中国でカラオケはKTV(Karaoke TV)と呼ばれ大人気で、いたるところにあります。僕の泊まっているホテルにもあり、また近くの駅の周辺にも複数あり、さらにスーパーやデパートにはミニのものもあります(プリクラ機サイズで、中に二人分の椅子とカラオケ機があり歌える。カーテンがついていて閉められるが多くの人は閉めずに、人の目を気にせず歌っている)。性産業が法律によりかなり制限されている中国では、カラオケ店という名の下に性的サービスを行う、KTVという業種もあるらしいのですが、そちらは行ったことないので、ここでは所謂カラオケとしてのKTVについて書きたいと思います。
↓少し前に流行った中国で最も有名な歌の一つ『小苹果(小さなリンゴ)』。♪你是我的小呀小苹果~
HBA Week7 What you need to do before HBA
You can learn a lot about China at HBA, but I think there are things you can preview before participating in the program. I did not do much preparation before HBA, and am regretting about that now. So I would like to write what I think should be done before attending HBA.
You should study about Chinese history. Beijing has a lot of historical places and historically important goods. If you know Chinese history, you can understand the meaning of these things and the importance of them. However, if you do not know about history, you do not really understand why they are important. For instance, when I went to a museum about China-Japan War, many exhibits emotionally hit me since I knew about the history of that war. However, when I went to National Museum and saw exhibits about ancient China, I could not understand the importance of them.
Knowledge of Chinese songs makes your life in China happier. I started to listen to Chinese songs several weeks after HBA began, but if I had started before HBA, I would have been able to talk about these songs with teachers from the beginning, or to sing these songs at karaoke.
↓National Museum
HBA Week6 Homestay(中国家庭) program
HBA has a homestay program. Students do not actually homestay at Chinese families, but each two students are matched with one local family if they want. Since both students and Chinese families are busy on weekdays, they usually meet on Sunday. What they do together and how often they meet are completely up to the local family and could vary a lot. In my case, my Chinese parents have a seven-year-son and we meet almost every Sunday except the week of social study. We went to some historical places, to see Chinese son's activities, and to eat Beijing local foods.
The best part of this program is that I learned a lot about local life. We went to places a guide book doesn't have, restaurants only locals know about, and talked a lot about a life in China and at Beijing. Since a lot of our host families have young children, it is especially interesting to learn about their views on education, health, economics, and other topics related to child raising and also related to what I learned in Chinese class. If you are interested not only in learning Chinese language but also in learning about China, this homestay program is one of the best opportunities to achieve your goal.
↓We went to watch a traditional play together
内モンゴル自治区
内モンゴルで20歳の誕生日を迎えました!HBAも半分が終わり、あと1ヶ月となりました。英語が使えなくなってきてYaleに行ってからが大変そうです。HBAには中一週間に社会調査という校外学習の期間があり、いくつかの候補から行く場所を選んで観光したり現地の人と交流したりします。少林寺、西安、上海などの候補がある中僕は内モンゴルを選んだので、調査結果を書きたいと思います。
僕はもともと内モンゴルに対して、モンゴル国と同様の文化、種族、生活習慣の人々が住んでいるが中国の領土で、独立を巡って対立しているイメージを何となく持っていました。言い換えれば、草原が広がっていて遊牧民が住んでいて、独立したいが中国政府に抑圧されている想像でした。しかし実際行ってみると、どの部分も違うことが発覚しました。
↓典型的な内モンゴルのイメージ(僕が宿泊したパオ)