“Li” in China not only refers to not only gifts, but more often than not, courtesy and modesty towards people. Politeness is extremely important in contacts among Chinese people. It helps you approach the other side and establish a good relationship. Politeness or rudeness is a key factor behind success or failure in China. When […]
In China, various customs are associated with the quality of fertility as symbolized by dragons. In Hunan and Hubei provinces, women wanting to be pregnant will let the dragon circulate their bodies and give money or gift to the dragon dance team as reward. A boy is placed on the back of the dragon and […]
If you have studied Chinese or are studying Chinese now, you may have heard of “Self-explanatory Characters” when learning Chinese characters. The pictographic character for knife is “刀” (dao), isn’t it look like a big knife? So in order to obtain the character “刃” (ren, “blade”), all we need to do is to add a […]
According to the legend, when Cangjie created Chinese characters, he noticed not only everything in the universe, but also the human race itself. Chinese characters, therefore, reflect not only the Chinese people’s understanding of the world but also their understanding of the human body. Many Chinese characters are related to the human body. Study Chinese: […]
In recent years, archaeological studies and a number of unearthed cultural relics have proved that the festival started from a kind of totemic worship among the ancient Wu and Yue people in south China about 4 or 5 thousand years ago and the custom gradually spread to the north after the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). […]
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 […]
除夕(chú xī) The eve of the Spring Festival is called “除夕夜chú xī yè”. Since the Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the 1st lunar month of the Chinese calendar, Chinese New Year’s Eve generally falls on the 30th day of the 12th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. Therefore, Chinese New Year’s […]
The Shanghainese maintain their health by watching their daily diet. They are accustomed to going to the market around 4:00 or 5:00 of a morning. They buy fresh ingredients, and use them that same day because they won’t eat leftovers, even if only a day old. They are particular about food preparation and pay attention […]
南(nán) The original form of the character “南” (south) resembles a musical instrument. Some people argue that this instrument was extremely popular in southern China and was thus need to represent “south”. Others argue that this character came to be used to denote “south” because the ancient Chinese people faced south when they listened to […]
In the Chinese language, “xingfu” is written as “幸福xìng fú” which means “happy or happiness”, especially the happy feelings about family, love and friendship. “lu路(lù)” means “road or street”. In China, almost in every city, you can find a road named “xingfu”. So there are hundreds of Xingfu Roads in China. This is quite common, […]