Greeting Styles is very particular in China

Greeting is the most common etiquette of everyday’s social intercourse. When people meet each other，it begins by paying one’s respects，but there are great differences in greetings between nationalities．To learn business Chinese online free, you can know that Chinese greetings have their own classification，content，ways of showing appellation，basic courtesy，and concrete meaning，while each having their own characteristics．

 

Firstly，Chinese greeting styles to send one’s regards to inquire，or to discuss are much like English．Nevertheless，the Chinese ways of expressing greetings are different from the West. For example，in English there is good morning，good afternoon，and good evening．Chinese oral language does not contain such reciprocal greetings. Instead，often used is “zao3’’ (早) or “ni3 zao3”(你早)，meaning you got up quite early．Many greetings follow this simple syntax．At present，Chinese people are more and more use “ni3 hao3” to greet each other，particularly intellects and cultured people in a crowd. There are also formal greetings showing honor and great respect．In Mandarin, there are also some phrases such as ‘‘Where are you going?” and “Did you eat?” among other greetings of inquiry，revealing concern for the other person’s well being

   

Secondly，cultural discrepancies and restrictions in language behavior regard societal norms，the subject of conversation is also different. English greetings use simple phrases，containing information，and show great respect，but they lack feeling and expression. In Chinese，to learn business mandarin of many greetings are in effort in of a question，and most questions inquire about the other person’s struggles of daily life giving people the feeling of amiable concern Chinese people of asking each other questions regarding age，income, health，and popular topics of conversation，in addition to more specific items，in order to show consideration for the individual．

 

The language of respectful greeting is a cultural characteristic，but each nationality basics own social norms．standards of behavior，and guidelines for social interaction. The differences in cultural backgrounds may bring about different standards，which are reflected in the nature of the questions When Chinese people greet，they often use respectful speech and modest words，expressing respect and honor towards their counterpart．To learn business mandarin online you can find a distinct characteristic of the Chinese language．

 

Besides verbal greeting styles，Chinese people also have style of body language that has its own distinctions．The body language of China and English speaking countries show some commonality, which is helpful in learning business mandarin. Chinese，especially youthful men，will often nod amongst one another，or perhaps wave as a form of greeting. Yet in former times when people met，one might bow or perhaps bow with the hands out stretched in greeting．Chinese greeting styles are generally rather implicit and reserved，even if there has been along time of separation．There is also a pat on the shoulder for comfort，or perhaps a hand shake but absolutely no kissing. Generally, men and women hugging each other are rarely seen. At most they shake hands，but nothing more．

 Source: 

http://chinesemasterin.over-blog.com/2015/02/greeting-styles-is-very-particular-in-china.html

The further introduction of Chinese animal zodiacs

Hello everybody! Let us go on to the lesson to learn Chinese online for kids about the next six animal zodiacs in Chinese culture. According to the Chinese class for kids, the sixth animal is horse that is also a very popular animal in Chinese culture and people’s heart.

Horse：(called wu3shi2)．According to Taoist teachings，when the midday sun is at the

apex the yang energy reaches the extreme，as the yin energy gradually increasing，representing the pair of yin and yang exchange Generally at this time．All animals lie down to rest. Only the horse has the habit of remaining standing and never lying down to rest even when sleeping．

Ram：(called wei4shi2) It is said that at this time rams urinate frequently，and

in this way cures itself of mental illness．

Monkey：(called shen1shi2)．At this time，the monkey likes to cry out in a most

drawn out and resonating sound．

Rooster: (called you4shi2) At this time，the sun sets in the mountains，and the rooster returns to his nest for the evening．

Dog：(called xu3shi2)．Dark night approaches and the dog guards the house．The dog watches with great vigilance with the sharpest vision and hearing．At this time the dog can see things at great distances and hear very clearly

Pig：(called hai4shi2)．At this time, the pig is intoxicated with sleep. Its snoring resounds，the muscles of its body twitch fiercely，producing meat the fastest．

Not only do these twelve animals represent time periods throughout the day，but also they eventually came to represent a person’s age.

   

There are many beautiful legends in our mandarin class for kids about the zodiac animals. According to one legend，in antiquity. A person’s memory was not great．He or she often forgot his or her name, producing much confusion．

Upon seeing this，the Jade Emperor’s (it refers to yu4 huang2 da4 di4 in class of Chinese for children) heart could not bear this，so he though to the simple way of using the zodiac to determine one’s age. One must only remember the twelve-year cycle as a definite way of calculating a person’s age. Consequently, he issued a proclamation to “1 animals to come to his Heavenly Courtyard so that he could select the animals of the zodiac in order of their arrival The dragon．tiger，rabbit,and horse，animals of extraordinary ability and talent，often stopped as they traveled although they were not late in departing．Yet slow but sure was the ox，plodding along at its own pace, day and night，not daring to stop for rest. Meanwhile the rat quietly cunning jumped on the ox’s horn and slept. The ox was to be the first to arrive in the Heavenly Court．However, the rat, seeing an opportunity, jumped from the ox’s horn，becoming the first in rank of the zodiac animals Thus the ox became second in the hierarchy．Due to the pig’s extremely slow walk, it was naturally last in line．

 Source: 

http://chinesemasterin.over-blog.com/2015/02/the-further-introduction-of-chinese-animal-zodiacs.html

The Traditional Calendar-The Agricultural Calendar

The agricultural calendar is China’s traditional calendar．The online Chinese learning culture textbooks can tell you that it is divided into 24 solar terms and selves as the guide to agricultural activities．This calendar used in vast areas of Chinese and is known as the farming calendar. It is also referred to as the summer calendar，old calendar，and Chinese calendar，but it is most commonly referred to as the lunar calendar．The calendar uses strict guide lines．following the waxing and waning of the moon．It also employs an intercalary month, to average the lengths of the solar years．Through Chinese learning online, the lunar and solar calendars make note of the relation between vin and yang. Until now，many Chinese all over the world，as well as North Koreans，South Koreans．and Vietnamese，still use the agricultural calendar to calculate traditional festivals such as the spring Festival，Mid-Autumn Festival，the Dragon Boat Festival，and the Pure Bright (tomb-sweeping) Festival．

     

The length of the agricultural calendar compared to the solar calendar is similar. If you take Chinese online learning lesson, you will know that a twelve-month solar year has more days than a lunar year．But lacks the thirteenth intercalary month．Ancient astronomers compiled the agricultural calendar such that specific days of the month mark the various phases of the moon．For example，on first day of the month the moon is dark, and then in about 15 days the moon becomes full，completing its cycle．At the same time，the agricultural calendar，noting the seasons，adopted a system of 19 years and 7 leap months in this way．For every 19 agricultural calendar years，there are l2 common years，each of which has 12 months，as well as seven leap years，each containing 13 months．The months of the agricultural calendar are composed of the same number of days as regular months，29 or 30，but a

leap month is added depending upon the circumstances of the solar term．

    The agricultural calendar is a substantial contribution of ancient China．Its main features are that anyone-day of the month embodies significant phases of the moon and that it is comprised of agricultural dates，including calculations of the tide (the tide being an effect of the moon’s gravity)．The calendar，called shi xianli in our Chinese learn online class (the state calendar)，was instituted in 1645 and was officially used by the late Ming and early Qing dynasty．

 Source: 

http://00000000.over-blog.com/2015/02/the-traditional-calendar-the-agricultural-calendar.html

Chinese Zodiac is equivalent to western constellations

The ancient Chinese time correlated the time in which certain animals are active while time in animals make up the twelve signs of the zodiac．Today, our hanbridge online lesson will show you that they are rat，ox，tiger，rabbit，dragon，snake，horse，ram，monkey，rooster，dog，and pig．However, we would like to introduce the former six animal zodiacs in ancient Chinese culture that is related with a Chinese fairy tales on our online Chinese lessons.

Rat：(called zi3shi2)．At this time，the nerves of the rat are strongest and it is most arrive．By the way, the rat is always called in Chinese people conversation as hao4 zi.

Ox：(called chou3 shi2)．At this time, the ox has finished eating grass and is ruminating the vegetation，it is slow and cozy．

Tiger:(called yin2shi2)．Ancient records reveal that at this time，tigers are the most active and fierce，killing many people．

Rabbit:(called mao3shi2)．At this time, the sun is not yet exposed，the moon’s radiance not yet vanished．In mythology，the Jade Hare is the only animal allowed in the Moon Palace．

Dragon：(called chen1shi2)．As legend has it，dragons congregate and make the rain at this time．In folk lore，dragons are the main animals，therefore this time belongs to the dragon．

Snake：(called si4shi2)．It is believed that at this time，snakes cannot harm people and

are not traversing the walking paths．Rather they are believed to remain concealed in the under brush．

OK, do you want to learn Chinese animal zodiacs with more interesting and more legendary stories online? Please go to our official website whose headquarter was established in China’s Shenzhen city: www.hanbridgemandarin.com look for more and more information about how to make Chinese learn become easy and relaxed a lot through reading articles regarding Chinese interesting stories.

Next time, we are going to continue to give you the introductions about Chinese animal zodiacs in our online Chinese culture lessons. The next content embodies the next six animal zodiacs’ stories. And finally there will be a fairy tales about the origin of those altogether twelve animal zodiacs. Welcome to stay tuned on our Chinese platform online hanbridge lessons.  

Source: 

http://chinesemasterin.over-blog.com/2015/02/chinese-zodiac-is-equivalent-to-western-constellations.html

Chinese language learning for dian3 mao3 in your HSK test

Hello, guys! This time, here is a practical and important story for those who had a long experience of leaning mandarin Chinese for children everywhere in the world. Whether you are online or offline, I believe that most of you will catch some puzzling questions when you are preparing for a Chinese exam or other level’s test. For example, a less frequently used Chinese word may cause a trouble for many Chinese learners, just as you have seen the phrase in the title. Honestly speaking, the native speaker of Chinese is not entirely familiar with its meaning, story and usage.

It is exactly what we are going to learn Mandarin online share some stories with you about this strange phrase in Chinese expressions. To begin with, the Chinese pinyin is given as dian3 mao3. It should be written as 点卯, which is not too difficult write. However, what exactly is the meaning?

The phrase of dian3 mao3 derived from a method applied as the supervision in ancient times in the Chinese court palace. In the past, people divide a whole day into twelve hours. What differs from the hours today is that the hours in the past is equal to two hours, in other words, an hour has one hundred and twenty minutes. Accordingly, the word mao3 represents two hours from 5 am to 7 am of the phase in the past. At this time, the officials started to work in their own office that was called ya2 men in ancient times, but they had to get together in a special place for arrival check-out. Later, an official in charge of count the arrivals of the officials on duty was began to write down who was absent or not. This action was meant as dian3 mao3. There was also a phenomenon that some officials were meant to be absent their works. They  had an idea to escape from the obligatory tasks after their names had been written on the note book of the charger. Therefore, the meaning of dian3 mao3 has also changed as way to learn Chinese online, which can described that someone is not responsible and elaborate.

As a matter of fact, some related special nouns about the activity of dian3 mao3 had disappeared, but they were really vivid and interesting. For instance, the phrase 应卯 (ying4 mao3) means that all officials react to the sound of charger’s checking when their names are called. The phrase 卯册 (mao3 ce4) refers to a pamphlet carried by the charger. The phrase 画卯（hua4 mao3）means that the attendant officials’ name had been put down on the pamphlet.

Learning Chinese difficult words and expressions via its original stories can be the best way to learn Chinese online around the world. Please keep your pace in reading more articles from the Chinese learning online platform.

       

 Source: 

http://chinesehanbridge.jigsy.com/entries/general/chinese-language-learning-for-dian3-mao3-in-your-hsk-test

East and West in Chinese language culture

As is known to all, the word, east and west represents two different and opposite directions when people talk with each other in English. Generally speaking, these two words are, more often than not, used in daily situations where one person asks for someone help in finding a right direction because he or she lost the way or someone wants to go to a unknown place. In Chinese learning process, this kind of usage is also usual in people’s daily conversations. However, some complete foreigners cannot understand its specific meaning when Chinese speak: zhe4 shi4 shen2 me dong1 xi1? So, what is the meaning of dong1 xi1? How to use it in China? And is there any interesting story about that popular phrase? In today’s essay, our Chinese online lessons’ teacher will answer these questions for those Chinese learners learning Chinese all the time worldwide.

Historically, the phrase dong1 xi1 derived from a primitive theory called five elements; gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. These five elements can be made in different groups with the Chinese common five directions: east, west, south, north and center. According to Chinese traditional culture and theory, the east is related with wood, the south is related with fire, the west is related with gold, the north is related with water, and the center is related with earth. We can see that east stands for all plants, and the west represents all golden things. So do the south and north. Therefore, people combined the wood and gold, gradually giving rise to the phrase dong1 xi1. This is the symbol of colorful everything in the world for the first time. Many online Chinese lessons provide learners with the history stories about the phrase dong1 xi1.

Until song dynasty, a famous, knowledgeable, and humiliate thinker zhu1 xi3, experienced an interesting moment. One time, he once came across his friend sheng4 wen1 he2 in the block. Because sheng4 excelled in the theory of five elements, and he was questioned by zhu1 xi3: what were you going to do with a basket in the hand? Sheng4 replied: I went to buy dong1 xi1 on the street. Thus, the phrase dong1xi1 had not appeared at that time, so zhu1 xi3 could not understand. Then sheng4 answered: you rethink the theory of five elements and you would be clear at once. A few seconds later, zhu1 xi1 got it. As a matter of fact, the gold and wood stand for items and golden things respectively. Compared with south and north, the items or golden things can be put into the basket. So as you can see, how can you place the fire and water in a basket? From then on, the phrase meant the item or a thing until now.

Literally, the phrase dong1 xi1 should be written as 东西 of Chinese character. On the other hand, the tone of xi1 is usually no tone, just read as xi in daily conversations. Therefore, you can use as this way. This is end of this introduction of this Chinese phrase in Chinese online lesson. Have you learned well?

Source: 

http://oldchinese.jigsy.com/entries/general/east-and-west-in-chinese-language-culture