Hello everyone! (大家好 – dà jiā hǎo)

The last post here was all about my journey in China and how I’ve decided to leave (for now at least) to study in Indonesia. I already received a few great comments from you, our dedicated readers, and I just wanted to let everyone know that while I won’t physically be in China, I will still very much virtually be there and will continue to share cultural insights, language tips, and of course tons of stories and pictures from my many years there. This time, however, I’d like to hear more about YOU! We love getting comments and getting to know everyone who follows the blog, so this is your chance to introduce yourself and practice a little Chinese. The first section features some simple questions in Chinese, which you can try to answer in Chinese or use your native language if you’re not comfortable typing the characters yet. Sections two and three are multiple choice, on China and Chinese. Do your best to answer these without the assistance of Google! Finally, there are some questions in English related to the blog, and we’d really appreciate your feedback on those. I’d like to personally encourage all readers to post a comment with their answers – don’t be shy!

Section 1 – Chinese Practice

1. What’s your name? Do you have a Chinese name?
   你叫什么名字？有中文名字吗？(nǐ jiào shén me míng zì? yǒu zhòng wén míng zì ma)
2. What country are you from?
   你是哪个国家的？(nǐ shì nǎ ge guó jiā de)
3. What’s your job?
   你做什么工作? (nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò)
4. What are your hobbies?
   你的爱好是什么? (nǐ de ài hào shì shén me)
5. Have you been to China? Which places have you been to?
   你去过中国吗? 去过什么地方? (nǐ qù guò zhōng guó ma? qù guò shèn me dì fāng)

Section 2 – China Multiple Choice

1. Which of these cities is NOT one of China’s great ancient capitals?

• a. Luoyang
• b. Hangzhou
• c. Xi’an
• d. Nanjing

2. How many ethnic minority groups are there in China?

• a. 53
• b. 54
• c. 55
• d. 56

3. What is the most populous region of China? (Includes provinces, SARs, municipalities, and autonomous regions)

• a. Guangdong
• b. Henan
• c. Beijing
• d. Shandong

4. Who was the last President of China (before Xi Jinping)?

• a. Jiang Zemin
• b. Yang Shangkun
• c. Li Xiannian
• d. Hu Jintao

5. On what day does China celebrate its National Day?

• a. 5th day of the 5th lunar month
• b. October 1st
• c. 15th day of the 8th lunar month
• d. May 1st

Section 3 – Chinese Multiple Choice

1. What is the correct measure word in this sentence? 这___狗很可爱 (zhè ___ gǒu hěn kě ài)

• a. 辆 (liàng)
• b.只 (zhī)
• c. 家 (jiā)
• d. 件 (jiàn)

2. How do you say “The book is on the table” in Chinese?

• a. 书上在桌子 (shū shàng zài zhuō zi)
• b. 桌子上书 (zhuō zi shàng shū)
• c. 书在上桌子 (shū zài shàng zhuō zi)
• d. 书在桌子上 (shū zài zhuō zi shàng)

3. What does the Chinese idiom “马马虎虎” (mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔ) mean?

• a. So-so
• b. Good
• c. Amazing
• d. Beautiful

4. Fill in the blank: 你喜欢吃中餐____西餐? (nǐ xǐ huān chī zhōng cān xī cān)

• a. 可是 (kě shì)
• b. 或者 (huò zhě)
• c. 还有 (hái yǒu)
• d. 还是 (hái shì)

5. How would you say “I’ve been to Shanghai three times” in Chinese?

• a. 我第三次去上海 (wǒ dì sān cì qù shàng hǎi)
• b. 我去上海三次 (wǒ qù shàng hǎi sān cì)
• c. 我去过上海三次 (wǒ qù guò shàng hǎi sān cì)
• d. 三次我去了上海 (sān cì wǒ qù le shàng hǎi)

Section 4 – About the Blog

1. How long have you been reading the Chinese Language & Culture blog?
2. What do you like about it? (i.e. which type of posts)
3. If you could change something about the blog, what would it be?
4. What would you like to see more of on the blog?
5. Do you have any specific requests for posts?

 

Thanks in advance to everyone for participating. Without our readers, this blog wouldn’t exist and I’d be out of a job, so I can’t thank you enough for your continued support! We love hearing from you, whether it’s a comment on a blog post or a message on our Facebook group. I’m looking forward to your responses, and I’ll post the answers sometime next week!