Learn to say different weathers in Chinese

Learning to talk about different weathers in Chinese is a big part in Chinese online lessons. Weather is one of the most fundamental areas of communication as it is so closely connected to our daily life. Another reason we need to learn different weathers is that this topic appears frequently in HSK exams, which demand us to pay more attention in the HSK prep.

                                                                       大雨

About Rains

In Chinese, the most commonly used decoration words are “大”,“中”and“小”meaning “big”, “medium” and “small”. So, when there is a heavy rain, we can say：“今天大雨”，and likewise, we can also say “中雨”and “小雨”. Besides, there are other words to describe different types of rains such as 雷阵雨，which is thunder shower, 暴雨 which is rainstorm, and 细雨 which means “It is drizzling.”

About Snow

Actually, the words describing a snowy weather is quite the same to the ones describing 雨. In Chinese, we can say“大雪”,“中雪”，“小雪”or “暴雪”. But we can’t say “雷阵雪”or “细雪”.

                                      晴天

Besides “雨” and “雪”，there are other types of weathers: If you want to say the weather is sunny, you can say qíng (晴)；cloudy, duō yún (多云)，etc. The above are the most frequently used expressions we learned from today’s mandarin tutorial, and I hope that you will master them because it will be very helpful for you when you need to talk about weather in Chinese.

Before we end, I will put a question here: Among the different weathers, maybe the most uncomfortable one is “雨夹雪”. Do you know what it is like if the weather is “雨夹雪”？

Authentic Greetings in Chinese

From our online Chinese lessons, we know there are many ways to make greetings when people meet. However, the ways to greet may vary according to different situations.

How do you greet a new friend? If you want to start a conversation with a person that you have never met before, you usually say 你好, or you can use 您好 to show your respect. It is usually common to add很高兴认识你 “Glad to meet you.” after that. This way of greetings is often used in circumstances such as business activity, a social party, etc.

If you meet a friend that you are not quite familiar with, you are supposed to say 早上好“Good morning?”, 下午好“Good afternoon?”,  晚上好“Good evening?”, 你好吗“how are you?” etc. to greet each other in a friendly way. Sometimes, they will say those greetings with a hug.

However, Chinese people greet each other in quite a different way when if they know each other well. And if you’re a foreigner, you’ll find it quite interesting by this very authentic way. If you have ever been to China, you’ll find some interesting greetings. Usually, when Chinese people meet on the way, they will say “Where are you going?” nin2 qu4 na3 （您去哪？）, “Have you had your meal?” chi1 le5 ma5（吃了吗？）, or “Are you going to the street?” shang4 jie1 ya5（上街呀？）etc. To many people who are learning basic Chinese, these greetings are questions about privacy and they are quite confused.

To put it in a nutshell, different greetings in China, Britain and the U.S. owns to different cultures. British and American people may not enjoy greetings in China because they think they are too specific and individual. While Chinese people won’t use British and American greetings for the ones they greet would feel they are not being familiar, especially people in rural areas.

Having said that, as we learn Chinese, we should not confuse us by asking “why did they greet each in this seemingly weird way.” Chinese is a language, and we should not learn it like it’s mathematics, right? 

Can you use “方便 （fāng biàn）” accurately in Chinese?

We all know that learning Chinese online can be a great way to know Chinese language. It not only saves much time on the way to school but give us a lot of convenience. 方便（fāng biàn） is a very commonly used word in Chinese. For those of you who have learned Chinese either by yourself or with an online mandarin tutor, it is easy to understand that方便（fāng biàn）means convenience in Chinese.

For example: When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” Here the word means convenience, and she means when it is convenient or when she has time to have party with her friend.

However, there are other meanings that are quite different to its original meaning. It can be used in this phrase: “方便一下（fāng biàn yī xià）.”which has the meaning of going to the bathroom in Chinese.

                              Convenient or 方便？

Many times in China, this expression confused the foreigner.

A foreigner who has taken mandarin lessons online is having dinner with some Chinese friends. Then one of them said我要方便一下. People around him told the foreigner that his friend wanted to go to the lavatory. The foreigner then understood that in Chinese “方便（fāng biàn）” meant “ to go to the lavatory.

The next day, another Chinese man proposed a toast and told the foreigner : ”Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）” of meeting you when I go abroad next time.” This made the foreigner more confused than before.

But what made him most confused was the following event. When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” The foreigner was stunned:” How can I give you an interview when answering nature’s call?”

In this story, we may find that there are two meanings of “方便 （fāng biàn）.” The first meaning is to go to the bathroom and the second meaning is “convenient.” In the second case, the Chinese man told the foreigner “Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）”  of seeing you when I go abroad next time” . Here, “方便 （fāng biàn）” means at someone’s convenience.

Leftover Women - 2

In the previous article “Leftover Women”, we learned what “shengnv” means and who this special group of people are. Today we go one step further to have a deeper vision on leftover women in China.

In 2007, the Women’s Federation defined “leftover women” as unmarried women over the age of 27 and China’s Ministry of Education added the term to its official lexicon.

Model, film, and television superstar Lin Chi-ling, born 1974, represents the university educated, financially successful, and wealthy "A-quality women" that have remained unmarried beyond their late twenties.

Actually, not all Shengnv (learn pinyin) are pretty girls. Pretty girls don’t need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family, but girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult. These kinds of girls hope to further their education in order to increase their competitiveness. The tragedy is, they don’t realize that as women age, they are worth less and less, so by the time they get their M.A. or Ph.D., they are already old, like yellowed pearls.

After knocking some good sense into those misguided women who pursue a higher education, the column accuses educated, single women of sleeping around and having degenerate morals:

Many highly educated “leftover women” are very progressive in their thinking and enjoy going to nightclubs to search for a one-night stand, or they become the mistress of a high official or rich man. It is only when they have lost their youth and are kicked out by the man, that they decide to look for a life partner. Therefore, most “leftover women” do not deserve our sympathy.

Lin Chi Ling - "Goddess" in the eyes of Chinese Men

Glad we got that straight. Now, why would China’s state feminist agency conduct a scare-mongering campaign against single, educated women?

The Women’s Federation columns on shengnv all share the same goal: convince single, educated women to stop being so ambitious and get married. The main reason many girls become “leftover women” is that their standards for a partner are too high … As girls are not too picky, finding a partner should be as easy as blowing away a speck of dust. Some of the columns have been reposted several times over the years and list helpful tips, such as “seduce but don’t pester” and “be persistent but not willful”:

When holding out for a man, if you say he must be rich and brilliant, romantic and hardworking ... this is just being willful. Does this kind of perfect man exist? Maybe he does exist, but why on earth would he want to marry you?

As the number of "leftover women" is growing, the social issues their status causes is also getting more attention. Some scholars propose the idea that they will pose threat to social stability. They are more likely to develop physical and mental illness since they are under great pressure financially, to support themselves and their parents, and emotionally by society to find a spouse.

Facing this seemingly embarrassed group of people, what’s your opinion? Do you think they should stop being single under pressure or just be themselves?

Join us to learn Chinese online and share your ideas.