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Weekend Chinese word “奢侈 shēchǐ”: luxurious

COVID-19 is not yet completely gone, now there comes a war! The Ukrainian war seems close yet far. Carnival festival is going on, so do the football matches, the night life, and the sun and moon... We ordinary people just need an ordinary life, no 'luxury' - Shēchǐ. The Ukrainian war seems to be a "luxury" that in fact, the ordinary people have to pay for.

The word 奢侈 (Shēchǐ) is an adjective, which means luxurious and extravagant. Learn the word in the following sentences:
1. Tā xǐhuān mǎi shēchǐ pǐn. 他喜欢买奢侈品。
    He likes to buy luxury goods.
2. Búqiè shíjì de mùbiāo, shì shēchǐ de yòuhuò. 不切实际的目标是奢侈的诱惑。
    Unrealistic goals are the lure of luxury.
3. Zhànzhēng shíqí, píngpíngchángcháng de shēnghuó yǐjīng biàn dé hěnshēchǐ.
    战争时期，平平常常的生活已经变得很奢侈。
    In times of war, ordinary life has become luxurious.
Wish we all may live in a peaceful world. (See also the above video 'Shechi')

Chinese characters-2 formation

Most Chinese characters are the combination of the meaning, form and pronunciation of the character and can therefore show more substantive information camparing with the alphabetic script. This is one of the reasons why many people love Chinese characters and the stories behind them. People find Chinese characters amazing and like to learn to write them. Learning to write characters is fun and can help perople to remember and use them. On the other hand, writing Chinese characters demands a lot of practice and perseverance. That is quite challenging. Chinese characters can be classified into four main categories with respect to their basic formation. Click to read more.

Chinese characters-1 evolution

The Chinese characters are one of the oldest writing systems in the world, and are the most used text in the world. Chinese characters have a long history and have had various forms in the development. When and how are Chinese characters being created? More than 13,000 characters are collected in the latest edition (12th, 2020) of "Xinhua Dictionary". There are so many Chinese characters! But, how many Chinese characters do people master on average? Do Chinese characters have any special functions? We'll share our thoughts about these questions with you in this Chinese character knowledge series.  Click for more.

November 11: Singles' Day and Double 11

The thirteenth 'Double 11 shopping carnival' (双十一购物节 Shuāng shíyī gòuwù jié) has just passed. Buy buy buy! Mǎi Mǎi Mǎi 买买买! was for many a must, no reason required. Both Alibaba and JD have reached this year 2021, a new high in turnover. Originally, due to that some campus studented associated the four Arabic numerals '1' with four smooth sticks and so, they named the date November 11 'Singles' Day' Guānggùn jié 光棍节. Click for more.

November: Chinese Thanksgiving Culture 中国的感恩文化

Thanksgiving Day (Gǎn'ēn jié感恩节) is originated from the U.S.A. In 1863, American president, lawyer and statesman Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a National Holiday. In 1941, the US Congress officially designated the fourth Thursday of November each year as "Thanksgiving Day." The Thanksgiving holiday generally lasts from Thursday to Sunday. This year (2021), Thanksgiving Day is on November 25. 

China, although does not have a specific day as Thanksgiving Day, has however its own “Culture of Gratitude” (Gǎn'ēn wénhuà 感恩文化). The culture of gratitude in China has a long history. Click for more

October: Double Ninth Festival - with a famous poem of WANG Wei

The Double Ninth Festival (Chóngyángjié) is a traditional Chinese folk festival. The festival is held on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, in 2021, Chóngyángjié falls on the 14th of October. The "nine – jiǔ 九" number is a yáng 阳-number according to "Book of Changes – I-Jing 易经", and "nine-nine" - two yáng-numbers together, it is hence called "Double Ninth - Chóngyáng 重阳".
The ancients believed that nine-nine (jiǔ-jiǔ) Chongyang was an auspicious day. Click for more

Xinhua Dictionaly - to discuss on October 11, 2021

Today, we’d like to introduce you a small, but very important book that has been developed along with the establishment of New China: Xinhua Dictionary - “Xīnhuá zìdiǎn 新华字典”. "Xinhua Dictionary" is the first modern Chinese-Chinese language dictionary in New China. In 1948, five professors of Beijing University gathered in a simple cottage still shrouded in gunfire in Beijing, and discussed about a Chinese dictionary with great enthusiasm and excitement. They know, a small and affordable dictionary is essential for China’s literacy and development. They know that, the literacy rate in China around 1911 is only about 1%... click to read more.

The Mid-Autumn Festival
The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, is also known as Family Reunion Day. According to the Chinese lunar calendar (农历 Nónglì), the lunar 8th, 9th and 10th months make up autumn. The 8th month falls in mid-autumn, and the 15th day is in the middle of the month, hence the name "Mid-Autumn Festival". This is a time when the whole family enjoys getting together to admire the full moon 圆月 Yuán yuè, and to eat delicious moon cakes (月饼 Yuèbǐng).

In 2021, the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhōngqiū jié 中秋节) falls on Tuesday September 21, click to read more

The Golden Mean 中庸 Zhongyong
When talking about Zhōngyōng 中庸, many people consider that it refers to ‘Don't go to extremes, don’t insist too much, don't offend anyone, take a middle solution – so, stay mediocrity’. But what does the ‘Golden Mean’ really mean? According to the in-depth study of Mr. Hua, a famous scholar and a strict practitioner of Confucianism, the Golden Mean is absolutely not mediocrity but, perfection! The ultimate and unconditional perfection.
Click to read more.

Five ways to improve verbal fluency in Chinese
During our recent forum on 9th August, we did several exercises and tests together to test and train our verbal fluency, the exercises were found very useful. So, we've made a video to share our good practice with you.
Please watch the above video. Hope the exercises would help you to enlarge your verbal fluency.

How to train the verbal fluency in Chinese
Have you ever had such a situation that you just cannot came up with the words you wanted to express at the moment you needed them? Later on, the words come to your mind without any problem. This normally has something to make with your verbal fluency.
Verbal fluency is a cognitive function that facilitates information retrieval from memory (Encyclopedia of clinical neuropsychology). In another words, verbal fluency is the ability to speak smoothly without stopping and hesitating, so by getting the right words at the right time and in the right contexts. The two most common parameters are: 1) semantic fluency and 2) phonemic fluency.
Research of neuropsychology and linguistic sciences suggests several tests in examing the verbal fluency. We would like to try the test and some exercises to improve verbal fluency together with you on Monday evening August 9th, during our bi-monthly forum, welcome to join us. Click here to read the whole article.

Idiom: What and where is the ‘durable knife‘ in your life? - like the life of Cook Ding
Enlightenment of the Chinese Idiom '庖丁解牛Páo Dīng Jiě Niú' from Zhuang Zi 庄子, one of the important representative figure of Taoisme of prior Qin Dynasty. Click here to read the whole article.

The Cultural Circle of Chinese Characters 汉字文化圈 Hànzì wénhuà quān

The Cultural Circle of Chinese Characters (hereafter: CCCC), also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, or the Sinitic world, refers to parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia that have been influenced by China and Chinese Han culture in history. It also refers to the surrounding countries or nations that have been colonized by the Chinese emperor or have made tribute to China in history. It is generally believed that the CCCC includes the following countries: China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan (including the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom), Vietnam, and Mongolia. Click here to read the whole blog.

Chongqing - The Bridge Capital of China

Do you know which city is the largest city of China? Have you heard about its nickname ‘Bridge Capital’ of China?
Yes, it is Chongqing, my hometown Chóngqìng 重庆: a city with cultural appeal and a land with natural beauty!

A hundred years ago on July 1, the Communist Party of China was founded. 100-year has passed, under the leadership of the Party, China has achieved great achievements in all respects and has become a moderately prosperous society. That is a huge contribution to the centenary. I can feel it from the huge changes of Chongqing.

Chongqing literally means: ‘double celebration’, click here to read the whole article.

Idioms from 'The Analects'

1. 有教无类     Yǒu jiào wú lèi, Everyone is equal in education.

Confucius was the first person in Chinese history who expanded the learning rights and opportunities to common people. He started the first vocational school to teach people the practical skills, such as archering, carriage riding, accounting and writing, also music and business etiquette. Anyone, who had a sincere learning attitude and paid ten pieces of dried meat as tuition, could follow him to learn.

2. 因材施教    Yīn cái shī jiào   

3. 名正言顺    Míng zhèng yán shùn  

Click for the videos for more explanation.

Gǎnjǐn dǎ - 赶紧打 - Hurry up to get vaccinated

Sichuan Province Health Commission lauched a promotion video this week to call-up for getting vaccinated soon. The rap song is called 'Vaccination Divine Comedy' by netizens and is becoming quickly hot. Watch here the short version of the video, with the subtitling of several phrases.
Click to see the rap song texts in Pinyin, Chinese character and in English.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGsrmZXc6bI

Our Sunbird Logo

Today is the World Book Day. UNESCO established the World Book Day to promote book, publishing and reading. We would like to provide you a short reading material regarding the Sun Bird, the inspiration of our logo. Please watch the above video, listen to the story in mandarin while enjoying the photos. Click here to get the Chinese text, Pinyin text and the English translation.

April 20: UN Chinese Language Day celebration 联合国中文日