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…
Radicals (部首) Posted by Stephen on Oct 14, 2011
As an English native speaker learning written Chinese, you are three steps removed from the language. You may know how to say a word, and even know the proper tones and meaning, but what about writing it? In English a 26 letter alphabet is really all you need to deduce most pronunciations and spelling, but…
The One Child Policy (一胎化政策) Posted by Stephen on Oct 13, 2011
The one-child policy or 计划生育政策 (jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè) is a population control policy of the People’s Republic of China that has been implemented in the mainland for over thirty-five years now. Born out of the Open Door Policy and a wave of sweeping economic reforms, the one-child policy addressed growing population and resource concerns, and…
Chinese Love – Part Two Posted by sasha on Oct 11, 2011
Dating (约会 – yuē huì) in China is much different than it is in Western countries. Having grown up in the US and having spent the better part of the last 3 years living in China, I’ve noticed that these differences are vast. Whereas college students in America date casually, and will probably meet someone…