Considering getting a Chinese tattoo? 小心 – xiǎo xīn – Be careful Written Chinese can be quite beautiful. In fact, Chinese calligraphy is one of the four great arts that were required anciently of accomplished Chinese scholar-gentlemen. Usually spoken of together they are: 琴棋書畫 – qín qí shū huà Chinese Pinyin Meaning 琴 qín qín…
Fall and Winter means that a lot of big holidays are coming up in Western countries, and in this global day and age, a lot of those holidays are also celebrated in Chinese-speaking countries now as well. The first big holiday coming up in November is Thanksgiving. You may be wondering, why is there a…
One of the hardest things for non-native Chinese speakers is learning to read, not only because of the need to memorize characters, but because of the differences between spoken and written Chinese. There are only two written forms, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Both are character-based writing. While there is a whole lot we could…
學習閱讀中文並不難 Xué xí yuè dú zhōng wén bìng bù nán Learning to read Chinese is not difficult. I know this statement will strike some as outrageous, but I stand by it. It really is not difficult. (Which is not to say that it is easy). Admittedly, at first glance Chinese writing can be very intimidating….
When you’re learning a new language, one of the first things that you need to learn to do is to ask questions. Asking questions in about anything is one of the best ways to learn, and if you’re learning something new you are definitely going to have a lot of questions! In Chinese there are…
The following is a guest post from eChineselearning Quintessential Customs of Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 (chóng yáng jié) 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…
One of the lesser-known (to foreigners) Chinese holidays is the Double Ninth or Chung Yeung Festival (重陽節). The Double Ninth Festival takes place every year on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. In 2020 that will be October 25th. Although it is a popular holiday celebrated in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan,…
As Chinese is a national language in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau, you’ll have a much easier time in your travels around Asia if you first learn Chinese. The official Chinese dialect of China and the other listed countries is Mandarin, also called “Putonghua”. More than 70% of the Chinese population speaks Mandarin,…
One of the best ways to improve your Chinese is through watching TV shows. If you have a Netflix subscription you’re in luck because there are a lot of Chinese TV Shows on Netflix. There are both Netflix originals and shows that Netflix has purchased the rights for. This list is up to date as…
The Double Seventh Festival, or Qixi Festival falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. This year, that is August 25th, 2020. The Qixi Festival is widely known as Chinese Valentine’s Day. THE LEGEND The Qixi Festival originated with the legend of the cowherd (牛郎 Niúláng) and the weaver girl (织女 Zhínǚ). In…
