Archive for October, 2011
Stroke Order (笔顺) Posted by Stephen on Oct 16, 2011
Now that we’ve covered Radicals (部首) in our last post, it’s time to move on to the basics of stroke order, so we can complete our characters and improve our writing. Stroke order is an integral component to reading, writing and recognizing characters and is a valuable way to deepen your understand of Chinese character…
Radicals (部首) Posted by Stephen on Oct 14, 2011
As an English native speaker learning written Chinese, you are three steps removed from the language. You may know how to say a word, and even know the proper tones and meaning, but what about writing it? In English a 26 letter alphabet is really all you need to deduce most pronunciations and spelling, but…
The One Child Policy (一胎化政策) Posted by Stephen on Oct 13, 2011
The one-child policy or 计划生育政策 (jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè) is a population control policy of the People’s Republic of China that has been implemented in the mainland for over thirty-five years now. Born out of the Open Door Policy and a wave of sweeping economic reforms, the one-child policy addressed growing population and resource concerns, and…
Chinese Love – Part Two Posted by sasha on Oct 11, 2011
Dating (约会 – yuē huì) in China is much different than it is in Western countries. Having grown up in the US and having spent the better part of the last 3 years living in China, I’ve noticed that these differences are vast. Whereas college students in America date casually, and will probably meet someone…
Chinese Love – Part One Posted by sasha on Oct 7, 2011
Throughout my time living in China, one question has managed to come up multiple times from friends and family back at home – “Is there a Chinese word for love?” While it is certainly true that Chinese people express the most complicated human emotion in different ways than Westerners, that doesn’t mean there is no…
Air Pollution and Weather Control (污染) Posted by Stephen on Oct 5, 2011
To say that pollution or 污染 (wū rǎn) is bad in China would be an understatement. In China’s fervent rush toward industrialization and modernization, it has neglected many of the negative externalities associated with the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases along with the increasing destruction to water and land natural resources. If you…
Chinese Nationalism (民族主义) Posted by Stephen on Oct 2, 2011
As we celebrate National Day (国庆节) in China, it seems like a an apt time to reflect upon Chinese nationalism or 民族主义 (mín zú zhǔ yì). China is one of the most patriotic nations I’ve lived in (with an exception of the United States) and as a result, nationalism is rampant. Just read the newspaper…