Is the last name “Jin” more of a Chinese family name or of Korean family name?
Both. I’ll only be answering primarily from the Korean POV. It’s more complicated than simply being “more” Chinese or Korean, even though there are many …
Why don’t clocks in China have Chinese characters?
Well, in the old days, the clocks indeed had Chinese characters on them. Back then, they were called sundial instruments, or 日晷 in Chinese. Here …
Why do the Chinese call themselves Zhongguo while in every other language it’s called China?
It’s only China/Chine/Cina/Kina and variations of this in most European languages, South Asian and SE Asian languages The word China was thought to have derived …
How reasonable is it to say that Mandarin is the hardest language in the world?
Back in my dim and distant university days, I recall the professor in one of my linguistics classes discussing this. It’s difficult to decide what …
What are some Chinese words that sound similar but are very different?
This is Fúzhōu (福州). Fúzhōu is a city in southeastern China, located in the province of Fujian. Fúzhōu is the capital of Fujian. This is Fǔzhōu (抚州). Fǔzhōu is …
Is the Chinese education the best in the world?
I’m not currently teaching but I hold a degree in education. I did teach for a few years about a decade ago. I taught for …
Why did the ancient Japanese pick the Chinese word “俺” instead of the Chinese word “我” for a person call itself?
I have to disagree with Paul Denlinger. “我” is not a modern word, nor being the pronoun for oneself in 20th century. “我” first appeared …
What is the meaning of the Chinese “鸡你太美”?
鸡你太美 is actually a meme. The original line was 只因你太美（only because you are too beautiful）， which was the first line of a song sang by …
Why does the Chinese word “法” contain 3 drops on the left side?
This is actually a reduced form of the original character, 灋. In addition to the three drops of water, the word is made up of …
What is the best English translation for 缘 (yuan)?
This is very difficult to translate, because the cultural connotations are so different. Literally, 緣 means hem, the hem on a garment, which doesn’t help …