Online Resources for Learning Chinese

According to a research, some students learn Chinese language for cultural reason, for they are interested in over 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Some learn it as a big challenge, for it is the most difficult language to learn in the world. But the most learn Chinese for a better job opportunity, for an increasing number of jobs place preference on applicants who know both Chinese and English. Due to the convenience of Internet, there are more and more useful online learning materials and tools to learn Chinese. It is necessary to know how to take advantage of these Internet resources while learning Chinese.

As all of us known, traveling to China is the most effective way for learning the language, this type of learning is so expensive that not many people who would like to speak Chinese can afford it. A more affordable alternative is taking online Chinese courses. By learning online, one can cut back tremendously on costs while enjoying all the benefits of an online education. You might think that learning to speak Chinese online will not be as effective as traveling to China but with the latest technology, virtual classrooms are becoming as good as the real thing. Nowadays, There are numerous Chinese learning websites offering language speaking lessons for all types of learners. Make sure choose a Chinese learning website that fits you best.

Besides learning Chinese online, there are also lots of free Internet learning resources. For example, watching movies is another useful way to get exposure to the language. There are lots of great Chinese movies to download free online. No matter what kind of movies you like, they can get you used to hearing Chinese while they entertain you. You can watch a favourite again and again but rely less on the subtitles every time you watch it, which is a great way to learn Chinese. Enjoying movies could improve the pronunciation. You may learn the simplest way native speaker systems pronounce words along with follow that movie to employ your pronunciation. If you would like, you can acturally break that conversation into sentence to listen and repeat after it. It is important, however, to make sure that the movie you choose is in the dialect you are studying; the old kung fu movies are in Cantonese and wouldn’t be of any use to someone trying to learn Mandarin.

It is now painless to come across a free translation tool that translates from one language to another. For sure you don’t want to use those types of programs in place of becoming trained in a language, though you can use them as devices for assisting you. When you’re browsing the web you can search for a variety of websites that are in Chinese. To help you practice reading characters, you can try to translate a web page and then use a translating tool to check your results. You should bear in mind, though, that these programs might not be entirely precise, they can permit you to have a decent idea of what is written. When learning Chinese, you might find that some free translation tools are beneficial.

Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs

During my internship in China, there are so many delicious Chinese food impressed me. My Chinese friend recently gave me some Chinese tea which makes me thought of Chinese tea leaf eggs immediately, and it’s perfect for tea leaf eggs. Maybe you know scrambled eggs, fried eggs and steamed eggs. But today I want to teach you how to cook Chinese tea leaf eggs, which is much easier than learning Chinese language.

Ingredients

10 eggs4 cups of water

1 teaspoon of sea salt1 tablespoon soy sauce1 teaspoon sugar2 tablespoons black tea leaves2 pods of star anise1 cinnamon stick1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 Tablespoon tangerine zest

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine eggs and 1 teaspoon salt; cover with cold water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain, and cool. When cool, tap eggs with the back of a spoon to crack shells but do not remove the shells yet. 4. In a large saucepan, combine 3 cups water, soy sauce, black soy sauce, salt, tea leaves, star anise, cinnamon stick, and tangerine zest.

5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 3 hours.

6. Remove from heat, add eggs, and let steep for at about 8-10 hours or more.

Chinese Books for Kids to Learn Chinese

Choosing Chinese textbooks for kids is a big decision. The learning materials are now far more abundant than before. But it's still important to have good criteria before making your selection. we recommend you read the following general guidelines first to avoid waste your time and money.

1. Good Chinese materials, whether books or videos, should be designed according to children’s familiar and interested topics and be better if they are funny story-centered.

2. We strongly recommend those lessons based on conversational situation, which introduces your kids to a real life communication. Those materials can help children to build the confidence to communicate with others in Chinese.

3. Most of our kids are visual learners. Sound supporting materials, such as CD, videos or tapes attached with the text-book help your children learn the correct pronunciation effectively.

If you are seriously let your children learn Chinese language, you may consider a comprehensive set of learning material. Besides above general criteria, a good set of Chinese textbook should adopt the spiral approach and review.

1. Happy Chinese: KUAILE HANYU consists of six books with three levels, with both a student's book and teacher's book. The assistant materials include flash cards, charts, audio cassettes and videos. With vivid design and colorful illustrations, the series suits the students from 11 to 16 years old and focuses on the training of Chinese communicative competence.

2. Easy Steps to Chinese Textbook: Fun and effective, this excellent textbook series adopts an exciting new approach to teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The task-based program, designed by the authors of the popular Chinese Made Easy and Chinese Made Easy for Kids, is based on feedback and helpful suggestions from teachers who use those series in their classrooms.

3. Learn Chinese with Me: Learn Chinese with Me is a series designed for students of 15 to 18 years old whose native language is English. It guides the students from beginner to low-intermediate level. The series is composed of four volumes each of which contains Student's Book, Teacher's Book, Workbooks, and phonetic and listening materials.

Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao in Chinese, is based on a 12-year cycle, with each year represented by a different animal. According to the Chinese zodiac, your birth year tells you more than just the age. People who born under each sign are said to exhibit sets of personality traits unique to that sign, and somewhat associated with the animal itself.
These animal signs in order are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Chinese people believe that the years represented by the animals affect the characters of people in the same manner as the sign of zodiac adopted by western civilizations. Take this year of dragon for example, people born in dragon years are giving, intelligent and tenacious, know exactly what they want and are determined to get it. Further, they can easily influence their peers and often find themselves the center of attention in social situations.
One of the another important uses for the signs of the Chinese zodiac is to determine if people are compatible. The three animals which are evenly spaced from one another in the zodiac circle are generally considered to be good matches. Rat, Dragon and Monkey; Ox, Snake and Rooster; Tiger and Horse and Dog; Rabbit, Sheep and Pig are suitable for one another. Matching symbols on the Zodiac chart indicate compatible signs.
However, the signs which are opposite each other in the Zodiac Circle chart are poor matches. Generally a Rat and Horse; Ox and Goat; Tiger and Monkey; Rabbit and Rooster; Dragon and Dog; Snake and Pig will not get along with each other. These signs make poor partners in love and in business. Family members who have opposite signs may experience friction and disharmony in the home.
It seems interesting, right? Find out what your Chinese zodiac sign reveals about you now!

Chinese Traditional Lantern Festival

As all of us know, the Spring Festival is the most important festival in China, which usually last for 15 days. The Lantern Festival, falling on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, marks the end of the celebrations of the Chinese Spring Festival. You may know how to celebrate valentine's Day, Christmas Day, Thanks Giving Day, etc. But you may not know how to spend this Chinese traditional festival. I will make a brief introduction about it, and if you are interested in Chinese culture, please go through the following content.
According to Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day is the first night to see a full moon in that lunar year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky. Celebrations feature fireworks and folk dancing. Highlights include traditional public performances such as the dragon parade and the lion dance.
The Chinese families reunite and eat rice glue balls on this day. It is a kind of round, sweet, stuffed dumpling made with sticky rice flour that symbolizes family unity, completeness and happiness.
People hang thousands of colorful lanterns along the street to appreciate. It is said that people write auspicious phrases on the lanterns to ward off evil spirits and attract good ones; some will decorate their lantern with a riddle and award a prize to the first person who solves it. The light given off by the lanterns is said to attract heavenly spirits and allow celebrants the chance to see them.
Play fireworks, solve riddles, watch lanterns...all are so interesting and exciting, right? To learn more Chinese cultures, why not learn Chinese online with MasterChinese now?

Terracotta Army

Terracotta Army (Terracotta Warriors and Horses) is a clay army of more than 8,000 life-size terra cotta figures of soldiers and horses discovered in 1974 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China after they were buried underground for more than 2200 years. The Terracotta Army is now regarded as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life.
The Terracotta Army was discovered in the spring of 1974 to the east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province by a group of farmers when they were digging a water well around 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the Qin emperor's tomb mound at Mount Li (Lishan), a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For centuries, there had been occasional reports of pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis — roofing tiles, bricks, and chunks of masonry — having been dug up in the area. This most recent discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate, and they unearthed the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China.
The State Council authorized to build a museum on site in 1975. When completed, people from far and near came to visit. Xian and the Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses have become landmarks on all travelers' itinerary.


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Rising Up upon Hearing the Crow of a Rooster to Practise Sword

Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty (265-420) was a big-hearted and farsighted person who, however, was very naughty and did not like to study when he was a small kid. When he became a young man, he felt acutely that his knowledge was inadequate and that he could not serve his country well if he did not study hard. So he put all his energies into his study. He read extensively, seriously studied history from which he absorbed rich knowledge, and made good progress in his studies. He had been to the capital city Luoyang several times, and all the people who had come into contact with him said that Zu Ti was a talented person who was capable of assisting the emperor in governing the country. When he was 24, someone recommended him to be an official, but he refused the post. He was still making a sustained effort in his studies. Later, both Zu Ti and Liu Kun, his close friend since early childhood, were appointed chief clerks responsible for document administration in the Sizhou Prefecture. He and Liu Kun cherished a deep affection for each other. They not only often shared the same bed in sleeping, but also shared the same lofty ideals; to render meritorious service in rejuvenating the Jin Dynasty and play the part of the pillars of the state. Once, Zu Ti heard a cock crow in the wasteland in his dream at midnight. He kicked Liu Kun a wake, saying to him: "People say it is inauspicious to hear a cock crow in the wasteland. I don't think so. What about getting up and practicing sword playing the moment we hear the cock crow form now on?" Liu Kun agreed readily. So every day when the cock crow, they got up and practiced sword playing, the cold steel of the swords glinting and flashing. Day by day and year in, year out, they never stopped. As the saying goes, constant effort yields sure success. Through long periods of hard study and training, they finally become versatile persons versed in both civil and military affairs. They could write good essays, and were capable of leading troops in fighting victoriously. Zu Ti was invested with the title the General for Guarding the Western Regions, thus realizing his wish of rendering meritorious service to the country. Liu Kun became a governor, and at same time was in charge of the military affairs of the three prefectures of Bingzhou, Jizhou and Youzhou. In discharging his duties, Liu Kun also fully displayed his talent in both polite letters and martial arts. This story appears in "The Life of Zu Ti" in The History of the Jin Dynasty. From this story people have coined the set phrase" rising up upon hearing the crow of a rooster to practice sword playing' to signify that someone is exerting himself to do something worthwhile. It is also used to signify that a person of noble aspirations exerts himself in time.