What’s the difference between a modern day Chinese name and an ancient Chinese name?
The wife of the Guangwu Emperor (5 bce – 57 ce) of the Eastern Han was named 陰麗華 Yin Lihua (family name Yin, Lihua, beautiful …
How come China did not evolve to use phonetic writing systems like most other languages?
Mistaken* premise. Chinese writing *IS* phonetic (mostly), but on a syllabic level: each character simultaneously stands for an entire syllable and a complete morpheme (minimal unit of …
“She has gone to New York many times.” Is this a correct sentence?
Correct in grammar but not in phraseology. The more authentic English phraseology is:— She has been to New York many times. — (For having visited there) She has gone to …
“She is too cute”, is this sentence correct?
Most of us use these kinds of sentences “It’s too hot”, “ It’s too rough”, “It’s too high”. We don’t realize that the proper grammatical …
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 …