hello, thanks for having me back once again.
I'm very happy to have you back.
actually we've talked about a lot of interesting topics with a lot of Chinese expressions and I feel like with this show I am introducing to you not only the Chinese language but a lot about the society about the culture and everything and it's a fun experience yeah for me too yeah it's 100 % true because you can learn the language through so many different types of conversations right you can talk about the words and the expressions and the idioms themselves But you can also learn by talking about movies, or about cultural aspects, or about anything at all, travel, you name it, fashion doesn't
matter. We can have a lot of different styles of conversations, and then learn the words that exist within the context of those conversations.
Yes, definitely. And that is the beauty of opening up to a new culture, isn't it?
It's not only about Chinese.
Well, the show is about Chinese for sure.
But actually, it's the same with any other culture in the world.
Once you take an interest into the specific, maybe sometimes even the subculture, a culture of a claim, a culture of a community, you need to open yourself up to all the objects and all the subjects and all the aspects.
Yeah, and I think the advantage, and this is quite obvious, but I'll say it anyway, the advantage of being in the location of the language that you're learning, it's not imperative to learning the language because you can learn from another location, right?
You can learn to speak English in China, and it's totally fine.
But it's just such a bigger advantage if you're in that country, or in a country that speaks that language because of the reasons that I just said.
Because when you're here, not only do you get to use your ears and hear people speak it and have conversations, but you also get to experience it, right?
And that just helps to ingrain what you've learned into your mind even more.
Yes, in the previous episode we talked about traveling the country especially to the destinations that you have long loved because of your favorite movie was made in that exact location.
That was a perk and advantage of living in the location with the culture you are interested in because you have been exposed to that for awhile.
And if you're in that exact country, you can actually find those places much easier.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
And, and that's one of the points that I was making, is that when you're here, then you get to eat the foods that you're talking about, and you get to see the movies that you're talking about and hear the music that you're talking about, and all of that kind of stuff.
So it's just a lot easier, I think.
Yes. And besides that, I think once you're in the culture, you can also witness the growing and evolving of that culture, because no culture or language or society is steel, is the same forever.
Everything changes a little bit and you get to experience that change.
Sometimes you get to facilitate that change and that is also very interesting.
You mentioned movie, you mentioned we talked about traveling the country with movie themes or traveling into certain destinations where a certain famous movie is made.
That's one thing but when it comes to movie, a very new phenomenon Especially here in the Chinese society nowadays is that things are kind of growing around movie You know, in Chinese we have this way of forming things we call it something zh yeah, so something plus So previously it was internet plus for example so who the amount of time who the amount be in the internet and holy amount is a word talking about internet plus things plus everything.
And that was created in the beginning of the internet age.
People started to realize with the help of the internet, they can do a lot of different things, and internet can enable different industries for new things.
And that is now also a way to describe the current trend of having movies plus a lot of different things.
Because imagine the things that you can do in movie theater, the things that can be generated because of your passion for a certain movie.
So that is becoming a new thing.
And I think that new social as well as cultural phenomenon is what we're going to talk about today.
And we have a few examples to discuss.
Oh yes. So the dian ying jia is going to be the theme.
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But now, let's provide you with some free Chinese for Takeaway.
Zhiyun yin In the previous episode, we've already provided you with the free Chinese of movie, you know.
D 'anyin. The electric shadow, yes Yeah, D 'anyin and in your opinion, what would be a perfect match with D 'anyin because we're talking about D 'anyin zia.
In my opinion, D 'anyin can zia anything so movie can plus anything but in your opinion What is the best match?
It's something that I've never done before and I don't even know if I've ever heard of anyone doing this but the idea of putting up a films or a theater sized screen in a park and just like a picnic kind of movie thing.
So Tian Ying plus park.
Picnic. Yeah. So my imagination painted this picture of like picnic blankets on the ground with picnic baskets and some various snacks in there and beverages, and then you can just kind of relax and watch the movie on the big screen while you're actually sitting in the middle of a park.
I'm not really sure about cinema -sized screens because that can be a little bit complicated, thinking about the facilities and stuff.
And the speakers too.
Yes, yet we do have movie plus picnic in the sense that you have a smaller screen, smaller number of audience sitting in an open area enjoying a little bit of food and picnic by the way in Chinese is yi chán.
Yi chán. Yes. Yi e means wild in the wild because you're sitting in the wild and chán is food or meal.
So a meal in the wild.
A meal in the wild picnic.
Yi chán. Yes, that's a picnic because that is not something rare, actually, since we have a lot of different types of, for example, live music festivals.
And also, there are different movie festivals and movie competitions, in the sense that you have selected some good movies and then during that period of time, people would choose or sometimes a jury would choose the best ones and give them a word.
And in China, a lot of those activities are held in a much larger scale.
So instead of just having a lot of screenings, which is the basic, people are inviting every different industries in the entertainment industry into their setting.
For example, if we are having a movie festival in, let's say, Hainan Province, which is a province famous for their really beautiful beach, nice weather and climate and everything.
Actually in some of those festivals on top of the movie screenings, you also have live music concerts.
Oh, so it's more like an arts festival.
Art festival and its picnic with different types of movies on those screens you talked about and with definitely beer and other beverage.
And sometimes with barbecue, themed barbecue.
And of course they will tell you which movies are on at which time so that you can bring your whole family or bring your romantic partner to the other.
So it's different, but yes, we do have that.
Yeah, fun. Yeah, I've heard of them having, I've heard of certain hotels having like movie beach combination.
So they'll put a screen on the sand.
And usually I think, yeah, they'll show some, I don't know, romantic comedy or a film for the children or something like that.
That's a fun idea too.
That's a fun idea. I think anytime you combine food and films.
Of course, yeah. That is my choice actually, food with films.
So, jian yin, jian mei shi, mei shi is delicious food.
Mei shi. Mei shi. Yes.
So mei, here's the meaning of beautiful.
Mm. Or food, shu is food, but putting together mei shu, is a really, let's say formal, not formal, but authentic way of saying good food, delicious food, because we, I think there is another way of saying, and that will be, haozhi, the good eats?
But it's more colloquial, whereas mei shu is?
More formal? Relatively formal.
Mei shu, so dian yin zang mei shu, that's for sure.
because of course you want to get snack, popcorn, soda, sometimes even french fries in a movie theater.
Sure, yeah why not.
By the way how do you say french fries?
Oh shu tiao. Shao tao.
Shau tao. Tiao means long object.
Or it's not even long, it's more like thin.
Long and thin. So it can be little but long and thin in shape, that is the tiao.
The bread, the morning bread Yeah, yeah, yeah, yòo tiao.
yòo tiao. Oil -thin, little, long word.
Right, OK. OK, OK, OK.
And it can even be a, we call it a measure word in Chinese.
So the most common measure word would definitely be first word, one object.
And the first word is another very common measure word.
And it means a long object of.
So first word, for example, first word is fish.
So fish are relatively considered a long thin object ...
and also one long trousers.
Makes sense. How do you say chopsticks?
Oh no chopsticks are izhuang kuai, a pair of chopsticks, because it does not appear by itself.
Well it can it's just way more difficult to use.
It can yes. So shu tiao would be french fries, shu is potato.
Oh, okay. Ma ling shu potato.
Okay, got it. Shù uu.
Shù tiao. Tiao. Shù Tiao.
Shù Tiao. Yes. And french fries, the idea of frying or fried.
Actually, sometimes people will also say, xi shu tiao, fried a long stick of potato.
But it's a little bit redundant in Chinese people's mind because we really don't call other long thin object with the name Because even I think you might had the experience of having the fried long thin potato in the canteen.
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, but we call it chao tu dao.
So tu tao is more common as a name for potato.
So french fries. Shu tiao is really.
Shu tiao is exclusive to french fries.
Yes. That's good to know.
And besides shu tiao we talked about popcorn being a very common movie theater food.
Bao mi hua. Bao mi hua.
This is a fang one because bao carries the meaning of explode.
Okay. Mie actually is rice but it can in this sense also mean the corn and huà is a flower.
Exploding corn flower.
Yes because once there are actually the kind of popcorn but not popcorn but pop rice.
Because if you think about the processing of making these snacks you just put them in really high temperature and also high pressure until they pop.
So bao mi hua. You're right.
Popcorn. And I think another really good one that I have only tried in my home instead of in a movie theater would be chicken wing.
Chicken wings at movie theaters?
Not at movie theaters.
While I'm watching movie.
Because I think chicken wings are really expectable in the sense that you know how to eat it without looking at it.
You just grab it, and you eat it, and you do not get distracted by it.
I can easily see chicken wings being a popular choice in a movie theater, and French fries, but I've never seen French fries sold in a movie theater either.
I think it's because for Bao Mihua popcorn, even if the popcorn are not exactly that freshly made like within two hours it's still good, right?
Yeah, right, yeah. With French fries they'd have to be very fresh.
Very fresh to be good.
That's true. Mm -hmm.
And also for most people if you're having french fries you want to dip it in ketchup.
Which is fan chie jiang, by the way.
Fan chie jiang. Fan chie jiang.
Fan chie jiang. Yes.
And fan chie, being tomato by the way and zhaoung, it's just sauce.
If you want to dip your French fries in ketchup you need to take a look at it and you're in a movie theater.
Well, if you know the general location of it, it works.
But yeah, the point about the French fries being fresh, yeah, if they're not fresh, nobody wants to buy them.
But I think there still is a balance.
In my opinion, if the food is really, really that good, I can't spare a little bit of tension for the food, even while I'm watching the movie.
Yeah. But then we're not even thinking about the food preparation either.
In a movie theater, they need to be able to grab things and just give it to you.
Like the Cola is very simple to give you.
Popcorn is very simple to give you.
If you need a person with a deep fryer in there making French fries and chicken wings, that's a lot more complicated.
Yes, yet there are more choices.
And I am talking about the kind of food that you get to enjoy now here in China in a movie theater, that requires a little more attention, but I think it's worth it.
But it can be actually more than that.
Do you know that in China, cinemas in China have started offering VIP dining experiences, allowing customers to enjoy hot pot films?
Really? Yes. While they're watching movies, actually these venues would attract not only couples on days, for sure, friends gathering together for a meal, but also parents bringing their children along.
Because these type of places would...
well there can be a little tiny, little bit more expensive than an ordinary movie.
Because, you know, you have food and it's hot pot but it's not that expensive at all.
How much? Around 300 Yuan, that's like 40 US dollars.
Yeah, roughly, roughly.
That's not bad. Because you're getting the movie tickets with the food too, right?
Yes, in my opinion a delightful combination of delicious food and an immersive cinematic experience.
Question, do you know, do you eat the hot pot outside in a different room and then go in to watch the movie?
Or are you eating the hot pot while you're watching the movie?
You're eating the hot pot while watching the movie.
That's awesome. That's awesome.
I've heard of theaters where they'll combine like within the movie theater building mm -hmm but not within the movie theater itself like just outside you would eat and then you'd walk in and enjoy your movie so that was kind of I always thought that was kind of like yeah okay I get it but how is that different from going to any restaurant and then going straight in to watch the movie unless what they're doing is to create certain themed food and the theme is picked from movies For example, if it is a road trip type of movie and on the road trip, the main characters try different types of food and they
provide you with all the food in a buffet or they provide you with different sets of meals you can choose, that would be nice.
Have you ever had the experience of feeling the crave for certain kinds of food because you watch people in the movie or TV series eating it?
100 % Yeah, what I this is a little off topic, but what I've done so many times in the past is whenever I would go on a vacation, I would watch travel videos from the place that I was going to, but not travel videos like you know the scenic spots, no street food, and then I would order or try to make at home something as close to that thing as I could so that I could eat the food while they were eating the food.
I don't know what's going on psychologically there, but it made me happy somehow.
Yes, I have that too.
So food plus movies is definitely a thing.
Would you choose hot pot though?
What do you think about the selection of hot pot because here in China, you could select any number of things to eat.
Do you think hot pot is a good match for a movie?
For me, hot pot can be a little bit too demanding in the sense that you need to basically cook your own food before eating it.
You have to select the ingredient or select the next ingredient you want to put in the hot pot.
But if it is, for example, french fries, for example, some finger food and also even Chinese food, traditional type or common type of Chinese food that I do not need to pay too much attention to, that'd be even better for me.
I think hot pot would match very well with horror movies, why?
Because it's spicy so you get that adrenaline kick from the fear but you also get the adrenaline kick from the spiciness but it's got to be super spicy hot pot for a horror movie though but to me if it's a horror movie and I am eating spicy and hot hot hot pot I might suddenly and unintentionally burn myself because I'm just too hooked up in the plot and then I'm putting things in my mouth and there's accident happening instantly.
Accident waiting to happen.
Waiting to happen, yes.
Okay, so besides food what other things could be a good plot?
Well that's an interesting thing to think about because we've seen movies and food done before right, the culinary kind of film experience, But I think another good thing to do with movies would be, and I don't know if this is a stretch or not, but more like, um, and maybe this is more about the interior, but like really, really, really comfortable, comfortable things to lay down on while you're watching the film.
Ah, I think here in China you can find those too, because in some movie theaters, to start with, you instead of a couch, if it's a couples hall which means that all the seats are so two couples, they have beds in it so you can actually lie down on the beds.
That's one thing. And also in some theaters, but I don't know if I like this one, you would have Amo Yi, massage couches.
Oh, massage chairs?
Yes. Oh you could get a massage and watch the movie.
You don't like that one?
I don't like that one because if too many people are enjoying that service, it'd be a bit noisy.
I was just about to say, yeah, it sounds great, but it might be noisy.
Ooh! But what we could do then is take our massage chair theater and instead of listening to the theater speakers, you wear headphones.
And you enjoy the movie through headphones.
Even better because you can have maybe an even better sound quality.
Maybe, but I don't know if people want to watch a movie like that.
But I know they have theaters like that in the world where you put on headphones to watch the movie.
I've never done it myself.
But I don't know if that's a good thing.
But if you combine it with a massage chair, I can see that happening.
I can also see a nap happening.
Yes, yeah. That would might be a problem to the creators of the movie.
And another thing that has been quite trendy, but I think this one depends on the popularity of the movie as well as the nature of the movie.
Because, you know, nowadays, neoja too is being really really popular, not only here in China, but all around the world.
People are loving the characters in the movie and that is why dian yin zhan wen chuan is becoming a thing.
I think if you really love the characters, you would want a little toy of the character.
In Chinese, we call it shou ban.
Shou ban. It's like a hand -sized little toy and you can put it on your desk.
You can even, as a collector, put it in a huge shelf with different little boxes.
It's a good experience.
And of course, if you combine that idea with Mang He, the blind boxes.
Oh yeah. Right, it's just the whole thing.
The blind boxes go perfectly with almost anything, don't they?
And for example, in Hunan, central China, an officially licensed cultural and creative company, by the way, that is Veng Huang, Veng Huá, Quang Yi, Culture and Creative, Veng Huá.
This company has established a dedicated production line, the Nueraja line, exclusively for Nueraja merchandise, on average about 250 ,000 figures are shipped across China from Hunan everywhere.
People are loving it.
Yeah, and that makes sense too, because when a movie like that gets popular and the character, the main character is such a cute little character, then everybody wants to have a T -shirt or a hat or a toy or something.
And that is, you know, that is not a new thing in particular because ever since people find that they can have a real little toy of their favorite character, in a movie, in a TV show, from a animation, from their favorite video games, they started to love it.
And they love it so much.
the term Gu Zin Zhi goods economy emerged because of that.
Actually Gu Zhi is a translation of the English word goods, you can hear the similarity, it's not even a translation, it's just a transliteration.
And it refers to the merchandise derived from copyrighted works in manga, anime, games, et cetera.
And these products fully under the category of the ACGN, And that's anime, comic game and novel merchandise and include posters, badges, cards, anything plus little toys, anything.
And it's an economy in China already, we call it Nicole -Greek economy.
And it's a hugely popular economy.
Hugely popular, yes.
That's always great news for a movie company who puts on this kind of show because when they know that everybody's going to see the film, then they also know, oh, everybody's going to be buying these little types of toys.
Yes, and with intellectual property protected, actually people who made the movie can benefit from this as well.
So, wing, wing, wing, for those who are making those toys, those who love the movies, and also those who actually created the movie.
Yeah. So that's one benefit, but then the individual theaters can benefit too right?
Definitely. That is actually a new thing that is happening in China.
Instead of having movie theaters as movie theaters or movie theaters built within a big shopping mall, which is quite common for sure, not only in China, but around the world.
We are doing another thing and it's an ongoing process.
Yet I love it and I really want to experience the current ones that is, some places have already taken the initiative of building everything around the movie theater that is on top of having a movie theater, you also have a food street.
You then also have a karaoke places in the movie building, yeah.
Like an arcade. Yes, an arcade and everything and also it can be sometimes it can be video games in the sense of a video game hole with also in that.
so it's a integration of a little bit of everything and let alone the kind of board games and also the Scaping Room games and the role -playing games and the role -playing game definitely would be based on a certain screenplay and the screenplay can relate to the movie you watch so it can be a whole very comprehensive experience instead of making the movie theater one aspect of a trip to a shopping mall for example you're making the movie theater the star and then you're adding a little attractions in the immediate vicinity like you said arcade or food street or what have you but the theater itself
is still the star of the show yes and you're building everything around the theater?
Well, we always like to see a wing wing story with the improvement and also the flourishing of the movie industry.
We get to see that people are enjoying their entertainment, time, their leisure time much more.
And also we see the industry taking off in the sense that everything's built on to movie, onto theaters and it makes me happy.
It makes me wonder what can be some other steps.
Yeah well this is what happens when you have great movies that are really popular.
That is the core. It opens so many other doors so that's the message to all theater industries all around the world is just keep making great movies for us to watch and we'll support them and we'll support the businesses that come with the films as well.
And if I can go to a movie theater, enjoy my favorite movie, and then go to a restaurant in that movie theater building, eating the great dish featured in the movie and then move into a Karaoke, singing the song.
From the movie. from the movie.
And then go to the next door buying the toy of my favorite character in the movie.
That would be a perfect one day trip.
Sounds like a fun afternoon.
Yes. So if that happens, please let me know where I can find it.
And if I do find it someday, I will definitely introduce you to it here on Takeaway Chinese.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway I'm Yohanees and I'm here with Steve here in the studio.
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