4/8     In addition to below, can someone recommend a movie or soap
        opera that describes the life of Kangxi Emperor? Netflix = useless.
        Mandarin is fine as long as there's subtitle. Thanks.
        \_ Not exactly a soap opera, but Kangxi Di Guo is a very good TV series
           featuring Chen Dao-Ming as Kangxi.  Whether or not it's accurate to
           history is another matter, though.
           http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BA%B7%E7%86%99%E5%B8%9D%E5%9C%8B
           \_ Thank you. I guess it's not possible to rent this on Netflix, and
              I guess it's all simplified s*** that I can't read. ARGH!
              No wonder Chinese media is so rare in the west, it's so darn
              inaccessible.
              \_ Oops!  Here's the same page in Traditional Chinese:
                 http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%BA%B7%E7%86%99%E7%8E%8B%E6%9C%9D
                 I've watched so much mainland Chinese media that I stopped
                 noticing whether it's in Traditonal or Simplified Chinese.
                 -- PP, Hong Kong immigrant
                 \_ Does this have English subtitle? My wife doesn't read
                    Chinese and doesn't understand Mandarin.
                    \_ The version I watched doesn't have English subtitle.
                       -- PP
                 \_ is it hard to learn one if you know another? I only know
                    one type, but my type is disappearing in the face of
                    dominating mainlanders
                    \_ It's hard to learn how the characters are exactly
                       written in one type if you know the other type.
                       However, you don't need to learn the exact characters
                       if all you want is to read text in newspaper and
                       magazines, because you can guess some characters from
                       the context.  I guess from context to learn simlified
                       characters, which in turn allows me to guess more from
                       context.  My wife knows simplified characters and she
                       learned traditional characters the same way.  -- PP
                       \_ whoa you married a mainlander? How's that working
                          out? My parents would kill themselves had I
                          married a commulander as they call it. BTW do you
                          have problems learning the 4 tones? How about your
                          wife, does she have problems learning the 8-9
                          Cantonese tones? My wife can't hear any differences
                          in tones, period.
                          \_ My wife is from Guangzhou which is a Cantonese
                             city.  After watching Mandarin TV series on
                             Channel 26 for two decades, I have no problem
                             with the four tones.  My wife formally learned
                             Mandarin when she went to school in Mainland. --PP

4/8     Dear Chinese motd people. I'm looking for a children's book that
        goes over the timeline of Chinese emperors, both in [traditional]
        Chinese and English. How do I search for it? Amazon = English only.