How to Use the Chinese Words for Custom Posted by Ayana on Jan 11, 2021
The famous Chinese idiom入乡随俗 (rù xiāng suí sú) is an equivalent to the English idiom when in Rome do as the Romans. The Chinese version, though, has nothing to do with Rome or its citizens. The four-character idiom is literally translated to when entering a village, follow the local customs. In this concise idiom each…
Top 20 Chinese Blog Posts of 2020 (Part Two) Posted by sasha on Jan 6, 2021
新年快乐! I hope 2021 is off to a good start for you so far. One thing’s for sure – 2020 set the bar pretty low! While it was a rough year to say the least, we still like to reflect on the positive things, especially when it comes to our little blog. We’re counting down…
Best Posts for Chinese Learning Posted by Ayana on Dec 28, 2020
Keep calm, 2020 is almost over. 2021 is just around the corner, and it’s time to make New Year’s resolutions. If one of your resolutions is to improve your Chinese during the coming year, I advise you to devote more time, as much as possible, and use many resources, as many as available, in your…
Top 20 Chinese Blog Posts of 2020 (Part One) Posted by sasha on Dec 16, 2020
Most of us will be happy to say goodbye to 2020 in a few weeks. The year was dominated by the coronavirus (新冠病毒 xīn guān bìng dú), which taught us terms like social distancing (社交隔离 shè jiāo gé lí). Even in China where it seemed like they had finally gotten the virus under control, new…
All About the Chinese Word for heart (心 xīn) Posted by Ayana on Dec 14, 2020
One of my biggest concerns when using a foreign language is to be misunderstood. Especially when talking about feelings and emotions. In this kind of conversation, the Chinese word for heart (心 xīn) is very useful. 心 is a short of 心脏 (xīn zàng), which means heart, and refers to the physical organ. As in…
Rocking Out in China (Part One) Posted by sasha on Dec 7, 2020
Recently, a friend sent me an article titled “Why Does China Have 1.4 Billion People and No Good Bands?” While it’s definitely an interesting question and a well-written article, I have to respectfully disagree with the premise. While I’ll admit that it’s not quite as cool as the scene up north in Mongolia, Chinese rock…
An Introduction to Chinese Street Food Posted by sasha on Nov 25, 2020
We love talking about Chinese food on the Chinese blog, and for good reason. Chinese cuisine is one of the most famous around the world and it’s definitely one of the most delicious! I recently described my perfect day of Chinese food, but I forgot one important thing – street food (街头食品 jiē tóu shí…