“What a big city!”Abdu---a man from Sudan said amazingly in the boat. Wow,he really likes this tour very much!

Yes, that is the second activity of our “PublicChinese”--- Cruise on Pearl River ，a tour to particular Chinese Southland.

Our boat started from the famous dock—Tianzi Dock on the 17th November, 2007.Renmin Bridge,Xidi Bridge,Jiangwan Bridge…The White Swan Pond ,Pagoda Reflection Building, Bars along thePearl River…Many sceneries passed by our way. In this short time, We experienced the beauty of the ancient or modern Chinese , Western, also as if felt the changes of the times.

On the third floor of the boat, Abdu couldn’t help saying that:“China is so beautiful! I like here very much ,also want to study Chinese well!”

The cruise finished, but Abdu’s words always lingers in my ears. Indeed, learning language is a kind of key to understand a new country. Hope he can speak Chinese fluently very soon, also hope more foreign friends join our family, enjoy working and learning Chinese.

   “原来广州这么大！”在游船上，来自苏丹的Hassan惊奇地叫到！Wow，看来他是真的喜欢上了这次夜游！没错，这就是我们PublicChinese学员活动的第二站――颇具浓郁南国特色的珠江夜游。

    2007年11月17日晚上7点15分，我们一行7人――来自瑞典的David和Christoffer，荷兰的Thomas和他的哥哥，苏丹的Hassan和Abdu，还有一位大众中文网的老师，随着花城明珠号准时从久负盛名的天字码头出发啦。经过人民大桥、西堤码头、江湾大桥、解放大桥、海印大桥、中山大学北门广场、星海音乐厅、爱群大厦、塔影楼、白鹅潭、粤海关大楼、沙面租界、二沙岛、沿江酒吧廊……游行的时间并不长，但在短短的一个半小时里却让我们领略到了古今中西不同美景，也似乎感受到了时代变迁。在三楼的甲板上，Abdu有着掩饰不住的喜悦，他和我说：“中国真的太漂亮了，我很喜欢这里，也很想好好学习中文！”

船在江上行，十里花街十里灯!夜游虽然结束了，但是Abdu的话却常常萦绕在我耳边。的确，语言的学习是认识和了解一个陌生国家的关键，希望很快他能说一口很流利的中文，也希望有更多的外国朋友们能够加入我们的大家庭中，一起快乐工作快乐学习！

Tips 小提示：

The Pearl River is known as the "Oriental Seine"。It is 2124 kilometers long and it is the third largest river in China. In its course running across Guangzhou, there is a huge stone island standing in the way of flowing water. The island has been washed by the river water for thousands of years and polished to resemble a big shiny pearl. And it is called “the pearl stone in the sea” by the local. Therefore, the river where the “pearl stone” positioned is called the Pearl River.

珠江被称为“东方塞纳河”，全长2124公里，是我国第三大河，它的名字来自“海珠石”。当千里珠江流经广州城下时，江中有一巨大的石岛，石岛长期被江水冲刷，变得圆滑光润，形如珍珠，称“海珠石”。由此，坐落该石的河流便称之为“珠江”。