Archive for 'Culture'
Chinese Thanksgiving Vocabulary Posted by sasha on Nov 25, 2019
Thanksgiving is coming up in just a few short days. While this traditional American holiday isn’t celebrated in China, people there are always interested to learn about this and other festivals from around the world. I always laugh when my Chinese students ask me if I’m going to eat a “fire chicken” this week. That’s…
Exploring Beijing Posted by sasha on Nov 11, 2019
Beijing is the capital of China (北京是中国的首都 – běi jīng shì zhōng guó de shǒu dū). This huge city is home to over 20 million people, making it the 2nd biggest city in China behind Shanghai. Beijing is China’s political, economic, and cultural center (北京是中国的政治经济和文化中心 – běi jīng shì zhōng guó de zhèng zhì jīng…
Chinese Vocabulary for Halloween Posted by sasha on Oct 17, 2019
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. From dressing up and going trick-or-treating as a youngster, to wild parties that seemed to last all weekend in college, to awesome Halloween concerts, to scaring the crap out of unsuspecting Beijingers on the subway, I’ve always had fun on October 31st. Although Halloween isn’t exactly…
7 Awesome Chinese Words That Don’t Translate Posted by sasha on Oct 9, 2019
Have you ever seen that movie “Lost in Translation”? It’s a great movie starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson where the two often experience culture shock (文化冲击 – wén huà chōng jí) in Tokyo. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had plenty of experiences with culture shock. This was especially true during my first…
China Turns 70 Posted by sasha on Sep 25, 2019
October 1st is a very special day in China this year. Not only is it the country’s National Day (国庆节 – guó qìng jié), but it’s the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. In this post we’ll take a closer look at the holiday and how the country is planning on celebrating as China…
A Guide to the Mid-Autumn Festival Posted by sasha on Sep 11, 2019
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 – zhōng qiū jié) is fast approaching. This traditional Chinese holiday falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (阴历 – yīn lì), which just so happens to be Friday the 13th this year! It dates back over 3,000 years to the time of the Shang Dynasty (商朝…
Teachers’ Day in China Posted by Ayana on Sep 2, 2019
Chinese Teachers’ Day will be celebrated this month on September 10th. An old Chinese saying says: 人有三尊：君、父、师 (rén yǒu sān zūn: jūn, fù, shī). It means people have three to respect: the emperor, father, and teacher. According to the saying, a person should greatly honor the emperor who governed the country, the father who raised…