Chinese Language Blog

Studying a language can be expensive, especially when you don’t have the chance to immerse yourself in it. Not everyone can just up and move to China where they will see and hear Chinese on a daily basis. Luckily, the Internet has made it possible and easy to learn a language from anywhere in the world for free. Here are some of my favorite resources for learning Mandarin Chinese on the web:

Transparent Chinese

Learn Chinese with us!

Of course, I have to give a shameless plug for my own work and the hard work of everyone else on our team here. There are tons of resources at your fingertips to help you in your quest to learn Chinese, for example:

• Chinese Word of the Day – Learn a new word every day of the year!
• Language and Culture Blog – You’re looking at it now! Subscribe to the blog and get posts to your e-mail.
• Facebook Page – Read interesting articles, look at photos, and join in the discussion with 68,000+ people!
• Twitter – Receive updates in real-time by following us @chineselanguage.
• YouTube – I post 3 videos to the YouTube page every month, so subscribe and make sure you never miss one!
• Learn Chinese Online – Try a free week-long trial of the online program. You might as well – it’s free! You can read my review of the program here.

All of those resources are 100%, completely FREE! We have more options available for purchase, obviously, and those are definitely worth looking into.

nciku

The homepage for nciku.

This free website is a fantastic resource for learning Chinese. It includes a comprehensive Chinese-English dictionary, as well as themed vocabular lists, hundreds of conversations, HSK practice, and much, much more. I’ve been using it for years now and it never disappoints.

Chinese Pod

Learn Chinese on the go with the incredibly informative Chinese Pod. Download episodes from iTunes, toss them on your MP3 player, and learn Chinese anywhere you like! The lessons are varied from beginner to advanced, and they include a wide range of topics. No matter what you want to focus on in your Chinese studies, they’ve got something for you at Chinese Pod. Search for it on iTunes.

Chinese with Mike

If you think that learning Chinese from a white guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt in his garage sounds stupid, think again. Mike is a good (and hilarious) teacher who clearly explains everything and makes Chinese both fun and easy. Start from the beginning and work your way up through the lessons, as they get more and more difficult:

FluentU

FluentU - a great resource for learning Chinese.

This is a great website that helps you learn Chinese through watching actual videos from China, such as commercials, music videos, and more. The interactive player lets you scroll over words you don’t know, see the meaning, and save them for later. Instead of out of date textbooks that may use language most people don’t actually use anymore, these videos are current and relevant.

Chinese Tools

This site is packed full of great resources to help you study Chinese. You can learn idioms, Chinese calligraphy, or even figure out your Chinese name! The 30+ lessons that they have on here will help you learn Chinese in just 10 minutes a day. What have you got to lose?

Sexy Beijing

This highly entertaining YouTube series has over 10,000 subscribers, and for good reason. Each episode focuses on a different topic, and gives you exposure to real people in Beijing. You’ll learn about Chinese culture while learning some of the language at the same time. I particularly enjoy this one about Chinese rap:

Well that should keep you busy for a while! If that’s not enough, you can always try to surf the ‘net the Chinese way by using the most popular websites in China.

What could you accomplish with a full 24 hours in Beijing? Probably a lot more than you think! In this video, I take you on a whirlwind tour of the Chinese capital, hitting plenty of the famous sights, enjoying tons of local food, living like a local in some of the parks, and partying like a rock star with one crazy night full of music, drinks, and people.

VOTE FOR THIS VIDEO BY SHARING IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK, TWEETING IT, OR USING STUMBLE UPON, PINTEREST, OR GOOGLE +!!

While that may seem impossible to achieve in one day, I assure you it is very doable. You just need to have the motivation, the energy, the know-how, plenty of coffee during the day and some stronger stuff at night. Of course, an afternoon nap (午睡 – wǔ shuì) was crucial to the success of this day, and that’s a common habit among locals anyways!

If you enjoyed this video, PLEASE help me out and take a minute to cast a vote for it. Here’s how to do it:

1. First, click this link. That takes you to my entry.
2. There’s a green box next to the video that says “Vote for this entry.”
3. Click any one of the five social media options to cast your vote – SHARE it on Facebook, TWEET it, STUMBLE UPON it, PIN it, or add it to Google +. Simply watching the video on YouTube or LIKING it on Facebook is not enough!
4. If you have a website and you want to help out even more, you can post this code to your site for a cool interactive “vote for me” box. (<a href=”http://www.mydestination.com/users/sashabeijing/bbb” ><img src=”http://cdnstatic-2.mydestination.com/Images/bbb/badge.png” width=”150px” height=”150px” alt=”Vote for me”></a>) It will look like this…

“Hi everyone, my name’s Sasha and my destination is Beijing. Today I’m going to show you just how much you can do with 24 hours in Beijing. This is the heart of China. The place where Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

After the flag raising, take a stroll along Qianmen Street. it’s 8 o’clock. I’m cold and hungry. It’s time for some Beijing breakfast. Enjoy a classic Chinese breakfast of steamed stuffed buns, porridge, and soybean milk.

Next, head to the Forbidden City. This massive complex served as the imperial palace for Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Just north of the Forbidden City, you’ll find Jingshan Park. For just 2 RMB, you can enjoy morning exercises in the park and head to the top for stunning views of the city.

To get around Beijing you’ll want one of these cards. It’s good for the buses, subways, and most taxis.

A visit to the Drum and Bell Towers gives you a panoramic view of old Beijing neighborhoods, and you can also catch a drum show.

In between the towers, you’ll find Sculpting in Time, a great place for a coffee.

Well it’s 12:30. You know what that means – time for lunch!

Pack in with the lunch crowd and munch on shredded potatoes, cucumbers, and wonton soup.

It’s 1:30 now and we’re here at Shichahai, a series of three man made lakes in the city center. It’s a great place to walk around anytime of year. You can also rent a bike. Cruise through Beijing’s traditional alleyways.

It’s 5 o’clock and we’re getting the party started early at one of Beijing’s very own microbreweries. At Slow Boat, you can order a flight to sample their many craft beers.

For dinner, head to Ghost Street, where you can warm up with a Chinese favorite and a great dining experience – hot pot.

Kick off your night with a stroll along NLGX, a hip area full of shops, street vendors, snacks, and bars. Drop in Salud to sample one of their creative shandies or a glass of mulled wine, while you listen to Spanish music.

Turn it up to 11 at Temple, one of Beijing’s most popular bars with live music every weekend.

Down the street, you’ll find 4corners, a creative space that focuses on food, drinks, art, and people.

After midnight, the place to be is Sanlitun, where crowds gather to share two of the finer things in life, street beers and street food.

Take a quick rest in one of Beijing’s countless net bars, and then get crazy in Dada with an all night drum and bass party.

Well it’s almost 5 AM and a dim sum breakfast is the perfect way to end the day. This popular Cantonese joint is open 24 hours.

Finally, stroll around Ditan Park and reflect on your awesome day.”

We’re making our way all around China here, one province, municipality, autonomous region, and special administrative region at a time. So far, we’ve been to both Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Heilongjiang, Sichuan and Gansu provinces. Today, we’re heading to the east coast, to Zhejiang province (浙江省 – zhè jiāng shěng).

A CCTV Travelogue piece on Zhejiang.

History

Zhejiang has an incredibly long history, going back thousands and thousands of years. During the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代 – chūn qiū shí dài) (771-403 BC), there were various states thriving in what is today known as Zhejiang. There was the State of Wu (吴国 – wú guó), which was at one point the most powerful. However, they were eventually defeated by the State of Yue (越国 – yuè guó). Things didn’t quite work out for the Yue, either, as they were conquered by the State of Chu (楚国 – chu guó). Are you noticing a trend here? Maybe you can guess what happened next. In 221 BC, the State of Qin (秦国 – qín guó) took over, thus unifying China and ushering in the Imperial era as the country’s first dynasty. Some centuries later, with nomadic peoples invading the north, tons of northerners fled south. This aided in the sinicization of China (汉化 – hàn huà). During this time, Hangzhou became a thriving city. It became the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (南宋 – nán sòng) (1127-1279), and may have been the biggest city in the world at that time. During the Ming Dynasty, the province of Zhejiang was officially created, and its borders have changed little since.

Geography

Zhejiang's location in China.

Zhejiang can be found on China’s southeastern coast. It’s to the south of the Yangtze, and to its northeast you’ll find Shanghai. It also borders Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces. It has a total area of 101,800 sq km, most of which is mountainous. The highest peak is Huangmaojian Peak, clocking in at 1,929 meters. Zhejiang province is home to the most islands in China, with more than 3,000. There are also various lakes and rivers in this province. The name Zhejiang actually means “crooked river”; this used to be the name for the Qiantang River (钱塘江 － qián táng jiāng).

A map of Zhejiang province.

Climate

There are four distinct seasons in Zhejiang, which has a humid subtropical climate. The average annual temperature here is 15 to 19 degrees Celsius (59 to 66°F). Spring is warm and a little rainy. Summer is hot, rainy, and humid. Fall is dry, warm, and sunny, and winter gets pretty cold, but at least it’s short. The area is actually threatened by typhoons in the late summer. If you’re planning a trip there, spring is probably the best time to visit.

Population

More than 47 million people call Zhejiang home. As is the case most places in China, Han Chinese people make up a vast majority of the population. There are many Wuyue people (吴越人 – wú yuè rén) here – a subgroup of Han people who speak a different dialect of Chinese. There are also some 400,000 ethnic minorities living here, including She (畲 – shē) and Hui people (回族 – huí zú).

Culture

One of China's best teas.

As previously mentioned, Zhejiang is home to many Wu speaking people. On the whole, the province is very linguistically diverse. As it is very mountainous, different villages speak dialects that are completely unintelligible to one another; it must have something to do with all those mountains in between them. These local dialects are a very important part of the culturally identity of the province.

It is also famous for music, as it’s the home to Yueju (越剧 – yuè jù), a form of Chinese opera. This style of opera is elegant and soft, as it is only performed by actresses, who take on both male and female roles. It’s second only to Peking opera in terms of popularity. In addition to music, Zhejiang is famed for its tea, the most famous of which is Longjing tea (龍井茶 – lóng jǐng chá). The cuisine of Zhejiang is renowned throughout the country as well, as it is one of China’s Eight Great Culinary Traditions. Finally, this province is also commonly referenced in poetry, leading to a popular saying that “Above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou” (上有天堂，下有苏杭 – shàng yǒu tiān táng, xià yǒu sū háng).

Famous Places

A video I made at the West Lake.

Of course, Hangzhou is the most famous place to visit in Zhejiang. This is thanks to its beautiful West Lake (西湖 – xī hú), a UNESCO World Heritage site that is praised as “an idealized fusion between humans and nature.” It’s even on the back of the 1 RMB note here in China. Speaking of lakes, Zhejiang is also home to Qiandao Lake (千島湖 – qiān dǎo hú – lit. “thousand island lake”). There are plenty of water towns to visit, such as Wuzhen (乌镇 – wū zhèn) If you’d prefer mountain climbing to hanging out around water, you can visit Mount Tiantai (天台山 – tiān tái shān), which is important to Zen Buddhism.

With a long history, a rich culture, stunning lakes and mountains, delicious food, and some of the best tea in the world, Zhejiang definitely makes a strong case for “best province in China.” Stay tuned to the blog in the future, as we continue our journey through this massive country that is China.