We were stranded in rural Tongzhou last weekend on routine business, when we found ourselves surrounded by a horde of undead construction workers. As they lurched towards us for the kill, Echo sprang into action. "Call Popup Towers," she cried as she lobbed her phone through the air. "Get Gail to send reinforcements, and get a move on it!" In the next breath, she readied her Glock C22 for action.

Impressed as I was with Echo's taste in sidearms, my heart sank as I looked at her cellphone. It had been a long day, and Echo's incessant texting had reduced the battery to a single bar of health. As the shuffling zombies drew nearer, I considered that there was a valuable lesson somewhere here about the perils of a life dependent on consumer electronics, and the dangers of leaving the house without a reliable supply of spare batteries.
 said on
May 18, 2010
One of the things I like about Popup Chinese is that you guys have 200% more undead than any other site I've run across. And I've actually used the word 僵尸in conversation too. Surprisingly useful stuff.
 said on
May 18, 2010
For a pic of real life 通州 zombies, scope this pic

Click on the picture to enlarge. *Special mention to the guy in the bottom left of the picture. Scary.
 said on
May 18, 2010
二者是借款人也不是贷款人。

"neither a borrower nor a lender be?"

用中文那英文的俗话应该有哪语法?
 said on
May 19, 2010
The online translation of 'Hamlet' on Tianya has that line as 不要向人告贷,也不要借钱给人;因为债款放了出去,往往不但丢了本钱,而且还失去了朋友 -- which strikes me as kind of lame, register-wise. I've got an old print translation lying around somewhere; will see if I can find a better rendition of that line.
 said on
August 8, 2013
My god, I'm stranded in 通州 at this very moment...
 said on
August 9, 2013
@mmarti11,

Go to a shelter with a lot of plants....

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

 said on
March 21, 2017
I heard one of the example sentences as 他ba(吧?)手机卖了。What does the ba (吧) indicate here and is there a lesson that goes through how to use this? Thanks!
 said on
March 24, 2017
@sinta_sodon,

The character is 把, with the hand component indicating an verb of sorts. It translates loosely as "to take" and is used in the structure 把 + (object) + (verb done with object). We have a few lessons which touch on it, but if you're looking to get used to the pattern, there's no bette way than checking out this excellent song by Wang Fei:

http://popupchinese.com/lessons/ktv-wednesday/wang-fei-nothing-remains/video