Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
KTV
karaoke
l
ǎ
owài
a name meaning foreigner
lù
road
májiàng
popular noisy Chinese game played with small tiles, requiring four people sitting
around a square table; often played on the street and in homes, and frequently involving
gambling
pàich
ū
su
ǒ
local police station
píngfáng
a
píngfáng
is a one-story building (rather than an apartment block), which is typ-
ically found along the
hútòng
inside the Second Ring Road; one form of a
píngfáng
is the
sìhéyuàn
p
īī
ny
īī
n
phonetic system used to transcribe Chinese characters into romanized writing (Piny-
in)
p
ǔ
t
ō
nghuà
the official spoken language of China, and the Chinese word for Mandarin
PRC
People's Republic of China
PPT
PowerPoint
sh
ē
nfènzhèng
a Chinese person's form of identification, which they carry around with
them at all times. It's required when doing such things as travelling domestically, shop-
ping on some online stores, and registering addresses; foreigners do not have a
sh
ē
nfèn-
zhèng
but instead must use their passports as ID
shèngn
ū
a relatively new word, used to describe women over the age of about 27 who are
still single, and which translates as “leftover woman”
sìhéyuàn
a traditional Beijing house in which the entire house forms a square around a
courtyard and faces inwards; the different buildings north, south, east, and west have dif-
ferent rankings of importance (often referred to as a courtyard house in English)
tàijíquán
Mandarin tai chi, a martial-arts based exercise popular with the older generation
tàitai
traditionally meaning “wife”; a word that is also applied to women who live a life of
leisure, shopping, attending events, and enjoying the good life.
Taobao
the most popular online shopping website
wàiguórén
foreigner
xiàngsheng
a traditional form of stand-up comedy, also known as crosstalk, in which two
men banter back and forth. The humor stems largely from double meanings in words, and
the art form is extremely popular in Beijing, especially with taxi drivers.
zh
ō
u
rice porridge often eaten at breakfast (what you might know by the name of
congee
)
