Archive for 'Culture'
Chinese Idioms (Vol. 4) Posted by sasha on Oct 25, 2011
It’s been a while since our last post about Chinese idioms (成语 – chéng yǔ). In Chinese, the word for idiom literally means “to become a part of the language.” All idioms are composed of four characters, and most come from ancient literature. As such, the meaning of the idiom itself is usually more than…
Xià hé (夏河) Posted by Stephen on Oct 21, 2011
After waking up in a sand-filled bed, dehydrated and sunburnt, I figured my time spent in Dunhuang was at an end. I was continuing on my Silk Road trip to Xian and still had nearly the entire length (about 1500km) of Gansu province (甘肃) left to traverse. A series of buses and a long train…
Yangshuo (阳朔) – Part Two – One Day in Yangshuo Posted by sasha on Oct 19, 2011
For our second day in Yangshuo, we checked out the town, and headed out on bicycle to explore the beautiful countryside. We paid a visit to the Moon Water Cave and the Moon Hill, and we sampled a bit of the nightlife in this popular tourist destination. Check out some of the highlights in this…
Xi’an (西安) Posted by Stephen on Oct 18, 2011
西安 (xī ān) is a one of China’s oldest cities and has been a cultural and historical landmark throughout China’s history. At various times, this walled city of Shanxi Province or 陕西 (Shǎnxī) functioned as the capital city of China, and the home of the first imperial families. For millennium all roads have led to…
Chinese Love – Part Three Posted by sasha on Oct 18, 2011
As I mentioned in my last post, attitudes toward sex in China have changed drastically over the past few decades. And, as Steve discussed in his post, the ratio of men to women has increased steadily over the same amount of time. So, what is the result for modern China? Well, for many Chinese men…
Unbalanced Sex Ratio in China Posted by Stephen on Oct 17, 2011
In social experiments, intended outcomes often fall victim to unintended consequences. Such is the case with the the population control measures of China’s One Child Policy, which have been successful in curbing population growth, but at the expense of the a growing unbalanced sex ratio. As a consequence of the One Child Policy, sex-selection has…
Stroke Order (笔顺) Posted by Stephen on Oct 16, 2011
Now that we’ve covered Radicals (部首) in our last post, it’s time to move on to the basics of stroke order, so we can complete our characters and improve our writing. Stroke order is an integral component to reading, writing and recognizing characters and is a valuable way to deepen your understand of Chinese character…