Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
The Han Chinese are a mix of many groups over time, and here are some of the likely groups: A proto-Chinese group in southern China, which likely also became the Vietnamese in current Vietnam; A group of Tibetan-related peoples from current Sichuan and Tibet (the Qin dynasty had its roots among a horse-breeding people in … Read more
Well, I’ll assume that you want to remember more than some cringe tourist level phrases to just get by. Usually, Cantonese is a spoken language and is rarely written but there are too many Chinese T shirts with words designed to insult tourists that can’t read Chinese, so I insist on adding written characters instead … Read more
Back in 1992, a group of villagers in Longyou county, China stumbled upon an astonishing discovery. The area near the village of Shiyan Beicun was home to several ponds or rocky pools that were believed to be “bottomless” with depths that seemed to go on forever. Some of the ponds were even void of fish. … Read more
Well, I am a Mandarin speaker, so I just offer my view about this topic with regard to Mandarin. Words or phrases in English are usually translated into Chinese. And the translated version of many words or phrases in English are used in the Chinese language. However, there is a category called acronym, whose some … Read more
You may wish to ask if Korean wish to remove Chinese characters and make it impossible for the main public to read older Korean literature but remain their names has Chinese characters? Okay, let me show you something. This is the dictionary we use in primary school. This is the dictionary that made in communist … Read more
Characters travel better than sounds. An undubbed Hollywood movie requires at least 20 sets of subtitle to sell in Europe, even though many European scripts are based on the Latin alphabet. Why? Spelled languages work on the principle of transcribing sounds on paper, and one becomes hopelessly lost going from spelled French to English. In … Read more
Well, in my humble opinion, I would say that the Chinese language is one of old written languages currently being used. I mean, Vedic Sanskrit, the earliest form of Sanskrit, appeared as early as 1500 BCE, whereas oracle bone script, the earliest Chinese inscription, appeared as early as 1250 BCE. And Sanskrit is also used … Read more
Well, it depends on situations. I mean, there are varieties of contents written in Classical Chinese, for instance, essays, philosophical tracts, biographies, history books, poems, plays, and novels. What kind of text you refer to, what era it was written and what level of understanding it demands for a modern reader also varies. Classical Chinese … Read more
No, not at all. Referring to a woman as 美女 (mei nü, Mei Nv) is a normal in China. It’s certainly not sexist. However, you should keep in mind that Mei Nv is usually used to refer to the young women. You can’t call an old woman Mei Nv. Similarly, you can’t refer a girl … Read more
They could refer to Green Dragon of the East, or 东方青龙 in Chinese, and White Tiger of the West, or 西方白虎 in Chinese, two of the Four Cardinal Points of directions in Chinese culture. The other two are Vermillion Bird of the South, or 南方朱雀 in Chinese, and Tortoise and Snake of the North, or … Read more