Archive for August, 2020
Qixi Festival: China’s Romantic Holiday Posted by sasha on Aug 25, 2020
Today marks the most romantic holiday on the Chinese calendar. In China, the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar is known as the Qixi Festival (七夕节 qī xì jié). This ancient Chinese festival goes by many names, including: the Night of Sevens, the Magpie Festival, and Qiqiao (乞巧 qǐ qiǎo). Many…
Using Children’s Fairy Tales to Practice Chinese Posted by Ayana on Aug 17, 2020
When I first arrived in China, more than a decade ago, I had a hobby: visiting book stores. I used to stand in awe in front of shelves full of books written in this beautiful ancient language. I stood there and wished one day to be able to open any of these books and read…
The Drama with TikTok Posted by sasha on Aug 12, 2020
Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you’re probably familiar with TikTok. Known as Douyin (抖音 dǒu yīn) in Chinese, the popular video-sharing social network has been making a lot of headlines these days as the US government is considering banning it. Before we address the drama with TikTok, let’s answer an important question…
Chinese Vocabulary for the Tencent vs. Lao Gan Ma Case Posted by Ayana on Aug 3, 2020
A much-discussed drama involving the Chinese tech giant Tencent and the well-known Chili sauce brand Lao Gan Ma erupted last June. Lao Gan Ma (老干妈 Lǎo gàn mā) is one of the most favored chili sauces in China. The company was founded by an illiterate woman from a mountain village who built her small noodles restaurant into a…