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Chinese Investment in Iceland Causes Concern – Mini Chinese Lesson

Recent news of a Chinese investment firm wanting to buy a large piece of land in Iceland has caused concerns due to strategic position of Iceland. The following mini lesson covers keywords relating to investment, strategy, planning and worry.

Image of Iceland from Wikipedia

First review the following keywords before seeing them in use in the News Bite below.

Keywords

投資商（投资商）

Pinyin: tóu zī shāng
English: an investment company.
In this word 投資（投资）means to ‘invest’, and 商 is used to refer to a company or business

計劃（计划）

Pinyin: jì huà
English: to plan; a plan

購買（购买）

Pinyin: gòu mǎi
English: to buy; to purchase

平方公里 （平方公里）

Pinyin: píng fāng gōng lǐ
English: square kilometre
Here 平方 means ‘square’ as in ‘square root’, ‘square mile’ etc, and 公里 is a kilometre. In this example 300 square kilometres of 土地（tŭ dì）”land”, is being bought.

發展（发展）

Pinyin: fā zhǎn
English: to develop

旅遊業（旅游业）

Pinyin: lǚ yóu yè
English: tourism industry
Similar to 投資商，旅遊業 is a compound word made up of 旅遊 “tourism” and 業（业） which means “industry”.

擔憂（担忧）

Pinyin: dān yōu
English: worry; concern

獲得（获得）

Pinyin: huò dé
English: to obtain; to receive

北大西洋（北大西洋）

Pinyin: běi dà xī yáng
English: the North Atlantic Ocean

戰略立足點（战略立足点）

Pinyin: zhàn lüè lì zú diǎn
English: strategic foothold
Here 戰略（战略） means “strategy”, and 立足點（立足点）is a “foothold”.

News Bite

The keywords from above are highlighted in the news bite below. Remember to try reading the passage aloud, and possibly record yourself, in order to improve your pronunciation!

Traditional
《金融時報》星期二（8月30日）報道說，中國的一位投資商計劃投資一億美元，在冰島購買一塊300平方公里的土地，發展旅遊業，這讓人擔憂北京可能會獲得在北大西洋的戰略立足點。

Simplified
《金融时报》星期二（8月30日）报道说，中国的一位投资商>计划投资一亿美元，在冰岛购买一块300平方公里的土地，发展旅游业，这让人担忧北京可能会获得在北大西洋的战略立足点。

Pinyin
jīnróngshíbào xīngqíèr (8 yuè 30 rì) bàodào shuō, zhōngguó de yī wèi tóuzīshāng jìhuà tóuzī yīyì měiyuán, zài bīngdǎo gòumǎi yī kuài 300 píngfāng gōnglǐ de tŭdì, fāzhǎn lǚyóuyè, zhè ràng rén dānyōu běijīng kěnéng huì huòdé zài běidàxīyáng de zhànlüè lìzúdiǎn.

English
The financial Times on Tuesday (20th August) reported that a Chinese investment company is planning to invest $100M USD in Iceland by purchasing a 300 square kilometre piece of land to develop the tourism industry. This has made people worry that Beijing will gain a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic.

News Source (Traditional | Simplified)

What kind of news interests you? Politics? Entertainment? Technology? Fashion? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll create some lessons for those topics.

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Tags: #buy #China #develop #foothold #Iceland #investment #land #obtain #plan #stratgey #tourism #worry

3 Comments

1. 

   Thomas Gatley

   31st August, 2011 at 2:23 pm

   I really enjoyed that story, thanks – anything business-related is very useful.

   Reply

   
   
2. 

   孟樂嵐

   11th September, 2011 at 9:18 am

   Same sentiment here also – business related articles are very nice reads. So are the Chinese and Taiwanese going to 冰島 for tourism?

   Reply

   
   
3. 

   Mark B

   13th January, 2012 at 7:13 pm

   I have to say that your blog is nothing short of excellent. I hope this investment doesn’t go through though! Iceland doesn’t need to develop a sleazy tourist industry, funded by hot foreign money. Last I visited, it was a pristine beauty. I know the Icelandic government needs money, but 300sq km for 100M is a fire-sale!

   Reply

   
   

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