"The princess goes to sleep and wakes up again," Gail told us, making the fairy tale sound about as pedestrian as Echo's nightly routine. When pressed about this, our faithful podcaster paused, and then added mention of glass slippers and singing furniture, with the caveat that these were not "central to the plot" and may have been "made up by Disney".

Regardless of how well you remember the classics yourself, once you're in China you're in uncharted waters. Which is why we've taken a few liberties ourselves this lesson. So join us for an enjoyable look at what happens when you mix a traditional Western fairy tale with the process-oriented crime-solving prowess of your local Beijing police bureau. We hope our love for the boys in blue shines through in this dialogue filled with danger, intrigue, and the requisite quota of social harmony.

 said on
March 23, 2011
Strange choice of fairy tales to highlight, I think. I spend a lot of time browsing through the kids section at books stores and I don't see those titles very often。 除了《小红帽》以外,其他的可能不是很受欢迎。最普遍的一定是《白雪公主》,还有《美女与怪兽》和《一零零一夜》也是常常看到的。在中国,《小人国》算一个fairy tale吗?
 said on
March 23, 2011
@f8daniel,

《小人国》算童话故事,但是在中国没有其他故事那么流行。公主系列是很流行的:灰姑娘、白雪公主、睡美人、美女与野兽等等。不过在中国,你一般看到的是Anderson Fairy Tales和Brother Grimm Fairy Tales的合集,不是单独的一个一个故事。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 24, 2011
哎哟,我忘了世界著名的丹麦童话故事作家安徒生。Did I get all the adjectives in the right place? Better listen again to the Andy Lau lesson. 再说,有一本书每一家书店都我,可是我从来没看过-《小王子》。
 said on
March 24, 2011
@f8daniel,

No problem at all, they are all in the right place :) 哦,《小王子》!我非常喜欢那本书。我在智利买了一本西班牙语的,对我的西班牙语水平来说,太难了:(

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 25, 2011
Sleeping Beauty is an absolutely central fairy tale to contemporary popular culture!--especially films.
 said on
March 26, 2011
Is Echo's nightly routine really so pedestrian? I imagine her clubbing and riding with a biker gang, or at the least doing a bit of superhero kung-fu crimefighting.
 said on
March 26, 2011
@palafx,

We classify those as "post-dinner activities". All available evidence suggests the actually sleeping part is pretty normal though. Sorry to be a downer. :(

--dave
 said on
March 29, 2011
funny:)

 said on
April 11, 2011
This is just like Chinese police officers, too. Always saying "I don't know." "Not my job." "Go somewhere else."
 said on
April 11, 2011
@tamar.harrington,

没错!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com