Chinese Language and Culture

Samuel Johnson wrote the Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. He also praised the Chinese civil service examinations for their merit-based approach to selecting government officials.

The Ming Chinese believed that all Europeans were smugglers because many of the early European merchants engaged in illegal smuggling activities to evade Chinese trade regulations and restrictions. This behavior led to a negative perception of all Europeans among the Ming Chinese authorities.

The East China Sea likely served as the body of water forming the eastern border of the Chinese Zhou territory in ancient times.

The Chinese were able to print using woodblock printing, where characters were carved onto wooden blocks and then inked for printing. This method allowed for the reproduction of entire pages at a time, making it suitable for the Chinese language with its numerous characters.

One example of discrimination by the Mongols against the Chinese was the imposition of heavy taxes and tribute on the Chinese population, which placed a significant financial burden on them. Additionally, the Mongols often favored their own ethnic group for positions of power and authority, leading to a systematic exclusion of the Chinese from positions of leadership and influence.

The Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Chinese language is different from others in that it is a tonal language, where the pitch at which a word is spoken can change its meaning. It also uses characters rather than an alphabet, making it logographic. Additionally, Chinese languages like Mandarin have a large number of homophones, which can lead to confusion in spoken communication.

Traditional styles in Chinese culture were reflected in various art forms including calligraphy, painting, architecture, and fashion. These styles often emphasized symmetry, balance, and harmony with nature, drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese beliefs and philosophies. Traditional motifs such as dragons, lotus flowers, and phoenixes were commonly used to symbolize power, purity, and prosperity.

Chinese characters are not pronounced syllabically; rather, they represent morphemes, which are components of words that convey meaning. In Mandarin Chinese, each character is typically pronounced as one syllable, but this can vary depending on the specific character and its context within a word.

We have adopted aspects of Chinese culture such as traditional medicine (like acupuncture), food (dishes like stir-fry and dim sum), martial arts (like kung fu), and practices such as feng shui and tai chi. Additionally, Chinese New Year celebrations are increasingly popular in many countries.

Chinese contributions to Philippine culture include influences in cuisine (such as pansit and siopao), language (loanwords like "tsaa" for tea), arts and crafts (like lantern-making and dragon dances), and traditional medicine practices. The Chinese also introduced customs such as respecting elders, celebrating festivals like Chinese New Year, and setting up businesses like sari-sari stores in the Philippines.

In Chinese culture, receiving a gift with good quality is often seen as more important than the packaging. It is the thought and consideration behind the gift that is valued most, rather than extravagant packaging.

The Himalayan people are located in Tibet and Tibet borders China . The Chinese control Tibet since 1950 and they have killed over 1 million of the population of Tibet. The people of Tibet speak Chinese.

As I read "Dragonwings," I learned about the challenges faced by Chinese immigrants in America, particularly in the early 20th century. The novel delves into themes of identity, cultural assimilation, and prejudice. Additionally, through the protagonist's interactions with historical events like the San Francisco earthquake and the Chinese Exclusion Act, I gained insights into American history during that time period.

The Chinese currency, Renminbi (RMB), does not have a direct exchange rate with the US dollar, so it would depend on the current exchange rate. As of August 2021, 1 Chinese yuan is equivalent to around 0.15 US dollars, so a 5 yuan note would be worth around 0.75 US dollars.

People interested in expanding their language skills, those with a desire to communicate with Chinese speakers, or individuals interested in Chinese culture and business opportunities may wish to learn the Chinese language. It can also be beneficial for those planning to travel or work in China or other Chinese-speaking regions.

When you start to learn Chinese, I suggest to learn the Characters at first, not just learn the pinyin. Learning Chinese characters includes four parts, listening, speaking, reading and writing, involving various content of single character, word, sentence and article. As a beginner, learning Chinese characters is the foundation. I recommend MagiChinese, an app can help beginners to master the basic Chinese characters quickly, while providing the subsequent learning content of words and sentences.

If something is 'hard' for someone is subjective. It will vary from person to person, but as a general statement learning Chinese if your native language is English is hard. This is because unlike other languages that branch from the same ancestor language--Greek and/or Latin--there aren't any cognates (words that sound and look the same like "train" and it's Spanish counterpart "tren")

In Cantonese, your first cousin once removed, who is the child of your cousin, is called "表侄" for male and "表侄女" for female.

Approximately 0.4% of the population in China speaks Tibetan as their primary language.

Approximately 2% of the population in China speaks the Hainanese language. It is mainly spoken in the Hainan province, where the language originates from.

The current Japanese writing systems of kana and kanji is largely influenced by Chinese characters.

The kana themselves are derived from certain key Chinese characters, while kanji (literally means "Chinese/Han characters") are partially unmodified from Chinese characters (but that may change in a matter of time).

Chinese writing developed from a system of logographs, where each character represents a word or a meaningful unit of meaning. The Chinese writing system is one of the oldest in the world and has influenced many other East Asian writing systems. It is composed of thousands of characters, each with its own unique pronunciation and meaning.

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than 1 billion people, making it the most widely spoken language in the world. It is the official language of Mainland China and Taiwan, and one of the official languages of Singapore and the United Nations.