A Chinese talented woman Li Qingzhao
November 5, 2013
Li Qingzhao (1084-1155), self-titled Yi’an Jushi, is one of the most-talented women in China history in the literature field. Her life was a bittersweet story. She married Zhao Mingcheng and shared with him the love..
Learn MoreThe Simplification of Chinese characters
November 5, 2013
Because of the long history of Chinese characters, the vast territory in which they were used, and the large population of people using them, the numbers of books and records written in Chinese continued to..
Learn MoreStudy Chinese: Pictographic Characters
November 5, 2013
The Formation of Chinese Characters Chinese characters were created in accordance with a certain model or prescribled patterns. In China’s first dictionary, „shuowen jiezi” (“Explaining and Analyzing Chinese Characters”), there were character-formation methods. Chinese characters..
Learn MoreThe Basic Strokes of Chinese Characters
November 5, 2013
Learn Chinese: Some Chinese characters evolved from pictures. Indeed, many people describe writing Chinese characters as similar in feeling to painting. However, Chinese characters are not merely a random aggregation of lines. They must be..
Learn MoreThe Dragon Boat Festival (Ⅱ): introduction to Qu Yuan
November 5, 2013
The best-known story about the Dragon Boat Festival is related to the commemoration of Qu Yuan (340-278BC). He was born in the State of Chun in the Warring States Period (275-221BC), he became a minister..
Learn MoreSubtle Chinese Painting
November 5, 2013
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..
Learn MoreStudy Chinese: Spring Festival
November 5, 2013
Do you want to study Chinese? Today, we will introduce a character: 春(chūn) Usually, the Chinese festival first comes to people’s minds is the Spring Festival. This is the most important festival of the Chinese..
Learn MoreShanghai: East Meets West
November 5, 2013
Shanghai shows different sides of herself to different people. It’s just like Shanghainese women: to Westerners they embody the mysterious East, and to Chinese they represent the fashionable West. In sum, the Shanghainese are the..
Learn MoreStudy Chinese: West
November 5, 2013
西(xī) The sun sets in the west. After a day of work, people return home. And the birds, too, return to their nests. Therefore, the character “西“ originally depicted a bird’s nest. Many metals are..
Learn MoreAncient Chinese jokes: God of Target
November 4, 2013
A general who had gone out to battle was unable to stave off defeat when the God of the Target appeared to join his ranks and turned the tables on the enemy. Thereupon, the general..
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