In the Chinese language, there is a group of Chinese characters that consist of three identical parts, each of which represents another individual character. This characters structure is called 品字结构 (pǐnzì jiégòu). In general, these characters are rarely used in Chinese people’s daily life as most of them can be only seen in ancient Chinese...

As shopping plays such an important role in Chinese people’s daily lives, it’s not surprising that there are several ways to say “shopping” in Chinese. In this article, we take a look at 4 most popular Chinese words and phrases related to shopping!   Chinese Shoppers These days, tourists from China can be seen everywhere...

In this article, we will have a look at three common ways to say “change” in Chinese.   Chinese Paronyms In any language, a paronym is a word which shares the same root with another word. To a certain extent, paronyms could be considered as synonyms since they are linked to each other by similarity...

Chinese learners often struggle with polyphones – characters with two or more pronunciations. In this article, we will look at 5 common Chinese polyphones.   Chinese Polyphones: One Character, Two Meanings In simple words, polyphones are Chinese characters which, depending on the context, have two or more pronunciations. Chinese polyphones often make a sentence (or even the...

Very often in Chinese, you will come across words that share the same pronunciation, but are written using different characters – the so-calles Chinese homonyms. In this article, we are going to take a look at 4 pairs of homonyms, which are frequently used in both daily conversations and in academic topics.   Same Sound,...

Sometimes, you can create two different words by putting two of the same Chinese characters into a different order.  In this article, we are going to take a look at 5 examples of reversible Chinese words.   Same Characters, Different Meaning It’s believed that a Chinese learner should master around 3500 frequently-used Chinese characters to be able to...

A modal or exclamative particle is an important grammatical concept in Chinese. Adding different exclamative particles at the end of your sentences can help you make your speech more vivid – and consequently, make conversations more effective. Using appropriate Chinese exclamative particles, combined with correct intonation, is an essential way to share your feelings with other people. In...

If you had a chance to talk to many Chinese locals, you might have noticed that people from different regions speak Chinese with different accents. Mandarin Chinese in the South and North can be slightly different sometimes. On one hand, it’s a relief – you don’t have to worry too much if don’t understand some...

Even if you started to learn Chinese yesterday, you must have already picked up the famous Chinese greeting which means “hello”: 你好 nǐ hǎo. Well, if we take a look at these two characters separately, it turns out that 你 nǐ means “you”, and 好 hǎo means “good”. As the literal meaning of 你好 nǐ hǎo is “you good”, it can be...

In this article, we will take a look at some of the typical and most common Chinese radicals. Importance of Learning Chinese Radicals Unlike in European languages, in Chinese, words are represented by characters. Statistically, there are around 3500 commonly-used Chinese characters. And from time to time, Chinese learners get “awe-struck” when facing some of...

Foreigners in China often experience a cultural shock, because some Chinese habits and ways of living are just beyond their understanding. For example, Chinese people’s passion for drinking hot water still remains a mystery to the outside world… In this article, we’re going to look at some of the habits Chinese people have that baffle foreigners.   1. Collecting plastic bags...

Every culture has its unique features, and people from different cultural backgrounds have different understandings of etiquette and manners. Nevertheless, the nuances in the understanding of etiquette and manners often have a direct impact on people’s daily life, which means people from different countries have their own definition of something being “acceptable” or “unacceptable”. Today...

The younger generation of Chinese people, the so-called “millennials” (80后 and 90后) are quite different from their predecessors. They’re willing to accept different cultures and their lifestyle is, to a certain extent, beyond the old generation’s understanding. What do Chinese millennials look like? In this article, we’re going to look at 5 traits that are special...

In any culture, there is always a part – big or small – that has something to do with superstitions. Chinese culture is of no exception. Chinese people are extremely superstitious about many things (you can become our student and get known about other things in the funniest way). An area that, perhaps, strikes out the most is numbers and dates. People are very...

Shanghai has become China‘s financial center, and hundreds of multinational companies have opened their branches and offices here. As a result, Shanghai’s traffic can get quite overloaded. And yet people in Shanghai have plenty of options to move around the city! So today, we’re going to take a look at some of the most common means of transportation...

Every country has its own culture, and China is of no exception here. Many foreigners, after living in China for several years, have noticed some drastic differences between the western culture and the Chinese culture. They’re also baffled by some Chinese people’s habits that can be observed in their daily life. In this article, we’re...

Chinese people clearly understand the importance of education. Therefore, how to educate children has always been a topic which leads to heated discussions. However, Chinese parents’ attitude towards their kids is quite different from the western stereotype. In this article we’re going to find out how parents in China deal with their kids in terms...

China’s economy is growing rapidly and it offers numerous job opportunities to young people. However, as a result of the rapid economic growth, Chinese people are faced with big work pressure and often don’t have much time left for themselves apart from weekends. It’s interesting to know what young people in China like to do...

An unforgettable wedding is what every girl is longing for because presumably you’ll have it only once in your life. The concept of “family” has a high value in the Chinese culture, and that’s probably why Chinese people are willing to spend fortunes of money on holding an extraordinary wedding. If you have a Chinese...

Chinese people are famous for their hospitality and they are always excited to show foreigners about the Chinese culture. They’re also curious about people from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, if you’re a foreigner living in China, don’t feel surprised if your Chinese friends invite you to their places for a visit, even if you’re not...