I wrote this in the description box of the last episode:

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By here I want to announce the end of this little project of mine.
I started this project because of five reasons:

- I want to learn more about Chinese idioms.
- Promote the Cantonese language.
- It’s an old but very educational and fun TV show, it’s a shame to be forgotten.
- There are no complete panda idioms on youtube. And of the sporadic ones they are mixed with Cantonese and Mandarin audio.
- Help people study the idioms. I know there are a lot of American born Chinese, British born Chinese etc etc out there who wants to improve their Cantonese. (yeah yeah and other ethnicity).
In every episode there are, besides the meaning, extra information included like the pronunciation using Jyutping romanization system, Unihan definition of every character and/or compound, pinyin and occasionally added etymology. This will boost your confidence of the newly learned idiom.

A brief note on how I did this.

1. Copy the .DAT files from the VCD
2. Use the free program VirtualDub’s audio filtering to remove the Mandarin channel.Compress in other audio and video formats.
3. Keeping record of the 180 files and naming it; there are no names from the files that I ripped from the VCD just numbers so I’ve had to go online and find the names and copy it. Furthermore there are 12 VCD’s. Every VCD contains 16 files, 1 intro and 15 episodes per VCD.
4. For every episode fill in the template: Traditional Chinese – Simplified Chinese – Pinyin – Jyutping** – Cangjie (later dropped) – Literal meaning (occasionally) – Etymology (occasionally) – Meaning* – Character 1/2/3/4 definition or the compound definition.
5* For the meaning of the idioms I used: – http://www.mdbg.net/ – http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php – http://en.wiktionary.org/ – http://www.ourchinese.org/ – Couple ones I’ve found on blogs, babylon and some I’ve translated it myself. ** For the Jyutping converter I used http://hktv.cc/hp/cantonesetojyutping/ Please be aware that there are no perfect Jyutping converters. This is to give you a sense of direction. You will have to rely on the audio.
6. Upload the episodes on Youtube in batches (per upload 15 episodes). These steps (1-8) are done iteratively instead of like a waterfall method. I take all these steps for every 15 episodes and start again. Except step 3.
7. Edit the upload such as add taggs and description (the filled in template).
8. Double check the episode by watching it on youtube, check for errors and missing meanings of the idiom. If checked I’d press the like button.

It took me 8 months in total (with on and offs) to finish this project. I have learned a lot, and enjoy seeing people subscribing and see the count view of every episode rising.

Well, that’s it. Time to go find my new, fun and challenging project!

Sincerely,

Cantonese Cultural Warrior ‘HaamSapTjai’

Summer 2011

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Yeah, fear my uploading speed. Cantonese Culture Warrior wooyaa!

After a somewhat eventful couple of weeks I’ve resumed this project.
New batch (106-120) is online!

Preview:

Last week Sunday I’ve tried a new ‘quick-boiled’ soup: Leaf Mustard and Tomatoes Soup.
Quick-boiled soups require short cooking time (usually 10-15 min) and brings a milder taste.

Ingredients:

- Leaf mustard
- Tomatoes
- Lean pork
- Ginger
- Salt
- Soy sauce
- Chicken powder
- Rice wine
- Potato starch

Method:

1. Rinse leaf mustard and cut into small sections. Rinse tomatoes, remove the stalks and cut into wedges.
2. Rinse lean pork and slice.
3. Put the pork into a bowl and add soy sauce, rice wine, potato starch. Mix it.
4. Boil water. Add lean pork and ginger slices. Boil for 10 minutes. Put in leaf mustard and tomatoes. Add salt and chicken powder. Cook for couple of minutes.
5. Serve and eat!

重有成七十五集要翻譯, 剪接同上載救命呀!!!!!

After much delay the new batch of idioms is uploaded. I must say this is quite demanding, *sigh* and I thought I am contributing a lot to the Cantonese/Chinese culture. How are the other Cantonese Culture Warriors doing it?! Those guys are so prolific… one interesting and provocative post after another.

I like this one, it could teach the lesson that you should never give up OR it teaches you to never go too far because that person might come back and bite you in the ass!

Check them out!
This one is funny:

Couple of days ago an UCLA student posted a video of her ranting on Youtube to share her dislike of Asians in UCLA dorms and library to the world. And she got her racist intolerant ignorant ass whooped by American Asians.
I do agree with her on some points like talking loudly on the phone, it bugs me too. But the way she goes about it is making me and the Asian community very uncomfortable. For example she rants about how Asians can’t take care of themselves and how the Asians should learn ‘American manners’, what the hell are American manners?! Shoot to kill? And the worst part is her racist interpretation of the Chinese language. The painful ethnic slur: “Ching Chong Ching chong”. Not very smart for someone who is an UCLA student majoring in political science.  You guys probably still remember the Rosie o Donnel bit where she imitates makes fun of the Chinese language.

However, I am not here to hate, on the contrary I have come here to spread a new word for Love! Among the dozens of Youtube video replies there is one that is particularly good. His name is Jimmy Wong. Instead of lowering to her level he made a nice song =)

In the lyrics there is one line: “(Ching Chong) means I love you”. And by looking at the Youtube comments I think he has started something here! Will this catch on like “Bazinga!”? (Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory). Who knows, but I will be using it!
The ethnic slur “Ching Chong” has plagued the Asian for years, it’s time we give it a new meaning and empower ourselves. So next time when you (if you are an Asian:p) see another Asian say: I Ching Chong you!!

Well that’s it, thanks for reading,

I Ching Chong you guys <3

The Asians in the library song:

PS:
Soon after her insensitive video she wrote an apology letter.

In an attempt to produce a humorous YouTube video, I have offended the UCLA community and the entire Asian culture. I am truly sorry for the hurtful words I said and the pain it caused to anyone who watched the video. Especially in the wake of the ongoing disaster in Japan, I would do anything to take back my insensitive words. I could write apology letters all day and night, but I know they wouldn’t erase the video from your memory, nor would they act to reverse my inappropriate action.

I made a mistake. My mistake, however, has lead to the harassment of my family, the publishing of my personal information, death threats, and being ostracized from an entire community. Accordingly, for personal safety reasons, I have chosen to no longer attend classes at UCLA.

Alexandra Wallace

The new batch of ‘Chinese idioms’ is completed. Still have about 60/70% left….. My love for the Cantonese dialect language will keep me going! Cantonese for the win!!!!! The goal is to finish this project by the end of May 2011.

Check this one out:
Traditional Chinese: 完璧歸趙
Simplified Chinese: 完璧归赵
Pinyin: wán bì guī Zhào
Jyutping: jyun4 bik1 gwai1 ziu6
Cangjie: JMMU + SJMGI + HMSMB + GOFB
Literally: to return the jade disc intact to the State of Zhao
Etymology: The He Shi Bi (Chinese: 和氏璧; pinyin: Hé Shì Bì; literally “Jade disc of He”) is a piece of jade which plays an important part in many historical stories in Ancient China. Found in the State of Chu by a man named Bian He, it was first made into a jade disc, then into the Imperial Seal of China by Qinshihuang.
The jade disc, unfortunately, was stolen from Chu and eventually sold to Zhao; in 283 BC, Marquess Zhaoxiang of Qin offered 15 cities to the Duchy of Zhao in exchange for the jade (this is the origin of the Chinese saying 价值连城, ‘Valued at multiple cities’). Zhao Minister Lin Xiangru was dispatched to send the jade to Qin. When it became clear that Qin would not uphold its side of the bargain, he tricked the marquess of Qin, claiming that the jade had a scar on it. The marquess of Qin said he could not find it, and handed it to Lin Xiangru and asked him where the scar was. The moment Lin Xiangru took the jade, he threatened to smash the jade unless the marquess of Qin promised to delay the swap 3 days. Secretly he told his servants to take the jade back to the Duke of the Zhao Duchy. Thus giving birth to another Chinese idiom, 完璧歸趙, literally meaning ‘Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao’, but extended to mean ‘returning something to its rightful owner’.
Meaning: to return something to its owner in good condition (Wiktionary)
完 = to finish , to be over, whole, complete, entire
璧 = piece of jade with hole in it
歸 = return, return to, revert to
趙 = surname Zhao / one of the seven states during the Warring States Period (476-220 BC) / the Former Zhao 前趙 (304-329) and Later Zhao 後趙 (319-350), states of the Sixteen Kingdoms

Finally after more than two months I’ve updated the Chinese idioms on youtube. You will notice that the new videos are better in quality. I compressed the video with DivX 6.9.2, the drawback is that the file sizes have increased by 10MB, which takes a bit longer to load. Not sure if Youtube will complain, but then again there are users with huge amount of uploaded videos so those couple of extra MB’s shouldn’t be a real problem.

If possible I will add a section ‘etymology’, this will greatly help the reader in understanding how the idioms came to be. For example check idioms 44 邯鄲學步:
Etymology: According to legend, a person from Yan travelled to Handan city in the state of Zhao. When he got there, he became infatuated with their unique way of walking. He tried to imitate it so intently, but was unsuccessful. He tried so intently that he forgot his own method of walking, and ended up crawling back to Yan.