Archive for June, 2020
The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival Posted by sasha on Jun 22, 2020
On the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, China celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 – duān wǔ jié). This year the holiday falls on June 25th. It has been celebrated in China for thousands of years, but it has only been a public holiday since 2008. Learn all about this traditional holiday in…
Guizhou Province: the world’s bridge museum Posted by Ayana on Jun 15, 2020
The landlocked province of Guizhou (贵州 Guìzhōu) is situated in southwest China. The Chinese describe the province as: 天无三日晴， tiān wú sān rì qíng, 地无三里平， dì wú sān lǐ píng, 人无三分银。 rén wú sān fēn yín. The rhymed parallelism depicts it well. The first part describes the sky and indicates the weather: 天无三日晴 (tiān wú…
A Guide to Asking Questions in Chinese Posted by sasha on Jun 8, 2020
Learning how to ask questions is important in any language. Even if you can’t really understand responses very well, being able to ask questions at least gets you started conversing with locals. Today I’m going to share a guide to asking questions in Chinese that I hope will help you out. 加油! Question Words in…
How to Respond to Compliments in Chinese Posted by Ayana on Jun 2, 2020
In Chinese culture, modesty is viewed as a virtue. It is an inherent part of the Confucian beliefs which emphasize the group over the individual. One of the daily aspects in which Chinese modesty is reflected is the way Chinese receive and respond (回应huí yìng) to a compliment (赞美zàn měi). While a simple thank you…