Chinese mythology of Dragons

Chinese Mythology: Are Dragons Really Bad?

Chinese Mythology: Are Dragons Really Bad? If you are either a fan of “Supernatural” or “Once Upon a Time”, you will know how “mean, selfish and powerful” dragons are. I enjoy reading all kinds of books (especially mystery and mythology!) but when I first encountered stories about dragon slayers, I was shocked. My first thought was…[…]

the top 40 easy characters in mandarin chinese

40 Easy Chinese Characters

Easy Chinese Characters When my non-Chinese-speaker friends saw me writing my diary in Mandarin, they always gasped and thought that I was writing some kind of mysterious and complicated code. Chinese characters, or Hànzì, seem to be one of the hardest parts for many Chinese learners since the complicated strokes and appearances, which are so[…]

what Chinese Zodiac animal am i

Know Your Chinese Zodiac Animal – Part 3

Completing our series about Chinese Zodiac Animals we want to give you some more information about the probably most important animal of this year, the rooster. Today we will introduce you the last four missing Chinese Zodiac Animals: The monkey (猴 hóu), the rooster (鸡 / 雞 jī), the dog (狗 gǒu) and last but[…]

Chinese Chengyu dog wall

Chinese Chengyu – 狗急跳墙 – A Nervous Dog Jumps Over the Wall

Chinese Chengyu – 狗急跳墙 – A Nervous Dog Jumps Over the Wall The chéngyǔ 狗急跳墙 (gǒu jí tiào qiáng) breaks down to a dog (狗 gǒu) nervous (急 jí) jumps (跳 tiào) wall (墙 qiáng) Or, in more standard English, ‘A nervous dog jumps over the wall.’ While it may make sense on the surface,[…]

learn chinese chengyu

Chinese Chengyu – 畫蛇添足 | Drawing a Snake and Adding Legs To It

Animal Chengyu – Drawing a snake and adding legs to it? Animal Chinese Chengyu 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú ) breaks down to drawing (画 huà ) snake (蛇shé) add (添tiān) legs/feet (足 zú). In English, we would say “drawing the snake and adding legs to it” or simply “adding legs to a snake.” This chéngyǔ[…]