I know that this subject was discussed a while back (Nov. 2000), but since then - has anyone learned the name or source of these big-wheeled monsters? Some people saw them in China in 2000. Here’s a photo: http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/Monocycle.htm
I want one, even though I hear they’re difficult to master. I have poked around the web a fair bit but have come up empty. Any help appreciated.
You know the web is pretty english language biased, and Chinese companies
have yet to fully utilize the web to advertise their products. And a teeny
tiny fraction of Chinese have some English. And an even smaller fraction
have the skills to post a products web site in English, so you’re really
will have great difficulty getting info on this moncycle.
I’m not even sure there is a distinction in Chinese between “unicycle” and
“monocycle”. It’s not like you can pick up your ordinary Chinese
dictionary and get a nice picture denoting the nuances of our sport.
Xi’an is large city in the Chinese province of Shaanxi. Over 6.62 million
people live there. I’ve been there and it’s a lovely city.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/xian.htm
So here’s what I dug up. Both companies are located in Xi’an and
manufacture bicycles. How you’ll contact them I’m not sure. There’s no
e-mail address. Maybe you can write them a nice letter in simple English
and snail mail it. Or better still have the letter translated and send
it. The postal code will guarantee it gets to the right place, even if
you don’t write the address in Chinese and the postman doesn’t
read English.
XI’AN LIGHT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS IMPORT AND EXPORT CORPORATION
http://www.dragonweb.com/cmpy/CD22061.HTM
XIAN YUAN DONG IMPORT AND EXPORT JOINT CORPORATION
http://www.dragonweb.com/cmpy/CD23054.HTM
But with some digging and searching using my Chinese browser, I did find
another photo of the monocycle. These sites require a Chinese browser to
see the text, and, of course, you need to be able to read Chinese.
Chinese Bicycling Web http://www.cyclingsino.net/dulunche/dulunche.htm
China Sports Web
http://www.sinosports.net/items/bike/saishi/dulunche.htm#1
Unicycle Specialty Service Centre
http://www.q114.com.cn/index-dulunche%20.htm This article has another
photo of the monocycle, but the photo is of bad quality. It seems like the
Chinese Ministry of Education has authorized unicycling as an approved
sport for elementary and high school kids. They mention a company called
the Beijing Wantong Jingji Maoyi Kaifa Gongsi that is recognized by the
Chinese Ministry of Education as an approved supplier of unicycles to
schools. This company seems to have a line of unicycles for sale. No web
site nor e-mail/snail mail address is mentioned.
And you thought communism was all bad? It’s not ALL bad. Could it be that
some Communist party member who works at the Ministry of Education is a
unicycle supporter? I’d like to meet them!
don_taiATyahooDOTcoDOTuk, Toronto, Canada
http://torontounicyclists.tripod.com
P.S. If there are any native Chinese Mainlander/Taiwanese/Singapore
unicyclists out there reading this please send me an e-mail…
Bikehead wrote:
>
> I know that this subject was discussed a while back (Nov. 2000), but
> since then - has anyone learned the name or source of these big-wheeled
> monsters? Some people saw them in China in 2000. Here’s a photo:
> http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/Monocycle.htm
>
> I want one, even though I hear they’re difficult to master. I have poked
> around the web a fair bit but have come up empty. Any help appreciated.
>
> - David david.hastings1@att.net
>
> –
> Bikehead Posted via the Unicyclist Community -
> http://unicyclist.com/forums
Greetings
In message “Chinese Monocycle again”, Bikehead wrote…
>I know that this subject was discussed a while back (Nov. 2000), but
>since then - has anyone learned the name or source of these big-wheeled
>monsters? Some people saw them in China in 2000. Here’s a photo:
>http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/Monocycle.htm
>
>I want one, even though I hear they’re difficult to master. I have poked
>around the web a fair bit but have come up empty. Any help appreciated.
>
>- David david.hastings1@att.net
I understand that Sem Abrahams bought one, so maybe he knows the source.
If not, we can ask the UX hosts and pray that we get an answer.
Stay on top, Jack Halpern Executive Director for International Development
International Unicycling Federation, Inc. Website: http://www.kanji.org
Thanks for your replies, Don and Jack.
Don, I will have to find a new Chinese friend and write some letters in Chinese - but exactly in what language/dialect do I need to write?
Greetings
In message “Re: Chinese Monocycle again”, Don Tai wrote…
>You know the web is pretty english language biased, and Chinese
>companies have yet to fully utilize the web to advertise their products.
>And a teeny tiny fraction of Chinese have some English. And an even
>smaller fraction have the skills to post a products web site in English,
>so you’re really will have great difficulty getting info on this
>moncycle.
>
>I’m not even sure there is a distinction in Chinese between “unicycle”
>and “monocycle”. It’s not like you can pick up your ordinary Chinese
>dictionary and get a nice picture denoting the nuances of our sport.
As far as I know, no langauge in the world distnguishes between
“monocycle” and “unicycle”, and even in English that is not recorded in
any dictionary and few people are aware of the difference. Long ago,
monocycle was synonymous with unicycle in English.
>Xi’an is large city in the Chinese province of Shaanxi. Over 6.62
>million people live there. I’ve been there and it’s a lovely city.
>http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/xian.htm
>
>So here’s what I dug up. Both companies are located in Xi’an and
>manufacture bicycles. How you’ll contact them I’m not sure. There’s no
>e-mail address. Maybe you can write them a nice letter in simple English
>and snail mail it. Or better still have the letter translated and send
>it. The postal code will guarantee it gets to the right place, even if
> you don’t write the address in Chinese and the postman doesn’t read
> English.
>
>XI’AN LIGHT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS IMPORT AND EXPORT CORPORATION
>http://www.dragonweb.com/cmpy/CD22061.HTM
>
>XIAN YUAN DONG IMPORT AND EXPORT JOINT CORPORATION
>http://www.dragonweb.com/cmpy/CD23054.HTM
>
>But with some digging and searching using my Chinese browser, I did find
>another photo of the monocycle. These sites require a Chinese browser to
>see the text, and, of course, you need to be able to read Chinese.
>
>Chinese Bicycling Web http://www.cyclingsino.net/dulunche/dulunche.htm
>
>China Sports Web
>http://www.sinosports.net/items/bike/saishi/dulunche.htm#1
>
>Unicycle Specialty Service Centre
>http://www.q114.com.cn/index-dulunche%20.htm This article has another
>photo of the monocycle, but the photo is of bad quality. It seems like
>the Chinese Ministry of Education has authorized unicycling as an
>approved sport for elementary and high school kids. They mention a
>company called the Beijing Wantong Jingji Maoyi Kaifa Gongsi that is
>recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education as an approved supplier
>of unicycles to schools. This company seems to have a line of unicycles
>for sale. No web site nor e-mail/snail mail address is mentioned.
>
>And you thought communism was all bad? It’s not ALL bad. Could it be
>that some Communist party member who works at the Ministry of Education
>is a unicycle supporter? I’d like to meet them!
>
>don_taiATyahooDOTcoDOTuk, Toronto, Canada
>http://torontounicyclists.tripod.com
>
>P.S. If there are any native Chinese Mainlander/Taiwanese/Singapore
> unicyclists out there reading this please send me an e-mail…
>
>Bikehead wrote:
>>
>> I know that this subject was discussed a while back (Nov. 2000), but
>> since then - has anyone learned the name or source of these
>> big-wheeled monsters? Some people saw them in China in 2000. Here’s a
>> photo: http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/Monocycle.htm
>>
>> I want one, even though I hear they’re difficult to master. I have
>> poked around the web a fair bit but have come up empty. Any help
>> appreciated.
>>
>> - David david.hastings1@att.net
>>
>> –
>> Bikehead Posted via the Unicyclist Community -
>> http://unicyclist.com/forums
>
Stay on top, Jack Halpern Executive Director for International Development
International Unicycling Federation, Inc. Website: http://www.kanji.org
Greetings
In message “Re: Chinese Monocycle again”, Bikehead wrote…
>Thanks for your replies, Don and Jack.
>
>Don, I will have to find a new Chinese friend and write some letters in
>Chinese - but exactly in what language/dialect do I need to write?
>
>- David
Uh? Of course in standard Mandarin (simplified Chinese) – see my website
at www.cjk.org for info. The dialects are mostly spoken, and those that
can be written rarely are.
Regards, Jack Halpern President, The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.
http://www.cjk.org Phone: +81-48-473-3508
Although there are thousands of local dialects, thankfully for all Chinese
in China and abroad there are only 2 types of written Chinese: traditional
and simplified. Within Mainland China and Singapore most people can read
and write simplified Chinese. If you find someone from Taiwan or Hong
Kong, they will probably read and write traditional Chinese. The two types
of written Chinese are not extremely different. Many Chinese can read and
write both.
Find a mainlander to help you with your writing.
Isn’t it interesting that 20% of the world’s population can read and write
the same stuff? If we can only get 1% of them to unicycle… I wonder if
the Chinese Red Army has a performing unicycle troupe?
don_taiATyahooDOTcoDOTuk, Toronto, Canada
http://torontounicyclists.tripod.com
Bikehead wrote:
>
> Thanks for your replies, Don and Jack.
>
> Don, I will have to find a new Chinese friend and write some letters in
> Chinese - but exactly in what language/dialect do I need to write?
>
> - David
>
> –
> Bikehead Posted via the Unicyclist Community -
> http://unicyclist.com/forums
Greetings
In message “Re: Chinese Monocycle again”, Don Tai wrote…
>Although there are thousands of local dialects, thankfully for all
There are only 7 major dialects, with perhaps a few dozen subdivisions.
>Chinese in China and abroad there are only 2 types of written Chinese:
>traditional and simplified. Within Mainland China and Singapore most
>people can read and write simplified Chinese. If you find someone from
>Taiwan or Hong Kong, they will probably read and write traditional
>Chinese. The two types of written Chinese are not extremely different.
Hmmm… it depends on what you mean by extreme. As it happens, this is my
line of work and I have presented several papers on the subject at
international conferences. If hyou are curious, have a look at:
<a href="http://www.cjk.org/">http://www.cjk.org</a> and for my paper at
<a href="http://www.cjk.org/cjk/c2c/c2centry.htm">http://www.cjk.org/cjk/c2c/c2centry.htm</a>
>Many Chinese can read and write both.
Some can read both, but few can write both.
>Find a mainlander to help you with your writing.
>
>Isn’t it interesting that 20% of the world’s population can read and
>write the same stuff? If we can only get 1% of them to unicycle… I
>wonder if the Chinese Red Army has a performing unicycle troupe?
>
>don_taiATyahooDOTcoDOTuk, Toronto, Canada
>http://torontounicyclists.tripod.com
>
>Bikehead wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for your replies, Don and Jack.
>>
>> Don, I will have to find a new Chinese friend and write some letters
>> in Chinese - but exactly in what language/dialect do I need to write?
>>
>> - David
>>
>> –
>> Bikehead Posted via the Unicyclist Community -
>> http://unicyclist.com/forums
>
Regards, Jack Halpern President, The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.
http://www.cjk.org Phone: +81-48-473-3508