Locations in Chinese

Locations, locations, locations. When it comes to renting an apartment or purchasing a house, an important consideration is the location. Like Mencius’ mother, parents want to select a decent and safe neighborhood for their children. Also, homeowners believe that a nice neighborhood will help ensure a good resale price for their house. So it is that a tiny old 公寓 (gōngyù apartment) in a good area, or 好的地区 (hǎo de dìqū), could cost many times more than a brand new 房子 (fángzi house) elsewhere that comes complete with a double-garage and a large backyard.

他住在城里.
Tā zhù zài chénglǐ.
He lives in town.

我喜欢住郊外
Wǒ xǐhuān zhù jiāowài.
I like to live in the suburbs.

你喜欢住哪儿?
Nǐ xǐhuān zhù nǎr?
Where would you like to live?.

Following are a few choices:

靠近超级市场 (kàojìn chāojíshìchǎng) close to the supermarket
在医院附近 (zài yīyuàn fùjìn) in the vicinity of the hospital
在公园旁边 (zài gōngyuán pángbiān) by the park
在学校对面 (zài xuéxiào duìmiàn) across the street from the school
在高楼大厦 (zài gāolóudàshà) in a high-rise building
在市区 (zài shìqū) in the urban district
在市中心 (zài shìzhōngxīn) down-town
高级住宅区 (gāojí zhùzháiqū) uptown district
在东区 (zài dōng qū) in the eastern sector
靠近海边 (kàojìn hǎibiān) by the ocean
在山坡上 (zài shānpō shàng) on the mountain side
在乡下 (zài xiāngxià) on the countryside
房价便宜的地方 (fáng jià piányi de dìfang) a place with inexpensive quarters
远离铁路的地方 (yuǎnlí tiělù de dìfang) a place far from the railroad
人口稀少的地方 (rénkǒu xīshǎo de dìfang) scarcely populated area
太平洋的小岛上 (tàipíngyáng de xiǎo dǎo shàng) on an island in the Pacific Ocean

Answers to the “where?” questions involve adverbs and adverbial phrases or clauses. Following are a couple additional examples:

广场前面有一株大树.
Guǎngchǎng qiánmiàn yǒu yī zhū dà shù.
There is a large tree in front of the public square.

老师在黑板上面写了三个字.
Lǎoshī zài hēibǎn shàngmiàn xiě le sān gè zì.
The teacher wrote three words on the blackboard.

Please review “17. When? Where? How?” in “Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes“.

To pinpoint the exact coordinates, or 坐标 (zuòbiāo), of where you are, you could make use of a 卫星定位系统 (wèixīng dìngwèi xìtǒng Geographic Positioning System, or GPS). Whereas clairvoyance, or 千里眼 (qiānlǐyǎn), was once monopolized by fictional characters, nowadays anyone could easily get a 3-D view of any place, even thousands of miles away, by making use of a software program like Google Maps(TM). It’s a small world indeed.