Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
chinesespeaking 
It depends. If you wear white on festive days, like the Chinese Spring Festival and a wedding, you will offend all the Chinese people. Well, this is how Sydney celebrated the 2022 Chinese New Year. Of course, I prefer to think that is because of Sydney Council’s ignorance of Chinese tradition. On the other hand, … Read more
It depends on what your native language is. People who speak Indo-European languages find the vocabulary alien and especially people from structured languages like German and Russian, find the free form disconcerting. There are no tenses, no conjunctions, no plurals, and so forth. You have to learn quite a different way of expressing yourself. Take … Read more
Although I’m a science guy, I’ve always been fascinated by language and writing. The symbol “~” is called a “波浪号” (bōlàng hào) in Chinese, which literally means “wave mark.” Its official name is “浪纹” (làng wén), or “wave pattern.” As you can see, Chinese is indeed a pictographic language—this symbol really does resemble waves on … Read more
On the first day of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, the moon is a crescent, and on the fifteenth day, it is a full moon. The specific month that is the first month of the calendar depends on the sun. The Winter and Summer solstices are determined by the longest and shortest duration of sunlight … Read more
I do not see strong-enough evidence that it was the contributor, or even the dominant contributor. Supporters of the “character simplification raised literacy rates” theory usually point to the timeline of China’s literacy levels rising in tandem with the implementation of Simplified Characters as the standard form. What they conveniently choose to ignore are the larger factors that led … Read more
The culture of China that I like and admire the most is “Action speaks louder than words” Chinese people love a cheery talk but when they judge someone, they tend to believe what he or she does, instead of what he or she says. You can say one thing, but if your action is against … Read more
Halloween is not an official holiday in China, but it is quickly gaining popularity among the younger generations. We celebrate it more or less the same way you do in the west – by indulging in one or more of the seven deadly sins (especially gluttony). But with a Chinese twist, naturally. The Chinese civilisation … Read more
Because in Chinese culture love is expressed through action. It’s a very difficult concept for us as Westerners to grasp at times. We are used to words expressing love. Years ago I dated a Chinese gentleman and he suddenly (or it seemed sudden to me) began talking to me about planning an engagement dinner for … Read more
There are many unique surnames in China. Let me recommend you a few unique types – double surnames. Chinese surnames are usually one character. For example, Chen（陈）, Wang（王）, Zhao（赵）. But some people have double surnames consisting of two characters. China’s Hundred Family Surnames（百家姓） includes 81 double surnames, which are used by relatively few people. They … Read more
万里长城永不倒，千里黄河水滔滔。 (The Great Wall will never fall, and the Yellow River for thousands of miles is surging.) I choose this particular one because the symbology of the people of China being that Great Wall that will never fall and that River that flows with such strength. Nothing can stop them. They are an indomitable people.