Polyphones in Chinese

Polyphones are very common in Chinese language. A polyphone is a character that can be pronounced in two or more different ways. With different ways of pronunciation, the polyphone usually has different meanings. Being able to use polyphones in Chinese properly will help us a lot in Chinese Learning. In this article, we are going to review the common polyphones.

1. 好 There are two ways to pronounce it - hao3 and hao4. When pronounced in the third tone, it means well or good, as in the phrase 好人 (a good guy) or 好天气 (good weather). When pronounced in the fourth tone, it means “to like”. However, it is seldom used alone, but usually used with another word such as 喜好 and 爱好, both of which have the meaning of “to like”.

2. 行 It is one of the most common words that you will encounter on street signs. For example, we have 请绕行 and 银行. However, it pronounces different ways in the two phrases. In the first phrase请绕行, it is pronounced xing2, which means “to go”. The whole phrase means “Please go the other way.” It is pronounced hang2 in the word 银行, which means “bank”.

3. 赃 This character has two pronunciations. They are zang1 and zang4. The first tone, zang1, means that something is really dirty and is an adjective. The second tone, zang4, is usually used as a noun such as 心脏, which means heart.

4. 假With two distinct tones, jia3 and jia4, this character is easy to read and remember. Jia3, means fake. It can be used as an adjective, such as the word假如(if). It can be used as a noun such as, Jia4, 假期, which means vacation.

Dragon Head Raising Festival

The Dragon-Head-Raising Festival is also known as 龙抬头long2 tai2 tou2 - Check out the pronunciation in the audio pinyin chart, which comes on Feb. 2^nd in Chinese lunar calendar, soon after Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. In Chinese astrology, people use 28 constellations to represent the position of the moon, sun and stars. On February 2^nd, the constellation looks like the body of the dragon. That’s how the name comes for this festival.

As you can tell from the name, the Longtaitou Festival is related to dragon. In the tradition of Chinese culture, the dragon is believed to be a very auspicious animal. It is also believed to be in charge of bringing rains, and both of these are important factors in ancient agricultural society. Today, however, it's lesser related to agriculture as  China steps into a more industrial country.

However, the ways to celebrate Dragon-Head-Raising Festival remains the unchanged. Today, Longtaitou Festival is celebrated in various ways. One of the most weird customs is to get a new haircut or an entirely new hairstyle. But it is quite popular and common a custom to have a new haircut on this day. It is said to bring luck to the coming New Year and it’s a symbol of a brand new year. On this day, there are many other traditional customs, like eating pancakes, noodles, fried peas and steam buns. The eating of the pea, noodles and dumplings signified eating the eye, beard and ear of the lazy dragon. It was believed that these practices would stimulate the lazy dragon to finish his work.

Gongfu Tea

Chinese martial arts, colloquially referred to as kung fu or gong fu (see the pinyin pronunciation chart) are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. However, that’s not what we are not going to talk about today, but a kind of tea called “Gongfu Tea” in China.

What is “Gongfu Tea?”

Many people know "Kungfu" because of Bruce Li and Jackie Chan. The tea gets its name because the skill it takes to make the tea is often equal to the skill it takes to practice Gongfu.   

We may learn Chinese skype that making Gongfu Tea is an extraordinary art that requires a lot of skills and practice. It takes a lot of time to even make one cup. It’s a Chinese black tea which is used as a relatively high end gourmet black tea and is sometimes used in various tea blends.     The main difference between Dian hong and other Chinese black teas is the amount of fine leaf buds, or "golden tips," present in the dried tea. Fermented with lychee, rose,and longan, Dian hong teas produces a brew that is brassy golden orange in color with a sweet, gentle aroma and no astringency. Cheaper varieties of Dian hong produce a darker brownish brew that can be very bitter.

The best place for having Gongfu Tea is your own home. You could put on some classic music in the background. The peaceful setting and the essence of the tea can be highly relaxing. 

Chinese way of drinking

The pinyin pronunciation for 酒(liquor) is Jiu3. China has a very long history of producing wines. Its production process is much more complex than some other distilled wines in the world, including a variety of raw materials and incorporation of diverse characteristics. In China, the most famous liquor is white wine. Chinese white liquor (such as maotai, guojiao, erguotou) is one of the six world famous wines.

However what impresses people most is not the wine itself, but the way Chinese people drink it. As for the Chinese wine-drinking tradition, not only do Chinese drink themselves, but also frequently they “urge” others to drink, as much as possible. This is difficult for some foreigners. In a Chinese banquet, the host often keeps on telling someone to eat or drink. It is not only recognized as a courtesy, but also an act of respecting other people.

Chinese people are very hospitable, especially when they are at the dinner table. Chinese people believe the relationship between each other is best promoted when they are toasting. When Chinese people are toasting, they want their guests or friends to drink more, so as to express their hospitality and friendship. The more the guests drink, the happier they will be, because it shows that the gusts like their food and regard them. If the guests didn’t get drunk, the hosts will think the guests didn’t enjoy the dinner and will feel sorry and low in spirit.

At a Chinese banquet, no matter whether others can drink or not, or whether it is proper to urge others to drink or not, if the host does not encourage people to drink several cups of wine, it would seem like people would think that the host is not hospitable and considerate. In reality, the Chinese think urging people to drink can not only deepen feelings between each other, but also make the banquet more joyful and harmonious.

In order to urge the guests to drink more, there are many interesting sayings that have been carried from generation to generation, such as “deep feeling, bottom up”, “shallow feeling, take a sip”, “Do not leave until drunk”.If you do not have a ready tongue or a good eloquence and failed to come up with a reason to refuse, then be ready to get drunk! There are many ways of urging others to drink more which can be concluded as follows: “a polite urge”, “a forceful urge” and “a punishing urge”.