In Chinese culture, why is it uncommon to verbally express love?
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 …
chinesespeaking
Can you suggest some unique Chinese surnames that are not commonly used in China?
There are many unique surnames in China. Let me recommend you a few unique types – double surnames. Chinese surnames are usually one character. For …
What Chinese proverbs best describe modern China’s development?
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 …
Is 石丽梅 a good Chinese name?
Yes, it is. I mean, since your own name is Mary Shipp, Shi Limei, or 石丽梅 in Chinese, is a good Chinese name for you. …
What does 沉鱼落雁 mean?
“沉鱼落雁” is a Chinese idiom that describes a woman’s extremely beautiful appearance. In fact, “沉鱼落雁” is a highly poetic and expressive idiom in Chinese, used …
It’s true that the Mandarin language is very hard to learn. Do all Chinese people speak Mandarin perfectly?
It is extremely difficult, its not a matter of just what you put into it like with other languages. Somewhere, I read an article from …
How can you easily remember the differences between the Chinese characters “未 (Wèi)” and “末 (Mò)” since they look so much alike?
My English teacher, was an American from Oregon, named Susan Grant. She was a retired lawyer who likes to hike. She taught me that when …
Why Chinese characters don’t look like what they mean?
Three thousand years ago, a lot of characters looked like what they mean, but over the course of three thousand years, some things are bound …
Why are there so many homophones in the Chinese language?
The reason is that sound changes reduces the complex consonant clusters of Old Chinese and deleted final consonants over time. Old Chinese typically had short …
What does 依老偕老 mean?
Actually I’ve never seen this phrase before, and a little googling gave no result either. I guess it’s a confusion of two unrelated phrase/idioms: 倚老卖老： …