Learn Mandarin Newsletter 8
Learn Mandarin Newsletter 8
Release of Learn Mandarin Audio Book
In case you missed the previous newsletters: Newsletter 1 | Newsletter 2 | Newsletter 3 | Newsletter 4 | Newsletter 5 | Newsletter 6 | Newsletter 7
I’m thrilled to announce that the audio for the book “Learning the Chinese Language” is finnnnnnnnally completed. I initially set out to do the recording myself but it was kind of taking forever… so I brought in a voice speaking expert who has lived in China for many years (he’s American) to do the recording instead. It literally took him just a week of recording to record the whole book 🤷♂️. What a pro indeed!
The book will be released on Audible in 2 months or so.
If you’d like to grab your copy right now, you can do so for a limited time for just $16.97.
The focus of this book is to teach you how you can go about learning Chinese. Everything from using Chinese movies, songs, dictionaries, even to Chinese dating. You'll learn about the best techniques for learning Mandarin independently so that you can achieve Chinese Speaking success.
US-China Tension
In light of the current tensions, I found this chapter (it’s quite long) that Ray Dalio wrote to be very interesting. If you’re interested in China generally, I think you’ll like it.
I’ve summarized only the first section for you so that you can decide if you like it. If you do, then you can read the rest on Ray’s website here.
My Summary Notes
Ray has gotten to know the Chinese people from in an intimate way over the past 36 years. So he has a lot of experience.
The loyalties and media distortions has stood in the way of thoughtfully exploring differing perspectives.
A Brief History of China
Any attempt to understand China means understanding some of its 4,000 year history and the many patterns that have repeated in it. Its history is not only very ancient but also particularly well documented.
China's highly civilized societies began 4,000 years ago with many dynasties.
The Xia Dynasty started from 2000 BC, lasted for 400 years and was highly civilized and created the Bronze Age.
Another includes the Qin Dynasty which united most of what we call China for the first time in 221 BC
During the Tang Dynasty from the 900s to 1200, China was the most innovative and dynamic economy in the world.
Most of the last 1,400 years of dynasties were powerful, civilized, and cultured.
From the early 1800s until the 1900s, China lost its power while Europe gained theirs. This shift of wealth and power where China was uniquely weak should be considered an anomaly rather than the norm.
A Chinese Perspective
Americans tend to fight for what they want in the present, China strategizes on how to get what they want in the future
Chinese leaders tend to read philosophy, how how reality works and you can see this expressed in their writings and speeches.
Though intensive studies of their longer history, the Chinese are more interested in a longer time horizon instead of just making quick hits. They're more focused on strategy than on tactic.
Chinese leaders will make plans, implement and then set out clear metrics to judge their performance.
China’s Lessons and Its Ways Of Operating
The dominant philosophies of the Chinese has been of [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]], [[Legalist]] before [[Marxism]] and [[capitalism]] got added.
[[Confucianism]] values harmony, widespread education, and meritocracy. People know their roles in the hierarchy and respects and obeys those above them.
[[Legalism]] believes in a strong, harsh government.
[[Taoism]] is about seeking harmony from balancing opposites -- the yin and the yang.