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Fortunes and Follies for The Ox Zodiac in 2021
The year of the rat didn’t go as intended. It was supposed to be a year for creativity involving change, but we didn’t need nor want that kind of change, right? So in trods the Ox. What can we expect from the steady and methodical Ox Year? ...
What You Don’t Know About Chinese New Year
2021 is the Year of the Ox, the ox being of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. In fact, there are similar customs in many countries. For example, Myanmar has eight zodiac animals that, similarly to the Chinese zodiac, are assigned to people depending on their date of birth.
In ...
Xia Yuan Festival is a traditional festival on October 15th in the lunar calendar and November 29th in the solar calendar this year. Its origin is derived from Taoism and this is the birthday of the celestial emperor also known as the Official/God of Water.
As one of the oldest gods in Taoism, the Water God ...
“愿意(yuànyì)” and “肯(kěn)” are both auxiliary verbs, both of which indicate the general compliance with demands or willingness to do something.
“愿意(yuànyì)” is used to express how someone feels, particularly a feeling of acceptance or desire to do something without feeling unhappy. It can also be modified by placing adverbs of degree, like “非常(fēicháng)” or “很(hěn)”, ...
I have talked with you about a lot of common Chinese vocabulary expressions and how Chinese people use them. Today, let’s talk about something different: let’s talk about a recent popular cultural phenomenon in China.
Recently, a phrase suddenly became popular on the Internet: ”凡尔赛文学(fán’ěrsài wénxué) Versailles Literature”.
Some people say that this expression was inspired ...
The day before “圣诞节 (shèngdànjié) Christmas”is considered by most churches to be a part of the Christmas holiday. Many Christians attend midnight mass, leading up to and officially beginning the start of Christmas.
After Christmas Eve, Christmas Day arrives
圣诞节(shèng dàn jié) / 圣诞(shèng dàn): n. Christmas
Examples:
wǒ men yào qù dé guó guò shèng dàn ...
If someone asks how to say, “OMG” in Chinese, are they really asking about the literal translation of “Oh my god”? Of course not; they’re asking how to express and evoke the same emotion when speaking Chinese.
The English emotion and version of this expression is actually not a foreign one to Chinese people – the ...
Diego Maradona, who used the “Hand of God” and made the “Goal of the Century” that helped Argentina win the 1986 World Cup, has passed away as the greatest football player of the 20th century. According to several media reports in Argentina, Maradona died of a heart attack at home on November 25th at the ...
Great Snow, also know as Major Snow 大雪 (dàxuě), is the 21st solar term of the 24 solar terms and 3rd term of the winter season. It begins on December 7th, 2020, and ends on December 20th which is when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 255° and ends when it reaches ...
China’s food culture has a long history. It embodies the personality and traditions of the Chinese nation, and can play an outsized role in Chinese etiquette.
In China, even our greetings to acquaintances are not, “Hi!” or, “How are you?” but, “你吃了吗 (nǐ chī le ma) Have you eaten yet?” so food can be said to ...
Thanksgiving is coming! It will be a good chance to look back on results of this past year, as well as a good opportunity to thank family, friends and yourself.
A pillar of Chinese culture is that of respect and “感恩 (gǎnēn) gratitude” for what other people do for you, so how do Chinese people express ...
Thanksgiving day is a western traditional festival created by the American people in 1621. Its origins hail from the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans who shared an autumn harvest feast. It is an opportunity to facilitate the family reunion for Americans and gatherings for friends who are too far from family. In the ...
People have a special day set aside for nearly everything it seems. For example, October 25th is World Pasta Day. Well, China also has unique special days, like Standards Day that was celebrated a few days ago on October 14. China’s Standards Day marks the anniversary of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The aim of ...
”万圣节 (wànshèngjié) Halloween” is celebrated on October 31st in many countries around the world, and even though it’s not a Chinese holiday, over the years it has become very popular in China, Taiwan, and other Asian countries and regions. But today we won’t spend much time on the cultural background of this holiday – since ...
Halloween is almost here, and you know what that means — it’s prank time! Whether you’re the one jumping out with a, “Boo!” or jumping back with an, “Aah!” things are gonna get scary. Good news is, after you read this article today, Chinese won’t be nearly as scary as you might think it is!
Words ...
The date of “重阳节 (chóng yáng jié)” is September 9th of the Lunar Calendar, and in English which it is called the Double Ninth Festival. As shown in previous articles, Tomb-sweeping day, New Year’s Eve, Zhongyuan Festival (July 15th in Lunar), and Double Ninth Festival are all traditional festivals for worshiping ancestors.
In The Book of ...
As the old saying goes: The master teaches the trade, but the apprentice’s skills are self-made (师(shī)傅(fù)领(lǐnɡ)进(jìn)门(mén)，修(xiū)行(xínɡ)靠(kào)个(ɡè)人(rén)). In language learning, the mentor’s and the learner’s effort are the two most important things, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make the most of the tools at their disposal. As a Chinese teacher all these years, I have always kept an eye out ...
Given how packed everyone’s schedules are, it’s become imperative that we “plan” or “make plans” in order to get everything done that we need to do, and see everyone who we need (or want) to see. It’s probably this way in your country, and it’s definitely this way in China. Enter: 安排.
As a noun, 安排(ānpái) ...
Have you heard the expression, “盘他(pán tā)”?
The expression was made popular by a TikTok video where the speaker said, “Don’t mind what he is, 盘他(pán tā). Everything can be ‘盘’, just ‘盘’”.
What does that mean?
Let’s talk about 盘(pán) first.
Now, you may have seen the word 盘(pán) before in the context of eating. For example: 一盘菜(yī pán cài). This literally means, ...
“斜杠青年(xiégāng qīngnián),” or, “Slashers”, are people who make multiple income streams simultaneously from different careers.
“斜杠(xiégàng)” literally means “slash” in English, and refers to the “/” (particularly the key on the computer keyboard). The term was coined by Marci Alboher, a New York Times columnist, in her book One Person/Multiple Careers, in which she used “slashers” ...
