Archive for June, 2012

Now that we’ve gone over some basic tongue twisters or  绕口令 (rào kǒu lìng) I thought this would be a good time to step up the level of difficulty and provide even more challenging tongue twisters. These ones will give you quite a workout, so if your tongue isn’t tired yet it should be after reading (and practicing)…

Now that we’ve covered some basic tongue twisters, it’s time to ramp up the level of difficulty. Try saying these tongue twisters five times fast. See if you can get as good as Jackie Chan: 青青山上一根籐 青籐地下掛銅鈴 風吹籐動銅鈴動 風停籐停銅鈴停 qīng qīng shān shàng yī gēn téng qīng téng dǐ xià guà tóng líng fēng chuī…

Learn how to talk about your home in Chinese with this easy to follow video that teaches you useful vocabulary such as the names of different rooms and furniture. This is my apartment. 这是我的公寓 – zhè shì wǒ de gōng yù In my apartment, there is a storage room… 公寓里有一个储物间 – gōng yù lǐ yǒu…

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is known in Chinese as the Duanwu Festival (端午节 – duān wǔ jié). This holiday is celebrated every year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, and although it has only been an officially recognized public holiday in mainland China since 2008, it has been celebrated…

Certainly the most famous place in Xi’an, the Terracotta Warrior army is a sight to behold. Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of a united China, had these thousands of sculptures buried with him to protect him in the afterlife. Stumbled upon by a group of farmers back in the 70’s, this archaeological wonder is…

It’s time for another installment of Chinese idioms. Today, we’ll look at a few very common idioms that you’ll encounter in your daily life here in the Middle Kingdom. 马马虎虎 – mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔ – “so-so”; “careless” This everyday Chinese idiom literally translates to “horse horse tiger tiger.” As with most Chinese idioms, there’s…

Want a story with political scandal, murder, and corruption? Something that goes to the top of Chinese government and implicates a myriad of high ranking officials? I present to you, the Curious Case of BoXilai, which just keeps getting more and more interesting as details start to emerge. For those unfamiliar, Bo XiLai is a…