A Beach Trip from Beijing: Visiting Beidaihe and Nandaihe Posted by sasha on Jun 28, 2022
The summer heat can be intense in the concrete jungle of Beijing, but thankfully there’s a beach (海滩 hǎi tān) escape not too far away. A few hours on a train or bus can bring you to the popular beach towns of Beidaihe (北戴河 běi dài hé) and Nandaihe (南戴河 nán dài hé). While Beidaihe…
Summer Fun in And Around Beijing Posted by sasha on Jun 14, 2022
Summer is right around the corner (夏天就在拐角处 xiàtiān jiù zài guǎijiǎo chù). It’s definietly my favorite season (季节 jìjié). Get ready for it by brushing up on your Chinese summer vocabulary. In this post, we’ll dive into all the options for summer fun in and around Beijing (北京 běijīng). Summer Fun in the City The…
Beijing vs. Shanghai Posted by sasha on May 26, 2022
Beijing and Shanghai are the two biggest and most famous Chinese cities. One is an ancient city known for its cultural icons, while the other is a modern metropolis full of futuristic skyscrapers. So which city is better? Well, you’ll just have to visit them both and decide for yourself! This post is actually all…
Shanghai Lockdown Continues Posted by sasha on May 11, 2022
One Chinese city has been in the news a lot lately – Shanghai (上海 shànghǎi). That’s because the city has been under an intense lockdown (封锁 fēngsuǒ). This is a result of the strict “zero COVID policy” (清零政策 qīng líng zhèngcè) that China has had in place. In this post, we’ll take a closer look…
Visiting the Ancient City of Pingyao Posted by sasha on Apr 28, 2022
For those interested in Chinese history and culture, a great place to visit is the Ancient City of Pingyao (平遥古城 píng yáo gǔ chéng), located in central Shanxi province (山西省 shān xī shěng). Although the small city of the same name will be of little interest to travelers, the old town is a fantastic UNESCO World…
Eating Chinese Food in Italy Posted by sasha on Apr 14, 2022
Now I’m traveling in Italy. Because Chinese people really like coming here, there’s a lot of Chinese food. (现在我在意大利旅游。因为中国人很喜欢来这里，所以有很多中国菜。 xiànzài wǒ zài yìdàlì lǚyóu。yīn wéi zhōngguó rén hěn xǐhuān lái zhèlǐ, suǒyǐ yǒu hěnduō zhōngguó cài). In this post, I’ll tell you all about eating Chinese food in Italy while teaching some useful expressions. When…
Chinese Morning Exercises Posted by Ayana on Mar 21, 2022
The Chinese phrase 晨练 is composed of two characters: 晨 (chén) that means morning, dawn; and 练 (liàn) that means to practice, to exercise. Together 晨练 (chén liàn) means morning exercise. 晨练是早上进行的健身运动。 Chén liàn shì zǎo shang jìn xíng de jiàn shēn yùn dòng. Morning exercise is the fitness workout one does in the morning. The…