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The Year of the Ox Posted by sasha on Feb 3, 2021
The Spring Festival is coming soon (春节快到了 chūn jié kuài dào le). This year, the Chinese New Year falls on February 12th. We’re entering the Year of the Ox (牛年 niú nián), which I’m pretty excited about as it’s my year! I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since I celebrated my first Spring Festival…
China’s 2021 Holiday Calendar Posted by sasha on Jan 27, 2021
What Chinese holidays are you familiar with? We’ve covered most of them here on the blog at some point. I’ve been fortunate enough to celebrate all the major Chinese holidays in my years of living in both Beijing and Kunming. There are many holidays in China – both public and unofficial – throughout the year…
Top 20 Chinese Blog Posts of 2020 (Part Two) Posted by sasha on Jan 6, 2021
新年快乐! I hope 2021 is off to a good start for you so far. One thing’s for sure – 2020 set the bar pretty low! While it was a rough year to say the least, we still like to reflect on the positive things, especially when it comes to our little blog. We’re counting down…
Top 20 Chinese Blog Posts of 2020 (Part One) Posted by sasha on Dec 16, 2020
Most of us will be happy to say goodbye to 2020 in a few weeks. The year was dominated by the coronavirus (新冠病毒 xīn guān bìng dú), which taught us terms like social distancing (社交隔离 shè jiāo gé lí). Even in China where it seemed like they had finally gotten the virus under control, new…
Rocking Out in China (Part One) Posted by sasha on Dec 7, 2020
Recently, a friend sent me an article titled “Why Does China Have 1.4 Billion People and No Good Bands?” While it’s definitely an interesting question and a well-written article, I have to respectfully disagree with the premise. While I’ll admit that it’s not quite as cool as the scene up north in Mongolia, Chinese rock…
An Introduction to Chinese Street Food Posted by sasha on Nov 25, 2020
We love talking about Chinese food on the Chinese blog, and for good reason. Chinese cuisine is one of the most famous around the world and it’s definitely one of the most delicious! I recently described my perfect day of Chinese food, but I forgot one important thing – street food (街头食品 jiē tóu shí…
Fun With Chinese Idioms Posted by sasha on Nov 10, 2020
Just like English, Chinese is a language with countless idioms. Studying Chinese idioms not only helps you improve your language skills, but it also provides insights into a rich culture that is thousands of years old. They aren’t exactly always easy to incorporate into your day-to-day life, but it’s still fun to learn some Chinese…