Practical Chinese Reader: a plot line question

[simc]

In New Practical Chinese reader, the the character Libo is the son of Gubo and Ding Yun, rather than Gubo and Palanka. Just out of curiosity, do any of the volumes of Practical Chinese Reader shed any more light on this subject? (i'm guessing the answer is no) :-)

[Bob Dylan Thomas]

don't speak too soon - this issue has been a hot topic round my way for months. personally i think the answer lies in the chapter where they had a picnic at the beach - comparing Ding Yun and Palanka in their bathing suits, i know which one i'd opt for. Also, it's obvious that Gubo only came up with that stuff about Lu Xun and Guo Moruo in order to impress Ding Yun.

After this, Gubo only stuck with Palanka so he'd have someone to "play" with whilst in China; he obviously lead her onto the wrong bus that day (was that chapter 35?) to deliberately put her off him, to make the break-up easier on her (he's not a total bastard after all). And then, as soon as he got home, he pursued and seduced Ding Yun - and shortly after the birth of their child, ran off with 王老师's gorgeous wife.

What other explanation could there possibly be?

[madizi]

Just for intermezzo. At 1st and 2nd grade of sinology we used DeFrancis' Beginners and Intermediate Chinese. And we all made guesses all the time if Wenshan and Meiying become couple at the end. Of course, we were all disappointed at the end.

[PollyWaffle]

personally i think the answer lies in the chapter where they had a picnic at the beach - comparing Ding Yun and Palanka in their bathing suits

& i thought he was just itching for some three way action

[beirne]

Another possible textbook romance shows up in Making Connections. The main characters there are Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li. Xiao Zhang is a student who is married and has a kid but the wife barely shows up. Xiao Li is a female college student who spends way too much time with Xiao Zhang. They go places together and they are always too happy when the bump into each other. I haven't finished the book so I don't know how this works out, but I suspect they won't really end up together.

[madizi]

The relationship between Wenshan and Meiying in DeFrancis is more innocent because they are both single.

[agentzi]

ahh, stumbled into further NPCR conjecture blogged at

http://pedantry.fistfulofeuros.net/old-archives/2003_09_28_pedantry_archive.html

.... those comments(12)

( ... I don't believe in vervacious' rabbits, but 丁力波's a CBC, 那是惊奇. ;-)

[atitarev]

I am about to complete volume 2 of the NPCR. Not so fascinated about the plot but the textbook is quite decent. Has anyone done volumes 3 and beyond? Do you find them good? I am planning to get volume 3 when I am done with v. 2.

Hopefully, I haven't interfered much with your conversation about the characters in the book.

Things I don't like about the audio recordings that that whole lessons are recorded onto 1 track and if I want to listen to the last text of the lesson (reading comprehension) then I have to listen to the whole lesson including new words and drills - for about 25 minutes. It's not an issue if I use it on a computer, though.

Apart from NPCR, I covered Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese, Teach Yourself Chinese, Colloquial Chinese.

I've got scans and recording of the Practical Chinese Reader (old).