How to learn Chinese guide
by | September 11, 2009 | 5 CommentsFree Chinese language study guide available for download in pdf format. (please register first in Member’s area in order to download the Study Guide.) This useful guide covers topics such as learning strategies, learning styles, maintaining motivation, overcoming barriers, memorizing vocabulary, and other issues in the study of Mandarin. Now freely available online with hard copies Read the full Post…
How to get a Chinese visa with the least amount of money
by | April 29, 2012 | Leave a CommentThe other day, I received a friend’s newsletter which shared a very helpful tip about how you can extend your Chinese visa with the least amount of money. As a Chinese language school in Beijing, we often need to provide visa or extend visa for our students. Just last week, we helped one student extend Read the full Post…
Problem Capsule in China
by | April 18, 2012 | Leave a CommentRight now, one of the biggest news here in China is about Problem Capsule – 问题胶囊 (wèn tí jiāo nánɡ )which was being discovered recently. The problem is about corporate use of industrial gelatin production of hollow capsules. Here is one of most recent news video report on Problem Capsule: If you are in China or coming Read the full Post…
Top 5 Chinese video websites
by | April 3, 2012 | 3 CommentsNote: There are many changes about Chinese video websites since I wrote last post “Top 3 Chinese video websites” almost two years ago, so I’d like to write some updates on this post and will try to cover all the popular video sites in China. Hope those video sites, not only for fun, but also Read the full Post…
Breathing in Beijing: Air Pollution in Beijing – Fact or Fiction?
by | April 2, 2012 | Leave a CommentA few days ago, I received a newsletter email from Beijing United Hospital which talked about some facts and fictions about air pollution in Beijing, since it’s a hot topic which everybody’s been talking or caring about, specially, those who are living in Beijing or planning to visit Beijing, I thought it would be good Read the full Post…
How many characters do you need to read a Chinese newspaper
by | February 29, 2012 | 2 CommentsWhen I first started learning Chinese then every new character learnt was a success. When I reached the 100 characters benchmark, I was really pleased, but I knew I had a long way to go because I had heard before that you needed 2000 characters to read a newspaper. Well we have been studying for Read the full Post…
Christmas in Beijing – a 外国人 (wàiguórén – foreigner’s) perspective
by | December 22, 2011 | Leave a CommentWe had not lived here long by the time Christmas came round last year, but I don’t remember there being very much in the way of Christmas things about, a few small decorations, but not much else. So this year, we were not expecting too many things to be happening to remind us about Christmas, Read the full Post…
Inputting Chinese characters
by | July 21, 2011 | 2 CommentsIf you are learning Chinese then chances are that before too long you will want to write in Chinese using the computer. Assuming you are looking for a tool that allows you to write in Chinese as easily as it to write in roman script, then what you are looking for is a Chinese IME Read the full Post…
Learning by language bloopers
by | May 31, 2011 | Leave a CommentToday I was learning some useful cultural differences between China and the west. We were discussing that in China it is not the done thing to lick your fingers (and I understand that you don’t usually eat with your fingers either – so beware if you are planning a buffet for your Chinese Read the full Post…
Skritter review – a great way of learning how to write Chinese characters
by | May 25, 2011 | 1 CommentLearning how to write Chinese characters is hard, and we can use all the help we can get. Skritter (http://www.skritter.cn) is a website that uses some clever web coding to create a novel way of helping you learn characters. The strongest feature of Skritter in my opinion is its tool for Chinese character writing with Read the full Post…