If you’re heading to Beijing for the Olympics, check out the Beijing Visitors’ Blog for some common Chinese phrases. You can listen and practice some basic words. There’s another recording of numbers in Chinese.

If you’re visiting China for a longer time, I have to recommend ChinesePod. They offer 10 minute Mandarin lessons by podcast (which is way better than the half-hour blocks you need for language tapes), and lessons are searchable by subject, so you can practice phrases and vocab for different situations.

Blogger Imagethief is wondering just what the ugliest building in Beijing is.

Strolling down Chang’an Avenue recently I was struck by how much of central Beijing’s recent construction is, well, nasty. Seriously: Jianwai Soho [and who thought white was a good color for Beijing? Seriously!], Twins Mall, Wanda, it’s all transforming the Boulevard into one long strip of gleaming, mixed-use wreckage pockmarked with Starbucks outlets.

I’d like to feature a selection of the most horrifying recent architecture to grace the city, Imagethief style, but I need help from readers. Imagethief is asking readers who live in or who have visited Beijing to nominate whatever they feel are Beijing’s most ghastly, tasteless, ludicrous or otherwise offensive new buildings.

Check out the nominees or suggest your own eyesore here.

I live in a lovely area, actually, but whenever I need to restock my Western supplies, I head to exactly the area of town that Imagethief describes, where everything is neon and Chinglishy. No complaints about the ubiquitious Starbucks, though.

Malaysian badminton player Lee Chong Wei warns foreign players they’ll have to deal with “hometown officiating” at the Beijing Olympics. He played at separate tournaments in Guangzhou and Hong Kong recently, and believes the Chinese refs are favoring their countrymen.

“Playing in Hong Kong was just like playing at the China Open last week,” Lee told the South China Morning Post.

“The crowds and everyone else supports the China team. This is the biggest obstacle the rest of the world will face at the Olympics next year.

“All the calls go in favour of the Chinese players,” he added.

“A lot of points went in favour of Lin today. It was the same last week in Guangzhou when I lost in the final.”

A legit concern for Olympic athletes or sour grapes from a player who just lost to the Chinese champion Lin Dan?

Via The Guardian

The results of the Miss World pagent are in, and Zi Lin Zhang from Hebei is the winner!

More pictures of Zi Li Zhang (and the runners-up) are on the Miss World website.

Fortunately my boyfriend disagrees, but I think that’s because Zi Lin Zhang doesn’t get up to get him a beer.

Phase 2 for Chinese ticket sales will begin December 10 and end on December 30. After the disasterous first round of ticketing, the Chinese ticketing agency has since replaced director Rong Jun with a new director Zhu Yan.

A lottery system similar to that used in the first phase will also apply for this phase, BOCOG Ticketing Center Director Zhu Yan announced on Friday.

The Chinese mainland public can submit applications through the official ticketing website (www.ticket.beijing2008.cn) or through 1,000 Bank of China outlets designated by BOCOG, he told those at a press conference at the Beijing Olympic Media Center.

The public may contact the ticket call center to obtain relevant information, but the center will not accept applications, he added. After the deadline, the ticketing center will randomly select buyers based on the pool of tickets available.

Via Xinhua

CoSport has phase 2 tickets for sale… for limited venues.

Olympic Games Individual Tickets are currently for sale from an available inventory on a first-come, first-serve basis with immediate confirmation and payment processing.

PLEASE NOTE

Due to very high demand and limited supply, current ticket inventory is very limited, and tickets are available only for the following sports
Archery
Handball
Weightlifting
Please check back frequently as we may receive additional inventory for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)

Via CoSport