The first month after the apocalypse was the worst, as China struggled not only with efforts to fend off its relentless onslaught of undead, but also to keep its survivors motivated and well-fed as food supplies ran low and major cities found themselves cut-off from more well-stocked regional outposts. Fortunately, it was not long before Chinese ingenuity offered a solution to the nation's predicament.

Learning Chinese? In today's show we cover a pretty strange grammar pattern that appears twice in our dialogue. And it's strange not only because it fails to obey common grammar conventions, but also because we can't really explain what is happening ourselves on a fundamental level. If you think you can do better, take a listen and share your thoughts in the comments section below. We'd be curious if anyone can give us a good systematic explanation for what is going on.
 said on
August 6, 2013
In the transcript, shouldn't "It used to be Papa Zhang, but not it's Zombie Zhang." .. be ".. but now ..."?
 said on
August 6, 2013
@ChinaBob, yes it should be. Thanks for the heads up. Fixing now.
 said on
August 6, 2013
Love it, thank you so so.... much
 said on
August 6, 2013
oh god...羊杂汤。I remember being bold and ordering that at a Xinjiang restaurant in 五道口。Thought I'd learned my lesson until I tried Ol' Beijing stew
 said on
August 7, 2013
@crusty_138 -- bold is indeed the word. Amazing what damage a single character can do to otherwise perfectly good lamb soup.
 said on
August 7, 2013
I want to add another kind of soup on the top of the "disappointment" from this lesson: 鸭血粉丝汤. Duck blood soup with glass noodles? I didn't think it would be too bad given the fact that I like glass noodles and I eat 鸭血 every now and then in hotpot. Two days ago, a friend brought me a bowl of 鸭血粉丝汤, and it proved how naive I was. It doesn't only have 鸭血 and 粉丝, but also 鸭胗 and 鸭肝... On the other hand, it's not as bad as 羊杂汤, so if anyone of you wants to try 羊杂汤, maybe 鸭血粉丝汤 would be a good start. Don't go challenge the final boss right away. Taking it step by step is always a good strategy.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
August 7, 2013
"这不是楼上的张大爷吗?"

Only Popup could make such an elementary-level sentence so loaded with revulsion. Nice work!

 said on
August 9, 2013
@toneandcolor,

你懂我们 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
August 9, 2013
This makes me really want to try some! Somewhere in the pits of London's Chinatown there must be someone who serves up 样杂汤 if you whisper it conspiratorially.... So what does it actually taste of?
 said on
August 10, 2013
@paulmccarthy79 - Regret, mostly, with a dash of lachrymae rerum. There are stories about young Zen novices taking a sip of miscellaneous sheep disappointment and immediately realizing the illusory nature of all suffering.

A quick search online doesn't turn up much for London, but I'm sure there must be some places that will do it for you. Good luck -- you'll need it.
 said on
January 6, 2014
這個podcast讓我找中國殭屍電影。我很疼愛。Is the hopping thing a Chinese standard, though? If so, I'd imagine putting 張殭屍 down was akin to fighting rabbits.