Live streams, Books, and Bombers

Aug 24, 2025 8:21 am

This Week: Live Streams and IELTS

A bit of a slower week this past week as we’ve been finishing up a few big videos. We’ve also been spending time creating some useful materials for people who are preparing for the IELTS test or other standardized tests. However, we also discussed beards, books and learning Chinese on this week’s live stream.

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🎥 This Week's Videos

📺 LIVE! From Beijing! - Broadcasting from Beijing with discussions on beard growth, learning Chinese with a full-time job, IELTS insights, and the struggles of Chinese grammar. 👉 Watch here
📚 Chinese Books - Following on from the live stream, the current crop of books I’m (still) trying to get through.
🇨🇳 Chinese Military Preparations - They’re flying over and marching through, all in preparation of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2. 👉 Watch here

📺 LIVE! From Beijing!

Went live once again in what I hope is a continuing tradition. Sometimes these things are beyond my control as connection issues can impinge upon my desire for output.

However, we did go live for about an hour and covered a few different topics, notably facial hair and hair care, learning Chinese while working a full time job, my struggles with Chinese grammar, and some insights into the IELTS test.

Although I have yet to set a date to cut off my hair, I did address the issue by saying that it is getting a little unwieldy, so too with the beard. I was thinking of doing this live but I don’t want the connection to drop so I have to make sure to have back ups in place. I’ll let you know once things are ready. (Check out 35:47 - 40:59 of the live stream to hear more.)

It wasn’t all fun and games, however, in that we did discuss a little about the realities of learning Chinese, both the challenges of the language itself and the issue of finding time during a busy work day. One thing I did point out during the live stream were some of the books I’ve finally found time to go through. (See below, and see 40:59 onwards of the live stream.)

We also discussed a little more about the IELTS test and some of the requirements and expectations. We touched on a few of the different documents we have available for those taking the test, and the upcoming “How to Pass IELTS” course we are working on. (See 17:26 - 28:47 of the live stream.)

Key Timestamps for Easy Navigation:

00:00 Introduction and Setup
01:52 Language Learning and Video Discussion
17:26 IELTS Course and Testing Insights
35:47 Beard and Long Hair Reflections
40:59 Challenges of Learning Chinese
42:53 Chinese Books and Graded Readers
52:50 Chinese Grammar and Writing Struggles

👉 Watch the full video

📚 Chinese Books

Following on from the live stream, I thought I’d share some of the books I’ve been working my way through. These books have all been sitting in my apartment for a while and I want to get rid of them already, so I’ve made a goal of finally reading all the way through them.

The problem? I can’t even get through a children’s book without using a dictionary!

Here they are:

These are supposed to be the easiest as they are written for kids. But, as I’ve mentioned on the channel before, even though they’re for kids, there are some characters I don’t think I’ve ever seen at the HSK 5 level. The challenge continues!

The perennial favourite and one I’m thinking of finally getting through so I can take the HSK 5 test again (not that I need to). I’ve finished up to Chapter 26 but have yet to find the time or inclination to get through the remaining 12 chapters. Maybe this fall or early next year?

Finally, the four classics of Chinese literature, which I made a video about years ago. I’m currently making my way through Outlaws of the Marsh and it’s going alright. Although the books have both the Chinese characters and pinyin, I find I’m reading the pinyin a lot more because I want to focus on the grammar rather than having to look up all the characters I don’t know. If I only read the Chinese characters then I’d struggle to make any real progress through the book. So, for now, pinyin it is if given the option.

🇨🇳 Chinese Military Preparations

And just in time for the newsletter… they perform a practice flyover!

Sept 3rd marks the withdrawal of the Japanese forces from China after the end of the Second World War. This occurred a month after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and marked the end of the Japanese imperial army’s brutal occupation of parts of China.

So, to mark the occasion and show off some military strength, they decided to have a military parade.

I don’t know if other capital cities have this or if this is particular to Communist countries (Russia has these parades, too). I also don’t recall ever seeing a military parade in Canada but I know that the US loves to show off its big guns in all sorts of ways. If not on the street, then in museums, movies and the mainstream media.

Anyway, the short has been posted to YouTube (though my posts to other Chinese socials seem to have been muted) and some pics are below. I have no idea what any of these things are so if you know, write me and let me know.

Top left to right: the approach; helicopters with pennants; helicopters in “80” formation

Middle left to right: Reconnaissance aircraft (?); big planes; bomber jets

Bottom left to right: Refueling jet; fighter jets with smoke

If you want to see bigger pictures, I’ve created a Google Doc with all of the photos in there, or you can find them in this Google Folder.

👉 Watch the full video

We'll leave it there for this week. Thanks for reading. I hope you found this interesting and useful.