If you study Chinese , you probably will hear ”恭喜发财(ɡōnɡ xǐ fā cái)”. “恭喜发财(ɡōnɡ xǐ fā cái)” means a good wish to making money. “恭喜发财(ɡōnɡ xǐ fā cái)” has been said to other people a thousand times during the Spring Festival. This is related to a man named “财神(cái shén)” in China. But who is […]
The Spring Festival just passed, Chinese mainland is still full of the happy atmosphere of new year everywhere and people’s mood to enjoy is still strong. In the evening of the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar, a bright full moon rises up in the sky and the Chinese ground is as brightly lit as […]
When the “cold food “Festival on earth is a controversial issue from the ancient times to the present. It is said in the record of Liang Zonglin in “Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji”, the 100th day after winter solstice use to be called the “cold food “Festival. And the “cold food “Festival occurs exactly right […]
Stilt walk（高跷） Walking on stilts is a kind of performance which has prevailed among the populace from ancient times to the present. It was considered as one kind of acrobatics in ancient times. It came into being in Spring and Autumn Period. Stilt walk had been a popular activity in five hundred B.C. the performers […]
If you are now studying Chinese, you will know poem is a very important part of Chinese culture. This is one of the best famous poems of the Middle Autumn Day. 明月几时有？把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人间！ 转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。不应有恨，何事长向别时圆！人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。 You can read this poem aloud to help you improve your pronunciation for studying Chinese. and this poem also is a beautiful […]
In the Ming Dynasty, it was popular to make sacrifice to the moon. The Ming Shi Zong sent the officials to build the Xi Yue altar which is the Yue altar Park in Beijing now. this was the place mainly for the officials to sacrifice the moon. The emperor had to make sacrifice the moon […]
Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of Lunar New Year in May which was called as “重五” in ancient times. It was named as the way of “重九” which is the ninth day of Lunar New Year in September. What’s more, it is also called as “端午” or “端阳” which is one the three […]
In Chinese culture, if you learn Chinese in China when Dragon Boat Festival comes, you can see some family usually hang on the picture of Zhong Kui in the hall in some places. It is said that Zhong Kui addicted to destroy all the evils. Therefore, they use Zhong Kui’s picture to get rid of […]
Drinking chrysanthemum wine Drinking chrysanthemum wine and appreciating chrysanthemum are main Chinese culture customs, too. According to a book named Xi Jing Za Ji wrote by Liu Xin of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), when chrysanthemums bloom, pick the leaves and stems to make wine together with grains and rice; then keep the […]
At the cloudless and tranquil night in summer, look up in the night sky, the sky is full of the shining stars and a white belt is across the north and south. It looks like the Milky Way. The Vega is located on the east of the Milky Way. It shines with blue light. There […]
I think the Chinese learning environment here is great. The teaching methods are also very interactive and fun. What I particularly enjoy here is the fact that my teacher does not stick to the textbook. We spend a lot of time discussing general topics, such as Chinese culture, world news, typical expressions used by local people. We also discuss social and economic topics.
We use a lot of games to learn grammar and new words. We have really good teachers, really patient. She helps us a lot. Our class is really nice and we have people from all over the world, different countries. We often discuss topics in Chinese in our class. I live in the dorm of Keats. It is very convenient. I don’t have to spend time traveling. You can just focus on learning Chinese.
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.
It doesn’t matter what level of Chinese you have, or even you can start from the zero level. Your teacher will prepare the lessons according to your requirements. The advantage of living in the school is that you will have your tutoring, you will have your private accommodation with your own bathroom and all the meals provided. I highly recommend everybody to actually take the whole package because you get to meet other students.
They really care about what our interests are, what questions we have, what requirements we have. Then they adjust our Chinese language program content according to the situations. One teacher and one student, so it is easy to keep your focus for the 6 hours of immersion Mandarin lessons. It is very convenient to study, live and eat in one building.
I am a graduate student working on my doctorate degree at Columbia University. We were able to really focus on speaking especially interview-style speaking and we are able to really up my Chinese reading and writing skills, so when I go back to Columbia, I can take formal Chinese classes. It has been a really good experience and I really love my teacher.
Since last semester, we started studying Chinese at Keats. It was the best choice we can ever make. It is a really good school. The classes are a lot of fun, you learn a lot, but very interactive, so you talk a lot which means it is not just books and writing. Kunming is a really pleasant city to live in, especially if you compare it to other cities in the east. If you like to travel, if you like to study Chinese in a fun way, Keats has the best Chinese language program for you.
The best part of the school is the patience the instructors had and the time to focus on the fundamentals like pronunciation. I think it is very easy to skip over those and go to vocabulary. But by learning the pronunciation, I feel like it helped me gain a better understanding of the language.