Muschamp Rd

Canadian Thanksgiving

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving in China. Well actually the official celebration seems to be Saturday at the St. Regis hotel. Danna and I have talked about going, but it is pretty formal and priced accordingly…

Last year I had a pretty Chinese Thanksgiving. I wonder if anyone will invite Anni Cao for Thanksgiving dinner this year? I’m not sure she understood the importance of the holiday to Canadian families. After all she fell asleep during “the Princess Bride”, that is a crime in itself.

Maybe she doesn’t grasp the concept of reciprocity, I was under the impression it was very important in China. Although the linked to article doesn’t specify, the character for bao that is discussed, it is probably 报. Depending on what it is combinded with it can have a variety of meanings.

I learned yesterday that báo can mean thin. It depends on the tone and of course the Chinese character. 薄 this thin can only be used for objects while 瘦 shòu can only be used for people. My Chinese needs so much work. One interesting phrase I came across in my Chinese/English dictionary while writing this posting was 不识抬举 [bu4 shi2 tai2 ju3]. I’ll have to get one of my Chinese classmates or language exchange partners to explain that one further. I think it is potentially very applicable to the situation I’ve been in…

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 3:25 am filed under: Canada, China, MBA, Sauder, Tsinghua and tagged: , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


  • http://blog.muschamp.ca/?p=68 Muskblog » Blog Archive » An even more Chinese Thanksgiving

    [...] It was a while ago, but here is the low down on the Canadian Thanksgiving Gala Danna and I went to. It cost 398 RMB per ticket which was pricey but I told Danna the proceeds would go to charity. Which they did. She was even happier to learn that all the money would stay in China and help out the Special Olympics and Cancer Research respectively. Here is the official Canadian embassy write up. [...]

  • http://blog.muschamp.ca/?p=179 Muskblog » Blog Archive » In other news

    [...] Danna had a big meeting with a client of her new consulting company. I hope this isn’t the same ‘company’ I’ve been working for free for. I mean I still haven’t been introduced to the professor whose paper I did a lot of rewriting for and that was part of the deal. Of course lots of people, Chinese people, are all too happy to accept favours but not all of them grasp the concept of reciprocity. Something I’ve written about many times before. There is further irony in that the Chinese have at least one special saying for this: ?识抬举. [...]

  • http://blog.muschamp.ca/2006/01/18/priorities/ Muskblog » Blog Archive » Priorities

    [...] It has a lot to do with reciprocity but also just common decency. Some people appear to never have learned either of those lessons. [...]

  • http://blog.muschamp.ca/2006/04/12/chinese-house-guests-tofino-trip/ Muskblog » Blog Archive » Chinese House Guests + Tofino Trip

    [...] seemed to enjoy their time, but I was asked twice whether I would attend the graduation ceremony. I have not forgotten. I have remembered what happened and who did and said what, even if others prefer to ignore it or [...]

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