3 minute read
THE BUZZ
RANDOM NUMBER
14…
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That’s how many years Sun Zhuo was separated from his parents. Sun was abducted in Shenzhen in October 2007 aged just four years old. His abductor lured him away with snacks and toys.
Sun was later found to be in east China’s Shandong province. Thanks to DNA testing, he was reunited with his biological parents on December 6 in Shenzhen. His parents broke down in tears and hugged their son upon seeing him for the first time in over 14 years.
In 2014, the story was adapted into a movie called Dearest by Hong Kong director Peter Chan.
The case reignited a national debate around child abduction.
Child abductions are an ongoing problem in China.There are a number of government and social media campaigns for reuniting stolen children with their parents, as well as tracking down the parents of children suspected of being abducted. An emergency alert system called Tuanyuan (Reunion) was launched by the Ministry of Public Safety in 2016 and has since helped locate more than 4,385 missing children.
DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Elliot Van Cayzeale
The Belgium magician has been in China for five years and is taking the country by storm with his mind-blowing magic tricks.
The multilingual talent speaks eight languages including Mandarin. If required, he can even perform shows entirely in Chinese. Elliot specializes in corporate events for luxury and fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Frank Muller, Hermès and Bulgari. VIPs, world-famous celebrities and even politicians across the world have all experienced his magic skills. In November 2021, That’s experienced Elliot’s tricks first-hand when he performed at the National Hospitality Awards in Shanghai.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
…said television director Yang Wenjun.
Yang recently directed a TV series called Ebola Fighters. The series tells the story of Chinese medical workers who traveled to West Africa to fight against the Ebola virus.
The virus was first detected in 1976 in the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus reemerged and caused serious outbreaks in many West African countries from 2014 until 2016. It was during this recent outbreak that Chinese medical workers were on the frontline battling against the virus in countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
Yang told Global Times the cast members hoped viewers would be reminded of the Chinese medical teams’ service and devotion. The series is available to stream on various streaming platforms across China.
CHINESE CORNER
Coffee Culture in China
A decade ago, it wasn’t easy to find a good cup of coffee in China. Coffee, or 咖啡 (kāfēi) in Chinese, was seen as a luxury, foreign drink. Even though Starbucks opened its first coffeeshop in Beijing in 1999, the coffee business was slow going until the 2010s. Today, China has embraced a full-scale coffee craze. In major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, you will see coffee shops on every corner competing with each other by offering different beans, roasting and brewing techniques and modern flavors. A report published by Yicai in Spring 2021 found that Shanghai has more coffee shops than any other city in the world. Compare Shanghai’s more than 7,000 coffee shops to London’s 3,233 and New York’s 1,591 – then you can see that coffee culture in China is here to stay. In 2021 Statista reported that China consumed over 180 million kilograms of coffee in one year.
1. Classic Drinks
Lets look at some popular coffees:
美式 Americano
měishì (lit. “American-style”)
卡普奇诺 cappuccino kǎbùqínuò
拿铁 latte nátiě
小白 / 澳白 flat white xiǎobái / àobái
摩卡 mocha mókǎ
科尔塔多 cortado kē’ěrtǎduō
美式 (měishì), or americano, literally translates to “American-style”. 卡布奇诺 (kǎbùqínuò), or cappuccino, is a loanword - a Chinese word that sounds like the English pronunciation. It’s often shortened to 卡布 (kǎbù). 拿铁 (nátiě), or latte, is a loanword, too.
2. New Drinks
Coffee shops like to invent their own signature or seasonal drinks, which can become household names in their own right.
Many coffeeshops have their menus written in both English and Chinese, so you can learn new words by visiting your local coffeeshop.
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