How (not) to inflate your social status in Chinese – 抬咖 (Tái kā)
The Chinese character - 咖 (kā) - is confusing. Depending on where it turns up, it can mean 'coffee', 'curry' or...
The Chinese character - 咖 (kā) - is confusing. Depending on where it turns up, it can mean 'coffee', 'curry' or...
This week China celebrated World Consumer Day with its ‘3.15 Gala’ (3.15晚会) broadcast on CCTV. Some of the dodgy deals called...
Patriotic products quoting Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi from the US-Alaska summit last week are now being sold by plucky entrepreneurs...
I heard a speech recently that compared two poems, one in English by Shelley, one in Chinese by Liu Chenweng, to...
Subtle nuances of language and behaviour are an important part of dealing with China, but often totally missed. Receiving or giving...
Procrastinators should not be able to survive in China. Procrastinators, and their procrastinations, are not welcome. To survive and be successful...
There's something called the 'three bowls of noodles philosophy' which was first coined by Du Yuesheng (杜月笙 - Dù yuèshēng) -...
To have an opinion in China is serious stuff. There are at least 10 different ways to say the word, 'opinion'....
Chinese does not have a word for "the", or "a" or "an". How could such an inoffensive, but fundamental, word be...
There are lots of different ways to "Yes" in Chinese, with subtle differences. I have counted more than 20. All are...