Ancient Chinese considered marriage as the origin of all ceremonies. Ceratin rules and formalities had to be observed and certain gifts had to be presented. In the Tang Dynasty, custom went so that tea was treated as a betrothal gift. Since the Song Dynasty, tea was even more closely related to wedding. A betrothal gift […]
In China, there is a Magpie Bridge. You may feel surprised and wonder if the bridge is made of magpies. Actually, it is true. So that isn’t a real bridge, but a bridge in a beautiful legend. There was once a fair girl named Zhinv who lived in heaven. She fell in love with a […]
The individual components of associative compounds represent meaning. In the pictophonetic characters, some components represent the character’s meaning and others represent its pronunciation. For example, “财(cai)”, “帐(zhang)”, “货(huo)” all have the character “贝” (bei) and all have meanings related to money. Actually, “贝” (bei) means “shell”, and in ancient China, people used shells as money. […]
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: 化 […]
In ancient times, when a family got together for a reunion on the Dragon Boat Festival, served on the table were Five Yellows: soy bean sprouts, yellow croakers, rice field eels, cucumbers and realgar wine, which were thought to eradicate diseases and improve health. In some regions, realgar wine were even sprayed inside and outside […]
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 […]
福(fú) Another important part of celebrating the Spring Festival is putting up Spring Festival couplets. These red Spring Festival couplets, on which words are written, are pasted on doors and walls. The Chinese character most commonly found on these couplets is “福(fú)”. Furthermore, it is pasted upside-down. The oracle bone script for “福” looks like […]
Study Chinese with Keats School: Longevity 寿(shòu) The top part of the character of the oracle bone script depicts an elderly person with a humpback, while the lower part consists of a hand(寸) and a mouth(口). As a whole, the character resembles a glass of wine being raised to celebrate the longevity of an elderly person. […]
There are three main types of clothing in China in the latest dozens of years: western-style clothes, traditional Chinese garments and National clothes. All of these exist together. Over the past two years in China, some of the younger generation has promoted wearing Han clothes. These clothes are billowy, with wide sleeves and loose fitting […]
A man was staying at his father-in-law’s house very much beyond his time. one day, the impatient father-in-law finally said to him: “It’s nice of you to have come a long way to visit us. Now that all our fowls have been butchered, there are no more delicacies we cam entertain you with. I hope […]