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...
Business
AI and China’s ‘stealing faces’ – 偷脸 (Tōu liǎn)
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...
Different ways to say: I’m not buying this – 不吃这一套 (bù chī zhè yī tào)
Patriotic products quoting Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi from the US-Alaska summit last week are now being sold by plucky entrepreneurs...
An idiom and two poems about hearing what hasn’t been said – 弦外之音 (xián wài zhī yīn)
I heard a speech recently that compared two poems, one in English by Shelley, one in Chinese by Liu Chenweng, to...
How to survive a compliment in China (捧杀 – Pěng shā)
Subtle nuances of language and behaviour are an important part of dealing with China, but often totally missed. Receiving or giving...
How to procrastinate in Chinese (拖延症 – tuō yán zhèng)
Procrastinators should not be able to survive in China. Procrastinators, and their procrastinations, are not welcome. To survive and be successful...
Leadership lessons from a 20th century Shanghai drug dealer, Du Yuesheng (杜月笙 – Dù yuèshēng)
There's something called the 'three bowls of noodles philosophy' which was first coined by Du Yuesheng (杜月笙 - Dù yuèshēng) -...
How to share an opinion in Chinese (意见 – Yì jiàn)
To have an opinion in China is serious stuff. There are at least 10 different ways to say the word, 'opinion'....
Why there is no word for ‘the’ in Chinese – using Cat Theory (猫论 – Māo lùn)
Chinese does not have a word for "the", or "a" or "an". How could such an inoffensive, but fundamental, word be...
Different ways to to say ‘yes’ in Chinese – 是的 (Shì de)
There are lots of different ways to "Yes" in Chinese, with subtle differences. I have counted more than 20. All are...