Guangzhou = Canton. Canton is still used outside China, but inside China all names of the cities are pronounced in Pinyin. As « Canton, Peking, Hongkong, Macao …… » are the pronunciation given by the Brithish when they took over Hongkong in 19th century, today in China we pronouce Guangzhou (Canton), Beijing (Peking), Xianggang (Hongkong) and Aomen (Macao).
It’s what I thought. I did stop over in Guangzhou in 2017 and 2018. On our way to and back from Singapore… A long trip. Only staid a few hours at the airport. (Wish we could have stayed a bit). I was amazed. None of this existed… 30? 40 years ago? The airport, the planes, the airlines, the infrastrucutre. An amazing change that I think has never happened before in human history.
As an aside, Asia is where I noticed the polite way to hand things over to another person. With two hands. Not just one as in the West. When I handed my passport to the immigration officer in « Canton » on the way back, i did so with two hands. The officer noticed. She bowed her head slightly with a smile…
A. bientôt.
I’m sure there’s good and bad. Let’s try to keep the good.
I like the two hands thing. It’s polite. In Latin America, it is bad manners to throw things or objects at somebody, you have to hand things. (with one hand 😉).
I have a Chinese friend from Penang in Malaysia. She teaches me a bit of Hokkien. And another friend in Hong-Kong. Teaches me a bit of Cantonese. The other day, with the Chinese New Year (Happy Rabbit year) I could compare all three:
Keong Hee Huat Chye (Hokkien)
Gong hei Fat Choi (Cantonese in case I misspelt) And:
Gong Chi Fa Cai,
Fascinating to me. Those are the same words slowly modified from one « language » to the other. As similar as French, Portuguese and Italina can be… (J’adore)
Bonne année du 🐰
Chinese dialects use the same written characters as Mandarin, but pronounce differently, every dialect has its own culture, like different language. Happy Rabbit year 🐰
Xie xie… 😉
The characters have always fascinated me. There are even commonalities with Japanese. I remember a Japanese friend who went to China. Of course she spoke no Mamdarin or Cantonese, but she said she could « read » some of the signs. Which helped…
Le 🐰 est un animal sympathique… 🙏🏻
Let the Images Speak 
Beautiful. Never saw these flowers before. Thanks.
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When they bloom mean the spring is not far.
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A quick question: Guangzhou is what we used to call “Canton”?
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Guangzhou = Canton. Canton is still used outside China, but inside China all names of the cities are pronounced in Pinyin. As « Canton, Peking, Hongkong, Macao …… » are the pronunciation given by the Brithish when they took over Hongkong in 19th century, today in China we pronouce Guangzhou (Canton), Beijing (Peking), Xianggang (Hongkong) and Aomen (Macao).
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It’s what I thought. I did stop over in Guangzhou in 2017 and 2018. On our way to and back from Singapore… A long trip. Only staid a few hours at the airport. (Wish we could have stayed a bit). I was amazed. None of this existed… 30? 40 years ago? The airport, the planes, the airlines, the infrastrucutre. An amazing change that I think has never happened before in human history.
As an aside, Asia is where I noticed the polite way to hand things over to another person. With two hands. Not just one as in the West. When I handed my passport to the immigration officer in « Canton » on the way back, i did so with two hands. The officer noticed. She bowed her head slightly with a smile…
A. bientôt.
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The airport is fairly new (2004), many morden infrastrutures in China were built the last 30-40 years, there are good and bad in this crazy speed.
The 2 hands manner is a “way of life”, if for that we can respect each other, it is a good thing we should kept.
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I’m sure there’s good and bad. Let’s try to keep the good.
I like the two hands thing. It’s polite. In Latin America, it is bad manners to throw things or objects at somebody, you have to hand things. (with one hand 😉).
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PS. So you speak Cantonese? (And Mandarin too I imagine)
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I am Cantonese, I was born there, Cantonese is my first language, I didn’t speak mandarin until the age of 6 or 7.
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I have a Chinese friend from Penang in Malaysia. She teaches me a bit of Hokkien. And another friend in Hong-Kong. Teaches me a bit of Cantonese. The other day, with the Chinese New Year (Happy Rabbit year) I could compare all three:
Keong Hee Huat Chye (Hokkien)
Gong hei Fat Choi (Cantonese in case I misspelt) And:
Gong Chi Fa Cai,
Fascinating to me. Those are the same words slowly modified from one « language » to the other. As similar as French, Portuguese and Italina can be… (J’adore)
Bonne année du 🐰
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Chinese dialects use the same written characters as Mandarin, but pronounce differently, every dialect has its own culture, like different language. Happy Rabbit year 🐰
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Xie xie… 😉
The characters have always fascinated me. There are even commonalities with Japanese. I remember a Japanese friend who went to China. Of course she spoke no Mamdarin or Cantonese, but she said she could « read » some of the signs. Which helped…
Le 🐰 est un animal sympathique… 🙏🏻
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How lovely. And so early in the year? “La douceur Angevine” maybe? 😉
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Yes they are from the douceur angevine
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Climat unique… et propice á la poésie…
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C’est vrai que pour la climat on ne peut pas rêver mieux, ni trop chaud ni trop froid, 4 saisons distinctes.
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Pas de saison ici. Juste la « mousson » et la saison séche. Un peu drôle…
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I love snowdrops ;little beacons of spring.
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That’s what I feel, Spring is not far 🌿
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Those are beautiful flowers. Snowdrop is a very fitting name.
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They light up the dark winter days.
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Ja, das stimmt genau
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