Pan2gu3 Creates the Universe

In today’s Chinese class for kids, we will show you a Chinese fairy tale. So first, I want to raise a question. How did the universe come into being? In China，there is a legend that has been traditionally passed down of how Pan2gu3 split the heavens and the earth，forming the cosmos．Legend has it，long ago the earth had rio sky and lacked the ground，as the entire universe existed as a gigantic egg．In this formless mass，was a being that resembles humans named Pan2gu3．Pan2gu3 slept soundly in the egg for 18，000 years．Until one day, he awoke in pitch black, not being able to see anything．Making every effort to get out，he broke open the egg. At this time a substance resembling egg whites began to float upward，forming the sky；while the part resembling the yolk descended，creating the vast earth．

 

Having separated heaven and earth．Nearly all of Chinese for children know this idiom 开天辟地(Kai1 Tian1 Pi4 Di4). Pan2gu3 was much more comfortable But the recently formed heavens frequently sank down，reconnecting itself to the earth．Not wanting to return to the primal chaos of the large egg，with all his might，Pan2gu3 held up the heavens with his hands and the crown of his head，his feet touching the ground as to avert the heavens and he earth rejoining with each other Pan2gu3 supposed the heavens in this way every day, as his body continuously grew, calling heaven and earth to become increasingly distant，until finally separating forever．With this，Pan2gu3 grew extremely tired，there upon reclining to rest for a while

 

After lying down，Pan2gu3 would never rise again. His head became the eastern mountain. Tai Mountain；the abdomen formed the central Heng Mountain；his left arm in the south became what is also known as Heng2 Mountain (similar tones yet different characters)．His right arm transformed into north Song Mountain，as his foot formed the prominent western mountain Hua4．The breath from his mouth also changed，becoming the spring wind, clouds, and mist, as the thunder became his voice that shook the heavens．His left eve turned into the burning sun，warming the earth every day. The right eye became the brilliant moonlight that illuminates the people His blood filled the rivers and lakes，the flesh becoming fertile land. The teeth，bones，and marrow became the shining gold, silver, copper, and iron, as well as hard stone, smooth and full pearls, precious stones and jade. His skin and hair formed the countless flowers，plants，and trees，as the sweat of his body. His hair and eyebrows transformed into all the stars in the celestial sky, his muscles forming intersecting paths．Every kind of bird, beast, fish, or insect embodied his spirit，as a way of offering his entire body to the cosmos. To learn Chinese online for kids is not difficult thing to understand this Chinese story.

   

Sacrificing his life to form the radiant universe，Pan2gu3 is revered by China’s early ancestors as a god who brought us the cosmos as we know it Later generations of Chinese. People often worshiped him and offered him sacrifices．Since ancient times，many regions have built temples in honor of Pan2gu3. For example Hunan province’s Xiang1xiang1 boasts the Pan2gu3 ancestral Hall. Every traditional calendar year，on the third day of the third month，masses of people congregate to the Pan2gu3 Ancestral Hall to pay their respects，displaying much gratitude to the unbounded cosmos and nature, thanking the universe for everything it has bestowed，and cherishing its innate qualities. That is the end of today’s cultural and mandarin class for kids and Chinese ancient story. See you!

Source: 

http://chineselanguage.bloggets.net/pan2gu3-creates-universe/

Different regions with different personalities

With a vast landscape, China has altogether 34 provinces across the country. As an old Chinese saying goes in the online Chinese lessons:“One place nourishes one kind of people.” It is a common sense that a certain group of people did form the fixed quality like characteristics of humans. Today, our teacher Mr. Wang in Chinese cultural lessons online will tell you many kinds of Chinese people in the country. Let us learn Chinese people together!

Constantly living in the coldest area in northeastern China, local people were recognized as the most warm-hearted people in the country. For example, people in northeastern China will not stand by when others are dire need of help. On the other hand, many doctors and psychologists say that they have a higher rate of        suffering from high blood pressure, etc. just because they usually have highly fat food leading to a wild temperament.

As the neighborhood of Dongbei province, people living in Inner Mongolia tend to be more enthusiastic about their guests, and they dare to sacrifice for their good friends. Instead of being nomads, their lifestyle changed dramatically, which they get down to eat more and exercise less. So they are easy to get diabetes.

As for Beijing, as the capital, people there are polite, talkative and easy-going according to a survey. There are some sayings on Beijing people: They are serious about matters and fight against unfair facts, such as traffic jams and environmental problems.

People from Hebei province are innocent. Why so? Being an industrial province next to the capital, Hebei made a great contribution to the development of surrounding areas. However, economy growth brought in ecological damages including pollution, noise, sand storm and so on. People there are like the ant boiled in the hot water!

It is widely acknowledged that people from Shanghai are very smart and even shrewd. There are many kinds of sweet food around the city, but it is not related with people’s personality/ People from Guangdong province are in favor of delicious cuisines, especially 粤（Yue4）cuisine, being regarded as one of the famous “eight Chinese cuisines.” If you are interested, join in our hanbridge lessons online for more details of those delicious cuisines’ cooking information. However, people are very stubborn. People living in Sichuan province are very hard-working and outgoing, and they love to make friends with strangers. As a matter of fact, women in Sichuan are more diligent than men, and they always burden the responsibility of feeding their family without any complaints. Men usually stay at home, tasting Chinese teas or playing mahjong on the street.

As for me, I come from Xi’an, Shaanxi province. There are very two provinces whose pronunciations are same. One is Shan3 xi1, while the other is Shan1 xi1. Even more, native Chinese learn to distinguish them when they are in primary school. As far as I am concerned, people from Shanxi are all upright and generous. Welcome to our hometown for an unforgettable trip! That is all for today’s cultural lessons online.

Source: 

http://chinesegrasper.page.tl/Different-regions-with-different-personalities.htm

            

A very warm Chinese character An1

It’s time to start the Chinese class for kids online in our “Happy Chinese” language online lessons. I am your Chinese teacher Mr. Li. I am very pleased to introduce today’s key word and I believe that this word is as important as some other Chinese expressions of language such as Xie4 Xie4(thank you), Ni3 Hao3 (hello).

Before we start, I would like to give you a riddle whose answer is related with today’s key word. 家在上头，好在前头(jia1 zai4 shang4 tou, hao3 zai4 qian2 tou). In English, “keeping the upper part of Jia1 (home), and the left part of Hao3 (good).” What is this character? Yes, it is 安(an1) in modern Chinese characters. So what would you think of when it comes to this character?

The historical way to get across this word and to learn Chinese online for kids is very important. Firstly, let us learn its process of evolvement in Chinese history. In Oracle bone scripts, the character of An1 (safety) is a ideograph. The upper part of it stands for a house, and the lower part is a pictogram being another character woman. Actually, a woman does her duty at home, meaning staying calm and peaceful. Of course, in bronze scripts and small seal scripts, that character had deformed.

According to ancient Chinese culture, what is the meaning of being an adult man? Building a house, having a home of his own and marrying a woman are the answer. Therefore, the character An1 actually means a rather stable state. The idea of An1 (safety) is deep-seated in China. On account of this, in China, An1 is either a surname or a name of some place such as Xi’an (Chang2 an1 in ancient times), Tai4 an1 in Shan dong province,

In order to better understand the character An1, let us make some easy phrases of Chinese for children that are related with today’s key word An1. For example, 安全感（An1 quan2 gan3）. It refers to a sense of safety from your deep heart. 请安(qing3 an1). It means paying respects to others. However, qing3 an1 is not a rite exclusive to minorities in Chinese culture. Its ways varied a lot by posing different body language. I believe that each country in the world has its own way to extend greetings to others, sending best wishes to them. 

And how Chinese people pursue an everlasting state of safety? There have been an auspicious item called Ping2 an1 fu2 (amulet). In the past, on one hand, the elders would give the new bone baby a long-life lock or an amulet, praying their offspring lead a long life. On the other hand, before a soldier went to the battle field, his wide would sew an amulet in his husband’s cloth on her own, hoping that they can reunite after the war.

Have you learnt today’s key word An1? This is the end of today’s mandarin class for kids. We want to extend you best wishes to your health and life. 

Source: 

http://chineselanguage.bloggets.net/-very-warm-chinese-character-an1/

Learning a cultural Chinese word Nian2

Hello, everybody! Welcome to this edition of happy online Chinese learning lesson. Today, we will show you an important word for Chinese learners coming from different countries in the world. Can you guess what the word is? Yes, it is 年 which should be read as nian2. So do you know something related with this word? Do you know how to use it in daily conversations? Do you want to learn its history and cultural meaning? Please follow our Chinese learning online lesson of the host jack for more details.

First of all, according to records of Chinese Oracle bone inscriptions, the word nian2 was created at least five thousand years ago. And one of its important meanings is big harvests of grain, soybeans, crops, wheat and so on. But how can you associate the meaning of it with the harvests? The nian2 is a compound ideograph that consists of the He2 (grain) and Ren2 (farmer). So the shape of nian2 looks like a person carrying the grain. Originally, it meant the maturity of crops and harvest.

And then, the word nian2 refers to a unit of time. Chinese people often say yi4 nian2 you4 yi4 nian2 (year by year). Why is that? Because the northern China’s crop ripened once a year and had a grain harvest. For example, a student from Korea uses it very well. He said: last year, l began to lose weight by five kilograms. So the year is also a concept of time which equates to 12 month or 365 days. There are also many time phrases described as different stages of a person’s life, such as you4 nian2 (childhood), qing1 nian2 (adulthood), zhong1 nian2 (middle age).

As a matter of fact, nian2 was a kind of fierce monster always living under the sea in the past. But it came out on land to a village in every New Year’s Eve, hurting local people and swallowing their livestock. So people dared not go out that night. Later on, regardless of persuasion given by local people, an old man remained in the village as the monster showed up in the same place. He set off firecrackers whose red flame and loud sound make the monster tremble and fear, so it ran away in panic. From then on, the method evolved into a annual custom to avoid being hurt on New Year’s Eve. Nowadays, this is the reason why Chinese people would like to wear clothes in red and set off firecrackers at the same time every year.  

Last but not least, the word nian2 also refers to a meaning of a person’s first name and last name. Some Chinese people’s last name is like zhang1 wan4 nian2. Or in Qing dynasty, there was a famous official whose first name is nian2. All in all, the word nian2 is not a unpopular word in Chinese daily conversations. 

Let us review what has gone on today’s Chinese online learning lesson. The meaning of 年nian2 can be explained to several meanings in terms of crop harvest, a unit of time, a person’s name, and the Chinese traditional spring festival. I am sure that you must have learnt this Chinese word in today’s lesson of Chinese learn online. Goodbye.      

Source: 

http://chinesepromoter.kinja.com/learning-a-cultural-chinese-word-nian2-1690436890

  

Let us learn a Chinese word Yang2 in 2015

Hello and welcome to our happy hanbridge mandarin online study center. This is our head teacher liu2 juan1 who is going to share you with the related culture of today key character 羊(yang2) because of an important fact that 2015 is the year of the goat in Chinese lunar calendar. As far as the Chinese old written language concerned, the word does not look like what it is nowadays.

1 How this word evolves into today’s look?

What you can learn from our hanbridge Chinese lesson is that the word Yang2 was a pictographic character in oracle bone script, which looked more like the front head of a goat. At that time, the strokes of it had various forms and went through from the period of Warring State to Han dynasty, the form of Yang2 was basically regulated. So what you think when it comes to the word yang2? Maybe it is the mutton.

2 In China, what does the word Yang2 symbolize?

Originally, the animal goat was served a kind of sacrifice. Why so? Because this kind of animal is rather docile animal and easy to domesticated. Offering sacrifice is a very auspicious ceremony in China, so the phonetic of yang2 is very close to another Chinese hanbridge word xiang2 (auspicious). It is no wonder that the character 羊yang2 is a part of the word祥(xiang2). And many Chinese people in ancient times write the phrase as 吉羊(Ji2 Yang2)，but they always read it as ji2 xiang2. In Chinese culture, the word yang2 symbolizes something good, kind, and beautiful. Therefore, this was always regarded as the auspicious animal.  

3 what kind of phrases can you make with the word yang2?

First of all, for example, we can say 羊年（yang2 nian2）. It refers to the year of the goat. Besides, there has been a custom for those whose animal zodiac is in this year. In Chinese we say ben3 ming4 nian2 (one’s year of fate). People always wear red clothes, socks, paints and even tie a red string on the waist to seek fortunes and avoid the audacious things. Another example of phrase is called yang2 xie1 zi, which is kind of delicious food that is the bone of the goat.

4 what does the yang2 play the role in ancient times?

At that time, ancient people would use goat and wine on the occasion of engagement. Goats serve another symbol in the wedding. Yang (goat) and yang (raise) are homophones. Chinese people all hope that they will have more offspring after they get married. Yang (raise) embraces a good wish to give birth to a good baby who will be a dutiful son because of a fact that a new born goat would kneel to suck its mother’s breast.  However, another old saying about yang2 is that shi2 yang2 jiu3 bu4 quan2 (a person’s fate of year of the goat is not auspicious). Actually, it is not scientific. There are also many outstanding people who was born in the year of the goat, such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates.

All right, today’s mandarin hanbridge lesson online comes to a end. We hope you will learn a fresh and practical Chinese language in your life. 

Source: 

http://00000000.over-blog.com/2015/03/let-us-learn-a-chinese-word-yang2-in-2015.html

  

  

Zhong1 Qiu1 Jie2: The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is, in hanbridge mandarin called Zhong1 Qiu1, being one of the most important Festivals．The festival takes place on the 15th day festival in China，second only to the Spring of the eighth month on the Chinese traditional calendar，marking the middle of autumn，thus receiving the name The traditional calendar contains four seasons．Each season divided into three parts：meng，zhong，and ji．Therefore mid-autumn is also called Zhong1 Qiu1 Day in hanbridge Chinese culture lesson. On the l5th day of the eighth month，the moon is much fuller and brighter than in other times of the year. In addition to the social custom to showing appreciation for the moon，people also eat moon cakes resembling to the moon. Therefore the festival is also called Moon Evening．On this night，people look into the sky at the moon for guidance，reuniting with one’s family．By means of the moon，people traveling in a distant place send their thoughts and feeling to their relatives. Therefore，the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called Jia1 Ren2 Tuan2 Ju4 in Chinese hanbridge lessons(Festival of Reunion).

   

The legends regarding the Mid-Autumn Festival are rich and abundant，such as the myths of Chang e flying to the moon，Wu Gang cutting down the laurel tree，and the Jade Rabbit pounding the medicine．The Mid-Autumn Festivals custom of paying homage to the moon，comes from the story Chang e Flies to the Moon. According to ancient folklore in which you can learn from our mandarin hanbridge lessons online，in the heavens ten suns appeared simultaneously，drying up and killing the crops，devastating the people. A hero named Hou Yi drew his divine bow and shot down nine of the suns．1eaving one sun to rise and fall for the benefit of the people．Therefore，Hou Yi earned the respect and the admiration of the people. And many warriors yearned to learn his skills．But his disciple Peng Meng harbored evil intentions. One day, Hou Yi went to Mount Kunlun to seek a friend’s guidance coincidently meeting the Queen Mother of the West, thus asking her for a packet of immortal medicine．It is said that once this medicine is taken，one instantly ascends to heaven and becomes an immortal．He accepted the medicine，but he did not wish. To leave his beautiful wife Chang e．Upon returning home，Hou Yi gave his wife the elixir and told her to hide it in a jewelry box on her dressing table, unaware of the watching eyes of the deceitful Peng Meng．

This is a famous fairy tale, for our next part, we will continue to tell the rest of the story on our Chinese online lessons of Hanbridge. Please keep focus on our latest renovation.

Source: 

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_eb0f20a90102vebx.html

Wish you to be a pair of bi3 yi4 bird!

Welcome to the new edition of mandarin Chinese for children. This is your lovely Chinese teacher Linda. Sometimes as you attended a Chinese wedding hosted by Chinese people, the host of the wedding usually says such a kind of famous poem with a big smile on the face:

Chinese character: 在天愿作比翼鸟, 在地愿为连理枝.

Chinese pinyin:   Zai4 tian1 yuan4 zuo4 bi3 yi4 niao3, zai4 di4 yuan4 wei2 lian2 li3 zhi1.

English: That we wished to fly to heaven, birds with the wings of one. And to grow to two together on the earth, branches of one tree.

You may want to ask: Wow! What is this meaning? I think I have to learn mandarin online to find the answer. Chinese language is so beautiful but too puzzling! Why does he say this on wedding? As you can see in English, this famous poem aims at expressing a good wish to the new couple on the wedding. Here, in our Chinese culture lessons online, our Chinese teacher will explain what the meaning of bi3 yi4 bird, how to use this blessing poem, and why it is so popular in China.

Literally, bi3 yi4 niao4 can be written as 比翼鸟, which has its own meaning of each word. Firstly, the word bi3 means “a pair of” in English. Then, the word Yi4 refers to the wings of any flying animals in nature. Finally, the word niao3 represents birds broadly. It is a bit difficult to write the word 翼（yi4）, and Chinese learners need to learn Chinese online to practice more.

According to Chinese culture and history, bi3 yi4 niao3 had another name that is called jian1 jian1 or man2 man2. It was a noble bird that it was recorded in Chinese Han ethnic group in ancient romance. To your surprise, this couple of bird was characterized by one eye and one wing on their bodies and the male and female bird always flied together with their wings paralyzing on a same level. It looked like that they are all together without separation, just as a new couple with full happiness in the world.

Because of the special features of the birds, the wise ancient Chinese people develop the meaning of bi3 yi4 niao3 in their lives. For one thing, people use bi3 yi4 niao3 to describe a couple whose relation is always sweet. And people can also express their blessings to a new couple by saying it to them. For another thing, the phrase bi3 yi4 niao3 can be compared to the friends who are in deep relationship and never separate with each other.

Dear friends, the best way to learn Chinese online is to read more Chinese folklores.  Is today’s Chinese culture and language lesson interesting and helpful? Have you understood its meaning? If you had a girl friend now, we wish you to be a couple of happy and everlasting bi3 yi4 bird! 

 Source: 

http://chinesegrasper.page.tl/Wish-you-to-be-a-pair-of-bi3-yi4-bird-ar-.htm