Harbin Snow Sculpture Expo Posted by sasha on May 3, 2013
Thanks to its freezing temperatures, Harbin can play host to an annual Snow Sculpture Expo. Artists from all over the world come to show off their talents, carving very detailed snow sculptures. Enjoy a short video tour from the comfort of your home instead of freezing your butt off there in person! 松花江 – sōng…
Labor Day in China Posted by sasha on Apr 30, 2013
Tomorrow is a national holiday here in China – Labor Day (劳动节 – láo dòng jié). Known more colloquially as “May Day” (五一节 – wǔ yī jié), this holiday always falls on May 1st. Actually, May 1st is International Labor Day, as it is an official holiday in over 80 countries. Until 2008, this was…
How to Study Chinese Online For Free Posted by sasha on Apr 26, 2013
Studying a language can be expensive, especially when you don’t have the chance to immerse yourself in it. Not everyone can just up and move to China where they will see and hear Chinese on a daily basis. Luckily, the Internet has made it possible and easy to learn a language from anywhere in the…
Sightseeing in Datong Posted by sasha on Apr 24, 2013
While Datong itself is an interesting city with a long history, the main reasons for traveling there lie outside of the city. Most tourists travel here to visit the Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟 – yún gāng shí kū), one of the three major Buddhist sculptural sites in China. Way back in the day, the Northern Wei…
2013 Harbin Ice and Snow Festival Posted by sasha on Apr 21, 2013
Temperatures in Harbin tend to stay well below freezing in the winter months, which makes it the perfect site for an international ice and snow festival. Explore the frigid Ice and Snow World, with its intricate ice sculptures, massive neon lit ice castles, and a whole lot of silliness one can only find in China…
Culture Shock in China (Part One) Posted by sasha on Apr 16, 2013
Before coming to China on the day of my 23rd birthday, I had lived my entire life in the US. I had traveled to a few other countries in my youth – Italy, Greece, and Canada with my cello group, Mexico with a friend, and both the Netherlands and Jamaica to attend music festivals –…
20 Hilarious Chinglish Signs Posted by sasha on Apr 14, 2013
What happens when you mix Chinese and English? Well, you end up with Chinglish (中式英语 – zhōng shì yīng yǔ). Sometimes, Chinglish is just formed by using Chinese grammatical structures in English. Trying to translate Chinese directly into English will give you sentences such as “I very like play basketball” (我很喜欢打篮球 – wǒ hěn xǐ huan dǎ…