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Interesting Facts about Chinese Names and Surnames

July 7, 2017 by Furio Fu 1 Comment

Chinese Surnames

This article was writter by TutorMandarin, an online Chinese tutoring service that helps students how to speak Mandarin using an their Android mobile app and PC Software.

P.S. Click here to jump directly to an interesting infographic that showcases the most common Chinese surnames for each Province.

Naming is an absolutely integral part of Chinese culture. In the eyes of the Chinese, a child’s name can play a large role in determining his or her future education, career, and even marriage! Unlike English names, each Chinese name is individually created (not choosing a standard James, William, or Michael) and takes into account several factors for bringing good luck or fortune.

Chinese names, in contrast to their English counterparts, are made with family name first and then the given name. Children usually take their father’s family name, though it is legal for a child to follow either their father’s or mother’s family name. When choosing the given name, Chinese tradition places importance worth on the five elements (metal, earth, water, fire, and wood). The idea is that the correct balance of elements is needed to ensure the right name. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

I Ching: the art of infallible divination

June 9, 2017 by Enrico Randi Leave a Comment

I Ching: The art of divination

Introduction

The book I Ching, also called “Zhouyi” or “the book of changes” is irrefutably and unanimously considered as one of the deepest and determining roots of the Chinese culture.

The origins of the concepts that it contains are lost in the depths of time to the point of founding itself with mythological figures who, in the imagination of the Chinese people, founded the world and created the human race on the Earth.

In fact, traditionally, it is passed down in trigrams (which are combined into hexagrams) that specify the principles expressed in the book created by Fuxi, a semi-mythical figure very dear to the Chinese people, who created man and taught him the social rules along with the methods of procuring food (hunting, fishing, agriculture, etc) and to preserve it, allowing them to survive on the earth.

These principles have been gathered and presented in modern form from the beginnings of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-6 a.C.), making this book, going back 3,000 years ago, the oldest classic of Chinese culture and literature.

The basic concept of this book, which includes all its philosophical and expressive powers, is that nothing is permanent in the world except for change. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Books & Movies, Society Tagged With: Book Review, Travel in China

You know you are in China when… (Photos Essays)

May 17, 2017 by Furio Fu 16 Comments

you know you are in china when-0Need a shampoo?

…You are on your way to the supermarket when you get splashed by a girl who is washing her hair on the sidewalk.

Update: I’ve re-published this article with 18 new photos

While I was exploring the maze represented by my external hard disk to find some photos for this article, I smiled thinking about the different reactions that such a article will generate on the different people that populate the Middle Kingdom.

I bet the white devils perpetually pissed off, the ones that always claim “if the government doesn’t change its politics we’ll all die because of the pollution” and “Chinese people only like to spit and burp on the street,” will appreciate this post. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Photo Essays, Society, Survival Tips Tagged With: Images, Travel in China

The importance of “programming” in Chinese culture: the scholastic path of Chinese children

March 31, 2017 by Luca Xu Leave a Comment

The importance of programming in Chinese culture

Today we’ll talk about “Programming”.

I don’t mean what they do in companies like Google or Microsoft, but of what is done to reach a certain objective, to seek a better future or simply to simplify (perhaps) their lives.

Programming past and future

The title of this article is simple: “The importance of programming in Chinese culture”.

In Italy and perhaps in the West in general we have a barely marked relationship with these concepts, since over-planning things is not looked upon favorably.

They say we should just live in the moment and not think too much about the past or the future.

What they don’t tell us is that the present doesn’t exist because it’s too fleeting, because the past instantly becomes the future, leaving us with the sensation of being able to control our lives while instead we’re victims of the past and the future.

This is something the Chinese have subconsciously understood.

Besides, the Tao symbol also indicates this: something that through a whirlwind movement transforms into something else, without a continuity solution.

One of the differences between Western thought and Eastern thought is discernible also in this concept: the West lives history as an eternal betterment, an eternal effort to improve as much as possible. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

Why is English so hard for Chinese people?

December 29, 2016 by Taylor Hartwell 3 Comments

Why is English so hard for Chinese people?

As we’ve discussed in a previous article (Why Native English is Worth its Weight in Gold in China), learning English is something of a priority for the Chinese.

But, despite all the time, money, and effort, China just can’t seem to produce very many competent ESL speakers. The flip side is no different; Chinese is consistently ranked among the very hardest languages to learn for native English speakers. The number of Chinese programs in American higher education is growing rapidly, so more and more people are feeling the pain many of our readers struggle with on a daily basis.

In this and in my next article, I’m going to take a stab at explaining why exactly this is – starting with why English is such a nightmare for Chinese students. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

Chinese culinary culture

December 22, 2016 by Armando Turturici 2 Comments

Chinese culinary culture

Chinese culinary culture (饮食文化, yinshi wenhua) is an indispensable aspect of Chinese life. As Confucius said: “food is the very first necessity of man”. Not to mention that, in China, it’s around the lunch table that business takes place.

Food and the language

吃了饭没有?(chi le fan mei you?), “Have you eaten?”, has always been one of the most popular greetings in the spoken Chinese language, which indicates the weight given to food in China. In modern times, however, 最近忙吗? (zuijin mang ma?), “Are you busy lately?” is preferred, because the focus has shifted to work and activity.

Returning to the heading, the Chinese lexicon is rich with expressions tied to food, or specifically the verb 吃 (chi), “to eat”. For those who aren’t familiar with the Chinese language, observe well the character for “to eat”: you’ll see that on the left there’s the root 口 (kou), “mouth”, naturally tied with the act of ingesting food.

For example, the ability to cope with troubles is noted with 吃苦 (chiku), literally “to eat bitterness”. If someone is amazed by something, it is said that they’ve eaten a shock 吃惊 (chijing); if someone has suffered a loss, it’s said that they have eaten “loss”, so 吃亏 (chikui). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Chinese Food, Society Tagged With: Chinese Food, Travel in China

Guide to China’s fake markets

December 22, 2016 by Furio Fu 2 Comments

Fake markets in China

What are the Chinese fake markets?

The first time that I went to China, right after leaving one of my friends told me:

“Don’t come back to Italy without checking out at least one of the fake markets in Beijing.”

Fake market? What did that mean?

I never heard of them, and didn’t know of the existence of this parallel world until one day, at the end of my lessons at the Beijing Language and Culture University, with one of my colleagues I headed toward one of the most famous fake markets in Beijing, the Silk Market (秀水街, Xiushui Jie, in Chinese), in the Chaoyang district.

It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my first trip to China. After weeks of frustration in university, finally a little shopping and entertainment.

The Silk Street Market is an actual building of fakes, each floor with specific products, from shoes to clothing, to electronics and toys, to perfume to accessories for the home. A shopping mall from which it is impossible to leave without making at least one purchase among the thousands of articles offered. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Survival Tips Tagged With: Travel in China

The Legend of Kung Fu – Beijing’s Show

November 24, 2016 by Enrico Randi Leave a Comment

In this article I will review the show “The Legend of Kung Fu” which has as its protagonists the Shaolin monks. The show is performed every night at Beijing’s Red Theater.

The last part of the article is reserved for practical information: ticket prices, and where and when to see the show “The Legend of Kung Fu”.

Introduction

The first to introduce the words “kung fu” into western terminology was Bruce Lee, when asked the question “what do you call what you do?” he responded: “it’s called kung fu”.

Bruce Lee was perfectly aware that what he said was inaccurate but when dealing with the West, which wants things fast and simple, he took this liberty.

In fact, to say “I do kung fu” doesn’t specify anything in particular because, to do kung fu in a Chinese sense, just means to have reached a high level in something.

For example, if I have multiple degrees and tenure in a prestigious university, “I do kung fu” in studies. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Travel around Asia Tagged With: Beijing, Travel in China

The New Foreigner-Grading System in China

November 18, 2016 by Taylor Hartwell 1 Comment

Foreigner-Grading System in China

To say that China is a *bit* homogenous is something of an understatement. If you’ve never been here, allow me to briefly bore you with some statistics:

There are nearly 1.4 billion people living in the People’s Republic of China. Of those, well over a billion (roughly 93%) are Han Chinese, and the vast majority of the remainder is comprised of Chinese ethnic minorities.

The census data from 2010 claimed there were around a million foreign residents. Even if that number has doubled in the past 6 years, we’re still talking about something like .001% of the total population.

The point is, even in a globalized 21st Century China, foreigners are still so rare as to be statistically insignificant. Historically speaking, this has – with the notable exception of the Tang Dynasty – pretty much always been a pretty walled off (literally!) and mysterious place to the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, today’s Chinese have something of a love/hate relationship with foreigners; on the one hand, everyone’s curious to learn more about them and wants a good supply of native English speakers to hire as teachers. On the other hand, there’s always been a strong sentiment of “Us Vs. Them” here – even foreigners you like are still forever 外国人 (waiguoren), or “outside the country people.”
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Survival Tips Tagged With: Work in China

Jing-Jin-Ji: Birth of a megalopolis with Chinese characteristics

November 15, 2016 by Alessandro Zadro 1 Comment

Jing-Jin-Ji: Birth of a megalopolis with Chinese characteristics

A project to revitalize the economy in the north of China

China’s impressive economic growth in the past 30 years has been amply guided by the development of two enormous urban conglomerates: the Blue River Delta (DFA) around Shanghai and Nanjing in central China, and the Pearl River Delta (DFP) around Canton and Shenzhen in the south.

These two urban realities, made up of one or two metropolises surrounded by a series of satellite cities, have combined to produce 25% of the country’s GDP. Moreover in recent years, these two areas have become the world’s largest testing ground for the study of creating wealth through urbanization.

Both in the area around the Blue River and the area around the Pearl River, the borders and differences between urban realities are slight with the wealth being divided more evenly. The secret of success in these two areas is the consolidation of a series of small realities around a few main economic centers and the usage of the comparative advantage of each of these cities to forge a solid financial and manufacturing center.

In the meantime Beijing, as the only top tier city in northern China, has sought to emulate the success obtained by the areas in the center and south of China. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Travel in China

Chinese etiquette – The complete guide

November 4, 2016 by Armando Turturici Leave a Comment

Chinese etiquette

Boasting a continuous history of thousands of years, China has collected an extensive catalogue of rules – explicit and implicit – that govern social habits: the so-called Chinese etiquette (o 礼节).

In the past, almost every aspect of Chinese life was regulated by what Master Confucius called 礼 (“li”, rites); failure to observe one of these rites equated to a break in the Confucian code of ethics which, at times, could bring rather serious consequences.

With the advancement of globalization and modernization, the weight given to observing these ritual norms has diminished but is not completely lost. The loss of many of the traditional rites is corroborated by the fact that the Chinese do not expect foreigners to know them. For this reason, most times it’s enough just to be respectful and follow the Chinese saying ru xiang sui su (入乡随俗) or “follow the local customs”.

How to greet

Most times, when you meet someone for the first time, the best thing to do is to behave formally and extremely humble, since humility is considered one of the greatest virtues. The traditional way of greeting someone consisted in a bow, keeping one’s hands hidden in the sleeves of their suit.

This method is known as 作揖 (zuoyi); by now this has fallen into disuse, substituted by a “more Western” handshake. In ancient times, the famous 叩头 (ketou) was preferred to the common bow, namely throwing yourself to the ground on your knees and lowering your head to the ground in a sign of deep reverence and great respect in front of one’s superiors. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

Stories of the Poor – Zhang Xi and The Rat Tribe of Beijing

October 28, 2016 by Alessandro Zadro Leave a Comment

Zhang Xi, a young man from Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, came to Beijing three years ago and since then has always lived inside a basement room on the periphery of the city.

Young Xi, a theater and arts graduate, is forced to work as a traveling salesman and only rarely finds work in some minor shows. Xi is only one of the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of migrants from all over China that live underground, just a few meters away from a rapidly developing Beijing. This underground population has been named “The Rat Tribe” (鼠族).

These underground lodgings owe their existence to two main historical events. The first is the Cold War when, in the midst of the ideological clash between China and the Soviet Union for supremacy in the Eastern Bloc, Mao ordered the construction of underground tunnels to protect the population from Russian air raids. In this period 300.000 people took part in the campaign and 20.000 underground refuges were constructed.

After Mao’s death and with the ascent of Deng Xiaoping as China’s leader, the underground refuges were commercialized; beginning in the Eighties Beijing had 800 underground hotels along with supermarkets and cinemas. Starting in the Nineties a growing number of real estate agencies began renting these spaces, opening the way for a true real estate business. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

A comparison of economic development in China and India

October 26, 2016 by Alessandro Zadro 2 Comments

A comparison of economic development in China and India

While the average income in China and India remains low, their impressive economic growth and enormous populations have made them two world powers of extraordinary importance, whose economies are surpassed only by that of the United States. Therefore, even if a large slice of their population remains in poverty, the economies of China and India are completely integrated into the world markets and financial exchanges, making the development of these two key countries important to maintaining a peaceful international scene during the 21st Century.

Following the financial crisis of 2008 and the difficulty faced by the main world powers in maintaining a sustainable economic growth, China and India are among the few economies to record a positive rate of growth. Many hope that a closer collaboration among these two colossus may lead the rest of the world to break the negative trend of the worldwide economy.

Nevertheless, when China and India are more closely and meticulously compared, the profound difference in development between the dragon and the elephant is immediately noticeable, with the former having a decisive advantage over the latter. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Chinese Food, Society Tagged With: India, Travel in China

Restaurant etiquette in China

October 14, 2016 by Ginevra Niccolini Serragli Leave a Comment

Restaurant etiquette in China

“Sik zo faan mei aa?” (“have you already eaten today?”, 食咗飯未呀) is a common greeting, comparable to our “hey, how’s it going?”, in Hong Kong as in all of China (in Mandarin they say “chi fan le ma?, 吃饭了吗”, the version above is in Cantonese). Therefore it’s no surprise to learn, even in little everyday things, how important food is in the local culture.

It appears that the unfailing Confucius, asked by the ruler of the of the ancient state of Wei, Yuan Xiang, about the best military tactic, he phlegmatically responded that he had learned to cook rice, prepare meat, and serve vegetables, but nothing having to do with how to win a war.

If you ever receive an invitation to a traditional restaurant, remember Confucius: finding yourself having to face twelve dishes at the same time, from soup – where objects of whose nature cannot be identified in nature are often floating – to noodles (spaghetti), to fish – complete with bones – to chicken legs, passing as something edible – or presumed as such – to stuffed vegetables, it could stifle your appetite and bring you to use actual guerilla warfare tactics to come out alive.

Keep in mind the saying that in Chinese cooking they eat anything with legs that isn’t a table/chair or person, anything that has wings and isn’t a plane, and anything in the water that isn’t a submarine. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

When your Chinese boss makes you lose face…

June 21, 2016 by Furio Fu 15 Comments

Face in ChinaI wonder whether in my situation she would lose face or not…

Even if I wrote this article in 2012, we’re republishing it today because the topic is quite interesting

This year I find my April fools joke on Repubblica.it, one of most important Italian newspapers, while I taste my coffee and delete the usual spam from my email account: The prime minister Monti to China “Invest in Italia.”

I smile and think when, in the middle of the European debt storm, I attended the last [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Stories, Work in China Tagged With: Work in China

Mosuo, the last (almost) matriarchal tribe

June 14, 2016 by Furio Fu 14 Comments

Mosuo TribeShot by the photographer Luca Locatelli. Visit the whole gallery at lucalocatelli.com.

I heard about the Mosuo bits and pieces at a time talking to anthropologists and backpackers. They are a Chinese ethnic minority living around Lugu Lake, on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan province. I had the idea that they were a matriarchal tribe and I believed men among them were reduced to sex objects. Mosuo men didn’t even have to work!

“Maybe I could move there,” I admit I thought sometimes… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Travel around Asia Tagged With: Lugu Lake, Mosuo, Sichuan, Travel in China, Yunnan

5 Surreal Uses for WeChat

May 23, 2016 by Sborto Zhou 2 Comments

wechat uses

This article was written by Iván Fanego and Tamara Lucas, creators of the website 2geeks1city.

Everybody who lives in China knows about and (probably) uses WeChat. Outside of China, it is almost completely off the radar, and with luck, is associated with the “Chinese version of WhatsApp.”

Despite the image that many people have of China being “the country of cheap rip-offs,” WeChat is not just a bad rip-off; rather, it is an inspiration for Facebook and its Messenger or Snapchat.

WeChat goes beyond the concept of a social network or messaging app

WeChat isn’t only a social network of messaging app; it is also a marketplace (“application for applications”) and a payment method. It fills the role of Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, PayPal, Slack or even MyTaxi or Uber all at once. WeChat is a concept that may seem strange to a westerner, because it means leaving behind the world of “constellations of specialized applications” which we are used to, for a “one app for everything” model which aims to control the majority of the life uses of the user. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society Tagged With: Travel in China

Feng Shui in Hong Kong

May 16, 2016 by Ginevra Niccolini Serragli Leave a Comment

fengshui hong kong

Five centuries have passed since Father Matteo Ricci, the only westerner together with Marco Polo depicted at the Millennium Centre of Beijing, where the story of those men who contributed to China is recalled, arrived as the first Catholic missionary to the court of Emperor Wan Li, and came into contact with the complex and ancient rules in the Taoist tradition move the universe. His role as a religious figure evidently did not allow him to this very real philosophy, that he labelled a superstition, although he remained fascinated by it.

Fēng Shuǐ (风水), born as a geomantic art that has roots in the most ancient Chinese tradition, is today a discipline that is the best union between the natural elements and man-made nature.

Literally the word means wind and water, the two elements that mold the earth in the most meaningful way. It is not by chance that in the Orient the large stones worked only by the wind and erosion by water, called gōngshí, are considered actual works of art. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Chinese History, Society Tagged With: Chinese History, Hong Kong, Travel in China

The Chinese Sex Symbol: What are Chinese women looking for?

May 10, 2016 by Sborto Zhou 34 Comments

Chinese Sex Symbol

X-ray of a blind date

Everything starts when, in a rainy day, I’m talking with Luna. I can see she’s not at ease while she asks me to organize one of my “famous” pizza & mojito parties and invite my coworkers.

The reason: One of her friends is helping another friend to find a fiancé.

I know, it may seem fucked up. However in the Middle Kingdom things work this way. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Stories Tagged With: Travel in China

Raising an Expat Kid in China: The Formative Years

November 16, 2015 by Blue Heron MacCormack 2 Comments

Formative1

This is the third article in the series, “Raising an Expat Kid in China”. The first defines a “Third Culture Kid”, while the second explores birthing and the early years of expat children in China. The fourth article will examine how teenagers adapt as a TCK, their thoughts on going to school, and living in China vs. their home country.

Today we will discuss the “formative” years. We will mostly focus on Eating, Playing and Learning (included the kind of school options available – internatial schools, private Chinese schools and public Chinese schools). We conclude with some advices for expat parents living in China.

This series is written with the voice of TCK adults, expat parents, children, and young adults all currently or recently living in China.

Formative…

“A word that describes something that made you who you are.”

I moved to Boulder, Colorado, when I was about four years old, and even though that experience was less than a quarter of my life, I fondly think of it as my first home. I still remember the friendships I made, and the profound effect the community had on me.

Those childhood friends became adults, with their own lives and children. I have visited Boulder several times as an adult, and Thomas Wolfe is right, “you can’t go home again.” People grow and places evolve, but the Boulder of my childhood is timeless.

When my wife and I decided to move to China with our three year old child, one of my main concerns was, “what would it be like for him to grow up without his ‘Boulder’.” Of course I was wrong. I was just projecting my own childhood on his yet to be determined journey. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Society, Survival Tips Tagged With: Work in China

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