In traditional Chinese culture, the wolf has always been the embodiment of ruthlessness and cunning and a natural enemy of mankind. A very familiar Chinese fable is, “Mr. Tung-kuo and the wolf”. It’s a story about a scholar who rescued a wolf that was being chased by soldiers, only to find himself at risk of […]
In recent years, “感恩(gǎn ēn)—showing gratitude and repaying back”. Both if the two characters have the radical “心” at the bottom which means “heart” in Chinese. And so you can see that “感恩” means that you show gratitude from your heart. In China, there are many different items for you to feel gratitude, such as […]
There is a type of literati painting from ancient China which is called “Impressionist painting”. This type of painting has two special traits. One tries to capture the “spirit” of the object being painted which is, not necessarily, the physical likeness. The 2nd trait is about the painting’s attempt to capture a sort of “humble […]
Falling on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, the Lantern Festival is one of the grandest celebrations among the common people in China, and the custom of merry making on this night has a long history. The custom originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) 2,000 years ago. After the death of […]
There are a lot of folktales about the Lantern Festival, and the most believable one is that it originated from the custom of illuminating silkworm by peasants in the past. Illuminating silkworm fields meant that on the night of the festival, peasants, hoping for a bumper harvest, would insert a long bamboo pipe with a […]
The Lantern Festival also provided a good chance for lovers to meet each other. In the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1297) dynasties, unmarried girls in th boudoirs were not allowed to go out, but around this time every year they were free to appreciate lanterns outside their boudoirs and took the opportunity to meet their […]
The land-boat dance is said to commemorate Yu the Great, a legendary emperor who successfully led the people to fight floods. The land-boat dance represents various boating movements on land, and the performer is usually a girl or a young woman. The boat is not a real one, and it is merely made of two […]
Eating the small dumpling balls made of the glutinous rice flour is a popular custom shared by all the Chinese on the Lantern Festival. This kind of food originated from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and evidence can be found in “Ode to the Rice Dumplings” by a poet Jiang Kui. When boiled, the rice dumplings […]
Zu Chongzhi (429-500), whose courtesy name was Wenyuan, was a famous mathematician and astronomer in the Song and Qi of the Sounthern Dynasty. He didn’t take for granted the established theories of previous scholars and was skeptical to their specious academic conclusions. He insisted to put forward new theories by precise measurements and prudent calculations. […]
If you give Chinese people two choices of life: a very long, yet ultimately, average and uneventful life or a very exciting, fun-filled life that only lasted 24 years. Most of them may choose the 1st choice. There is an idiom for the traditional Chinese attitude, “A good death is worse than a lazy life”. […]
So during my first week at Keats, I didn’t dare to speak any Chinese words. I found out that my Chinese level quickly improved since then. Although I have many options to study in China, for example, some other schools have homestay, I found I could immerse myself and fully focus on learning Chinese by staying at Keats.
The visa application was really straightforward, because Keats School helps us a lot with that. Keats has a big emphasis on conversational practice, so we learn a lot of vocabulary and daily life plans which is very convenient for us to go around town and speak with Chinese people which is the whole point of learning Chinese in China.
I decided to learn Chinese in Kunming because I like smaller cities and I like the climate here. We had four hours a day study here and my dear teacher taught me very much and never lost her patience with me. It was a really wonderful experience to be here and I recommend Keats school and the teachers here to everyone who likes to learn Chinese in China.
About studying Chinese here, I think the living condition is very convenient because the dorm is very close to the classroom. Our teachers really enjoy teaching Chinese. They are also very passionate. Compared with other cities in China, Kunming has really good weather.
I have really enjoyed the Chinese course in China at Keats and meeting the teachers here and the students. We have a lot of fun in class. It is a really great school to learn with good teaching methods and a really good textbook, examples and games, and everything.
The place is very cool. I am with a great group of people in my class, so coming to classes is very enjoyable. It is fun, we have a lot of discussions, games, activities. Our teachers are also very good, very supportive. Learning Chinese is intimidating at the start because you have so many questions. But I would advise coming to Keats because the atmosphere for learning is great. It is very relaxing. I would recommend the school.
I’ve had an amazing time at Keats. I am amazed at how much I’ve learned over the last 3 weeks and I will be really sad to go. We are already planning on our next trip of coming back because we had such a fantastic time here. They really tailor the Chinese language course to you and your individual needs.
I come to Kunming because I think the environment in Kunming is better and I heard that Keats School is better. I like the small group Chinese class because my classmates study hard and our teachers are very good. I like the teaching method of Keats because I like the activities at Keats. I think Yunnan is a particularly beautiful Chinese province.