Los Angeles Times

choi

(1) Amy Kaufman and Ben Fritz, Movie Ticket Sales Booming in China; Receipts are on track to grow more than 30% in 2011 and exceed $2 billion for the first time, making China the third-biggest movie market. LA Times, Dec 30, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/entertain ... box-office-20111230,0,5696966.story
(behind only the US and Japan; in 2011: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" ($170m), "Kung Fu Panda 2" ($94m), "Pirates of the Caribbean" ($71m), "Beginning of the Great Revival" (Chinese-made/$63m); "Flowers of War" has grossed about $56m)

(2) Ronald D White, Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports See Market Share Trickle Away. LA Times, Dec 29, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ports-ranking-20111230,0,6137370.story
("A key reason for the slower activity at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been that India and Singapore are becoming major shipping hubs, and routes there favor the East Coast, especially the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the fast-growing Savannah, Ga, port")

My comment: The report states, "But southern Asia and South Pacific nations are rising in international trade. Australia has displaced Taiwan for fourth place in trade with the Los Angeles Customs District. Close behind are Singapore, Thailand, India and Malaysia. With the option of heading west through the Suez Canal, shippers in those countries need to be convinced that Los Angeles and Long Beach are better destinations."

It means that southern Asia and South Pacific nations have the option of transporting goods via Suez Canal to east coast of United States (major destination of export of goods), rather than eastward via Pacific to US west coast.

(3) Matt Stevens, Mandarin Immersion Program Flourishes at LA school. LA Times, Dec 29, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mandarin-school-20111230,0,3110125.story

Quote:

"Broadway Elementary last year joined the ranks of more than 200 schools across the state to offer a dual-language immersion program

"Broadway began the program to help boost plummeting enrollment — the school had reached a low of 257 students in 2008-09. The experiment worked — maybe too well. With about 130 students in the Mandarin program so far, school enrollment is now at 330. * * * The newcomers to the Mandarin program also changed the demographics of the little neighborhood school. In 2009, 81% of Broadway's students were Latino, 15% were black, six were white and none were Asian. The next year, the new classes of Mandarin immersion students were almost exclusively white and Asian.

"Parents like Jack Chen like what they're seeing. Chen grew up going to Chinese school on weekends and 'really resented it.' But he says his son can't get enough. 'It's not an additional burden,' said Chen, a professor of Chinese literature at UCLA. 'It's just your everyday school and you're learning Chinese.'

Note: The report says, "teachers took on the demands of having two sets of 24 students for three hours each."

Why "two"? Because an Englisg-language teacher will teach a set of 24 students in the morning and the other set of 24 in the afternoon. Because in this school, an English-labguage teacher and a Chinese-language teacher are paired.The same Chinese-language teacher teaches the first set in the afternoon, and the second set in the morning. Each teacher of the pair teaches various subjects--not just English or Chinese language.

(4) Travel Photos From Times Readers/ LA Times, circa Dec 28, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/travel/de ... l-photos-ugc-110410,0,3752967.ugcphotogallery
(caption of photo No 9: "Reed Flute Caves Guilin, China (drbrender)  In the Reed Flute Caves. A reflecting lake. Taken with a Nikon D300.
Date Taken: 12/10/2011.")

My comment: "drbrender" is the name of the photographer, which may stand for Dr Brender. It can also be the name of emailer.

(5) Tiffany Hsu, Panda Express Owners to Move From Fast Food to Dry Cleaning; Owners partner with Procter & Gamble in effort to expand beyond restaurants by using fast-food chain principles in what is mostly a local business. LA Times, Dec 28, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-panda-dry-cleaners-20111228,0,1653411.story

Quote:

"The $9.2-billion dry-cleaning industry is made up of nearly 39,000 establishments across the country, according to the research group IBISWorld. The market is highly fragmented, with the top four companies generating 2.5% of total revenue. More than 90% of dry cleaners have only one facility.

"The Cherngs' entrance into the clothes cleaning business brings a modern twist to the timeworn stereotype of Chinese laundry workers. Thousands of Chinese immigrants who came to the US in the 19th century ended up toiling in commercial laundries because racial prejudice kept them out of other lines of work. 'The hand laundry served as their first long-term avenue to economic survival,' said John Jung, author of the 2007 book 'Chinese Laundries: Tickets to Survival on Gold Mountain.'

Note: The report introduced Andrew Cherng as "born in China." His parents brought their kids to Taiwan, where Mr Cheng grew up and served in the military, like other men in Taiwan.

(6) John M. Glionna, Fighting Monks' New Master Shares Martial Arts Style With the World: South Korean monk Ando knows his own teacher would probably be furious, but he felt it was time to move the secrets of Sunmudo beyond the temple walls. LA Times, Dec 26, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nati ... ting-monks-20111226,0,3282576.story
(In Sunmundo: "There is little sparring, but defensive moves once used in combat are combined in a sort of athletic meditation, like that of China's Shaolin monks")

Note:
(a) Sunmudo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunmudo
(b) somersault
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somersault
(c) Tsushima Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima_Island
(of Japan)
(d) For showboater, see
(i) showboat (vi): "to behave in a conspicuous or ostentatious manner : SHOW OFF"
(ii) showboat (n):
"1: a river steamship containing a theater and carrying a troupe of actors to give plays at river communities
2: one who tries to attract attention by conspicuous behavior"
www.m-w.com