Chinese Wedding You Need to Know

Have you ever been invited to a Chinese wedding ceremony? What’s it like? Let me give you a brief introduction to Chinese wedding ceremony.

When would a ceremony be held? Chinese people are quite picky with the procedure of a wedding ceremony especially with the date of the ceremony. According to Chinese lunar calendar, some days are meant for holding happy ceremony like wedding, moving to a new house, etc. But some days are considered unlucky and some activities should not be performed. “So, when is a ‘lucky’ day?” you might ask. Well, I should say the tradition varies from place to place, but generally public holidays, special days are considered lucky by most people such as the National Day, New Year, May Day Holiday, etc. And as the western Christmas is approaching near, some people choose to hold their wedding on Christmas. Isn’t it a happy thing to receive both Christmas greetings in Chinese and wedding wishes from friends and families?

What is a Chinese wedding ceremony like? Coincidentally, I was quite busy attending friends’ weddings these days. And I have come up with 3 keywords that may help you better understand Chinese way of romance. First, happiness. Happiness comes from everyone’s smile. Chinese people especially care about the atmosphere of a happy event such as a wedding ceremony. So, on this day, they will not mention unhappy things and will give whatever the kids like in case they cry. Second, difficult. This word is to describe the process of the bridegroom getting into the bride’s room. In a traditional Chinese wedding, relatives and friends of bride’s side will “make trouble” to prevent the couple from meeting each other. And they won’t let go until they receive the红包 (hong2bao1), which is a red envelope with money in it. 红包 is also the third keyword we will mention today. In a Chinese wedding ceremony, you can see 红包 almost everywhere. The relatives of bridegroom have to give 红包 to the people inside the door to meet his wife-to-be; guests invited to a wedding need to give 红包 as gifts, and parents of both sides should give their daughter-in-law and son-in-law 红包 when they call their mother-in-law and father –in-law Mom and Dad.

What’s the wedding ceremony like in your country? As a saying goes “When in Rome, do as Romans do.” When you attend a Chinese wedding, be careful with the 3 keywords, especially the 红包！

We wish you a merry christmas

Most of us may have listened to one of the best-known Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Both of the songs have been popular every year around the Christmas time. Indeed, the most common question we have received is “Can you provide the Christmas song lyrics in pinyin?” So, we have created the Christmas songs in Chinese characters and pinyin. Those who are a fan of Chinese language and Christmas melody can take this as a good taste.

In the previous post, we learned about the history and the author of the song “Jingle Bells.” Today, we will take a look at another popular Christmas song, widely enjoyed by people in China - "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

The Christmas song can trace its history back to England in the 16^th century, when it enjoyed a high popularity during Christmas time. We know the lyrics of this song include “Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and bring it fight here.” So, why is the figgy pudding appear in the lyrics and not other things? It is said that in the English tradition, wealthy people of the country used to give Christmas treats the poor on Christmas Eve, such as figgy puddings that were very much like modern-day Christmas puddings. Since this, the figgy budding is reflected by the author and composer of the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” song.

Over the years, however, the fashion for figgy puddings mentioned in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” has faded. And people nowadays don’t even think about the delicious figgy pudding on Christmas seasons. But it didn’t stop people from loving this song. Have you ever listened to the song in Chinese version, which is also a good resource to learn basic Chinese with pinyin pronunciation? Give it a hum!

Personality Traits Determined by Your Zodiac Animal 1

In our Chinese conversation lessons, we learned that there are 12 different zodiac animals in China. Today, we will further explore the myth of the Chinese zodiac system.

In the western astrology, a horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. While in Chinese astrology, people uses a zodiac system based on twelve different animals which are called 十二生肖(shí èr shēnɡ xiāo). According to Chinese astrology, each zodiac animal (or Chinese horoscope) is used to symbolize the year in which a person is born.

Do you know which animal is your zodiac sign? What does it mean if you belong to, say, the year of the Dragon. Today, we will learn the personality of traits different zodiac animals have.

The Chinese Zodiac uses the details of your birth to uncover your personality traits, best lifestyle, career direction, and degree of happiness throughout your lifetime. The year you were born can tell a great deal about your personality, likes, dislikes and even who you will be compatible with as a mate. If you have figured out your Chinese zodiac animal, now it’s time to know what kind of personality traits you have.

Dragon Personality Traits

Dragon is the most vital and powerful one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals is born under a lucky star. People born in the year of the Dragon are expected to possess the following personality traits: energetic, excitable, short-tempered and stubborn. And because the dragon is a yang sign, so they are expected to have a lot of energy and bravery in whatever they do.

Pig Personality Traits

Another zodiac animal that Chinese people favor is Pig. Those born in the Year of the Pig can be relied upon for their loyalty and often make true friends for life. They have sweet temper and are always optimistic about the future. However, they can be easily taken advantage of by others because of their idealistic and naïve nature.

Dog Personality Traits

People born in the year of Dog are loyal, faithful, and true. They often inspire confidence in others and are always willing to help those in need. Like Pig, Dog people are those who can make best friends of.

Rooster Personality Traits

People born in the year of Rooster has the personality of being loyal and trustworthy, Rooster people are also sociable, very accomplished and usually very well-dressed.

Monkey Personality Traits

They have the character of being charming, charismatic and extremely inventive. People born in the year of the Monkey are most noted for their intelligence and clever genius in working out difficult problems for themselves and others.

Sheep Personality Traits

Sheep is the most creative sign according to the Chinese zodiac. People born in the year of the Sheep are often artistic, sensitive, sweet and charming. They have a sweet and easy temper and are easy to get along with.

Stay with us to learn about the personality traits of the other 6 Chinese zodiac animals. If you have any question, you can join our online mandarin tutor.

Chinese Upside-down Blessing

Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important festival in China. Many people especially those who are learning Chinese online like it very much, not only because it’s the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, but because of its various traditional customs. 

Of its many special traditions, pasting red paper signs with the word “blessing” on walls and doors can be very interesting.  The Chinese character for “blessing” is “福”, which Chinese people like very much. The character is a prayer for a happy life and a better future. The interesting thing or the seemingly weird thing about the tradition is that Chinese people pasted the papers sighs upside down. This has confused many foreigners who don’t know much about this traditional Chinese custom. Did the Chinese people did this by mistake? If not, why are these paper signs pasted upside-down?

Emperor of the Ming dynasty commanded his soldiers to kill selected families. The doors of the selected families would be marked by a blessing sign. The kind-hearted Empress Ma heard this and wanted to prevent it. She secretly commanded the whole city to paste the blessing sign on their doors, so the soldiers would have no idea which families they were supposed to kill. But one family pasted a “blessing” sign upside-down as they had been in a hurry.

Since the emperor couldn’t decide which one to select, she simply picked the family who pasted the blessing upside down. When the emperor was about to kill the family, Ma quickly intervened and said the upside down blessing has a special meaning.

The Chinese character 倒 which means “upside down” or “reverse” has exactly the same pronunciation as the character 到 which means “to arrive.” She argued that this family knew the soldiers would be arriving that day and by pasting the sign upside-down, they meant that the arrival of the soldiers would be a blessing. She asked how the emperor could possibly want to kill this patriotic and kind family. The emperor heard this explanation and quit his idea of killing the family. Time passed by, and “pasting the “福” upside down” was carried on from generation to generation as traditional custom on Chinese New Year.

HSK grammar

Is it an idiom?

Idioms are usually four-character phrases that tell a special meaning. Because most idioms either come from folk stories or legend stories, people are familiar them. These days, however, a lot of seemingly weird “idioms” spring up from the Internet.

When we first heard phrases like喜大普奔, we can’t even guess its meaning it until we see the explanations. For example, 不明觉厉 (bù mǐng juě lì) is made up by the first characters of four Chinese idioms, which is 喜闻乐见 (xǐ wěn lè jiàn), 大快人心 (dà kuài rén xīn), 普天同庆(pǔ tiān tǒng qìng), 奔走相告(bēn zǒu xiāng gào). So, the meaning of this weird idiom喜大普奔 is actually a combination of the four idioms: the news is so exhilarating that everyone is celebrating and spreading it to the rest of the world. We can use this popular “idiom” in the following example: “告诉你一个喜大普奔的消息吧, 期末考试取消了！”, which means “Here is news for celebration: The final examination is canceled!”

So much so, this is not a word that you Chinese tutor will choose to teach you in class, because this is an Internet word, which many people think that it should only be used for fun instead of in formal occasions. To those of you who are reading this post, maybe you may regard this as a way to have fun. Maybe we can also understand a thing from this language phenomenon that: language is always changing as culture changes and that we should keep up with times.

Chinese Mother In-law - Zhang Mu Niang

Study HSK : 丈母娘” means mother-in-law in Chinese.  In China, it is a very popular word and many boys are afraid of their 丈母娘 zhàng mǔ niáng.

In China, mothers-in-law play a very important role in their daughter’s marriage. That should dates back to the old times of China, when arranged or mercenary marriage and any other acts of interference with the freedom of marriage are very common. Young people should listen to the ideas and “suggestions” of their parents when they are choosing their husbands or wives. For example, many girls like boys who are tall, rich, and good-looking while mothers may think that the boys who have well-financed family support are better. In their view, good appearance may not be so important when they become old. So 丈母娘(zhàng mǔ niáng) prefers to introduce the man who is plain but has a successful career to her daughter.

Nowadays, even though it is illegal to interfere with other people’s marriage by any means and people advocate the freedom of marriage and Chinese also encourage free choice of partners, but the 丈母娘(zhàng mǔ niáng) still has the ability to give her daughter advice or directly express her dissatisfaction towards the candidate for son-in-law, which makes many boys fail to marry the girl they love only because the potential 丈母娘(zhàng mǔ niáng) do not like them.

Another way to address mother-in-law is “岳母”, which is not as commonly used as Zhang Mu Niang when we take  online Chinese tutoring. Because of their 岳母， many boys have a lot of pressure and have to do everything to entertain them, including buying them expensive gifts, maybe as a way to show that they are not only good-looking, but also wealthy. Many foreigners like to marry Chinese girls, but the zhang mu niang may be an obstacle to them. If you are considering learning Chinese 1-on-1 with an online tutor, you can read this review of HSKCourse first. 

Traditional Chinese Dress – Qipao

Chinese dressing style is quite different from those in the west because of China’s unique cultures. As Chinese movies march towards the world stage, an increasing number of Chinese movies and movie stars are known by people abroad, such as In The Mood For Love and its chief actress Madame Zhang Manyu. In this movie, Madam Zhang always wears the 旗(qí) 袍(páo), or cheongsam. 旗(qí) 袍(páo) is one of the most distinctive costumes for Chinese women.

The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the长(chánɡ) 衫(shān). It is known in skype Chinese lessons as the Qipao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. In ancient time, the collar of the costume was made high and tight fitting to keep warm. And this feature is often incorporated into cheongsam styles. Now, it is not only to keep warm but also for beauty. Usually, the collar of cheongsam takes a semicircle shape, and the right and left sides of it are symmetrical. The collar of the 旗(qí) 袍(páo) is made meticulously, especially the buttonhole loop on the collar, which serves as the finishing touch.

There are two big slits at either side of the hem of a cheongsam for moving conveniently while displaying the woman's slender legs. The cheongsam is far more modest that a short skirt even though it reveals beautiful glimpses of leg far up the thigh. Like a Chinese temperament, the cheongsam is elegant and gentle. The modernized version is noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such remains popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace adorning the hem. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.