How do Chinese parents choose a name for their child? Traditionally, Chinese names consist of two, three of even four characters. Three is most common. The first character (or first two) is your family name or surname. The next character could be decided by your generation in the family. There would be a family pattern…
The 12 animals of the Zodiac are represented by Chinese zodiac characters. These characters represent the Chinese zodiac animals. Below, we’ll explain each animal and its character. We’ll also show you a popular and often slightly unusual idiom for each zodiac animal. Chinese Zodiac Characters The Chinese Zodiac are referred to as 生肖 (shēng xiào)….
It’s not quite numerology, but Chinese definitely do put a lot of weight on numbers. In this HSK 5 reading practice we’ll take a look at some numbers that are significant in Chinese culture. You may have learned about these numbers before, but your lesson was probably not in Chinese! Congratulations on progressing this far…
Culturally, Chinese people are not known to express love as often using words as in Western cultures. Even so, there are a number of ways to communicate how you feel in Chinese and they can be totally appropriate to use – especially if you are speaking to a boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse. Instead of just teaching…
Before we get into the Chinese word for Chinese, let’s take a look at what we mean in English. When you say you speak Chinese to someone they may ask if you mean Mandarin or Cantonese. In this post we’re going to be looking at ways to say Chinese in Chinese and all of these…
Although there are currently around 2,000 Chinese last names in use, the top 100 surnames are used by 87% of the population. In fact, the top three Chinese surnames, Li, Wang and Zhang, are also the most common surnames of any in the world. By learning a few of these surnames you will be able…
Why do you learn Chinese? Your motivation will have a big impact on your success. My main motivation has always been to connect with people, especially family and friends. When you make a new friend in China you will usually add them on WeChat. If you’re not familiar with WeChat you can check out our…
This HSK 6 level reading practice introduces a few classic Chinese novels. These are novels that would be a great opportunity for you to stretch your Chinese reading muscles. Chinese literature is written in a style that can differ greatly from spoken Chinese. For this reason we have readings available written as stories and as…
Do you use emojis/emoticons when you message your friends? What emojis do you like to use the most? Emoji/emoticon in Chinese is 表情符号 [biǎo qíng fú hào], or just 表情 [biǎo qíng] for short. Chinese emojis are a little different than the emojis in the west. You can ask your Chinese friends like this: In…
