Chinese Language Blog

I really like eating Chinese food. How about you? (我真的很喜欢吃中国菜。 你呢？Wǒ zhēn de hěn xǐ huān chī zhōng guó cài. Nǐ ne?). Sampling the local cuisine is definitely one of my favorite things to do when traveling around China, whether it’s some mouth-numbing hot pot (火锅 huǒ guō) down in Sichuan, a hearty dim sum…

洗 (xǐ) is one of Chinese basic verbs. The character’s radical is the Three Drops of Water radical. Many Chinese radicals hold information about the character’s meaning. The Three Drops of Water radical usually implies the character is somehow related to water or liquid. The verb 洗 can mean several things: to wash, to rinse, to clean…

Fall is the best season in Beijing (秋天是北京最好的季节 qiūtiān shì běijīng zuì hǎo de jìjié). Winter is too cold (冬天太冷了 dōngtiān tài lěngle). Summer is too hot (夏天太热了 xiàtiān tài rèle). The pleasant fall weather is a welcome relief from the summer heat and a prelude to the chilly winds of winter. In my many…

Measure words (量词liàng cí) indicate an amount of something. They denote a unit or measurement, and are used with count nouns and non-count nouns (such as sugar, or water). Measure words are very common in many languages. In English measure words are usually attached to nouns of food, liquid, stationery, and personal items. For example…

The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and the kids are all back to school. That can mean just one thing – fall (秋天 – qiū tiān) is here. You may be bummed that summer is over, but there’s lots to love about autumn as well. In China, fall means two very…

I love Chinese food, I adore Chinese characters, and I savor Chinese music. Chinese songs are not only pleasant to the ears, they are also a good way to learn the language. One of my favorite Chinese song is 其实你不懂我的心 (qí shí nǐ bù dǒng wǒ de xīn). Recorded in 1989 by the Taiwanese singer…

No visit to Beijing would be complete without a trip to the Summer Palace (颐和园 – yí hé yuán), a massive complex full of pagodas, gardens, palaces, and even a lake. In my 5 years of living in the Chinese capital, this was always my favorite place to visit, especially on rare clear day in…