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Many parents who want their children to learn Chinese are often at a loss. To be fair, the differences between Chinese and languages like English, Spanish, German, etc. are vast, and it can be very difficult to know where to start. Fortunately, just like with other languages, there are certain approaches that work better when ...
If you were to Google “confusing things about Chinese”, you’d get approximately 39,100,000 results (trust us, we just tried). There are a lot of aspects of learning the language that might trip you up, things like pronunciation, writing characters, all the different ways to say “grandparent”, and more, but today we wanted to have some ...
By now, many people are familiar with “赛龙舟 (sài lóng zhōu) dragon boat racing” and how it has origins in a folk activity meant to commemorate Qu Yuan, a famous poet and politician, in the Warring States Period who drowned himself after being banished by the emperor.
Or perhaps you may have heard about the ...
Not all foods are easy to appreciate. Some foods are more of an “后天习得的品味 (hòu tiān xí dé de pǐn wèi) acquired taste”. That means someone has an appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it. It is the opposite of innate taste, which is ...
“Chinese fever” is “spreading” all over the world. It’s all the rage to learn the language with more than 1.3 billion native speakers, but of course it’s not as easy as snapping your fingers—you need to spend time, time, and more time to learn. Still, even those parents who are considering having their children start ...
The expression “三长两短” (sān cháng liǎng duǎn) , “three long and two short” is a Chinese idiom meaning an unexpected accident or misfortune. It is also sometimes used as a euphemism for someone’s death in hypotheticals or fiction.
The literal meaning of “sān cháng liǎng duǎn” refers to an uncovered coffin. However, in colloquial terms, “three ...
What day do children look forward to all year in China? If you think it’s their birthday, think again!
Tuesday, June 1st 2021 is when International Children’s Day is this year. If you ask any Child in China, they will often tell you that Children’s Day is a time when they go to the movies for ...
Other Chinese expressions for “embarrassment”
1.社会性死亡现场 (shè huì xìng sǐ wáng xiàn chǎng) social death scene
It made her look like a fool in public. She was so humiliated that she didn’t want to see anyone. She just wanted to crawl into a crack on the ground. It was called “social death”.
2.公开处刑 (gōng kāi chǔ xíng) ...
Network Valentine’s Day is a holiday to celebrate love in the information age that takes place over the course of two days, May 20 and May 21, every year, because of the way that these two dates sound in Chinese. “520” sounds like the Chinese for “I love you”, while “521″ has taken on the ...
All Chinese idioms have an elaborate origin story with an important moral imbedded within the heart of it and “Lord Ye Loves Dragons” is no exception.
This Chinese idiom story in particular was told by 颛孙师 Zhuān sūn shī, also known as 子张 Zi Zhɑng. He was a prominent disciple of Confucius, who accompanied Confucius in ...
Recently, the Ministry of Education issued the international standard for Chinese education. This was the first standard for foreign Chinese students by the National Committee on language and culture. The levels were divided into level three and level nine. The international standard for Chinese education will officially be implemented as of July 1, 2021.
According to ...
“We’re going to make a difference in the world. We’re tired of working for nothing. We’ve never had time to think about it just because we’re paid for a living. We want to smell the flowers, we want to bask in the sun, we believe: God only allows an eight hour working day. We gathered ...
It’s a topic covered in textbooks in language classrooms everywhere: “How to great someone from X-country or Y-culture”. Today we’re going to take you through rules and customs of different people, some more tongue-in-cheek in their seriousness and others we hope are informative. Whether or not you really learn something new, we hope you come ...
“A room without books is like a body without a soul. “
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.”
- Hermann Hesse
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
- Jhumpa Lahiri
April 23rd is World Book Day (世界读书日shì ...
Have you ever marveled at the phenomenon where the more we have of something, the more we take it for granted? Well, we only have one “行星地球 (xíng xīng dì qiú) planet Earth” so it must be “珍惜 (zhēn xī) cherished” and “ 关心 (guān xīn) cared for” above all else. April 22, 2021, is ...
Muslim Ramadan
Ramadan refers to the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is called Ramadan in Arabic. According to Islamic doctrine, Ramadan is a grand, festive, auspicious, and noble month.because it was this month that Allah handed down the Koran to Muslims.
1. Ramadan
The beginning and end of Ramadan are based on the appearance of the ...
In major cities across China, employees have returned to offices, students are situated in their school desks, and crowds congregate outside of restaurants during the dinner rush. While wearing a surgical mask, although it’s no longer mandated outside of subways and other congested places, has become a habit in many ways, normal life has resumed ...
The Songkran Festival in Thailand is also known as the “Water Festival”. It lasts three days beginning on April 13 each year and is an important festival in Thailand. The Thai Songkran Festival represents cleansing of evil, misfortune and sin, as well as the beginning of the new year and all things good.
1. History of ...
5 Psychological Phenomena You Probably Haven’t Heard About
“Psychological phenomena” is often kind of just a fancy way to refer to reasons behind human interactions, and ways to describe the cause-and-effect relationships between actions and reactions. It’s important to keep in mind that this terminology is neither positive nor negative, but often examples ARE interesting.
Additionally, being ...
Chinese tea culture refers to both making tea and drinking the tea in China. It is thought that Chinese people discovered tea in the Shennong era (~2400 B.C.), meaning that they’ve been drinking it for nearly 4500 years! This has allowed for many different traditions, expectations, and ideas about tea to evolve over time.
Since tea ...
