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Archive for the 'Working in China' Category

Pursue Your Career in China — How to Find a Job in China

China is a large country with a great variety of demands for its market, and due to the rapidly growing internationality and the increasing economy, the appearance of foreign workers in China is more and more common. It’s not as difficult as you thought to set sail for your career in China. The international job opportunities in China are larger than you can imagine. Working in China can bring a series of advantages to you considering its skyrocketing economy and the income for inflation getting higher and higher in most international companies. Therefore, foreigners with international experience are able to find a range of foreigners-friendly jobs in China, with an advantage. Now, if you’re planning to find a job in China and... Show more

Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid for Chinese Learners

Hey everyone today we are going to show some common mistakes that Chinese learners make so that you guys know what to look out for! Common Error #1: Incorrect word order when forming questions: English speakers tend to use English word order when forming questions with question words. In English, the question word comes at the beginning of the sentence. In Chinese the question word comes at the end of the sentence. Common Error #2: Making verbs past tense: getting the particles 了 and 过 mixed up. Put in a simple way, 了 is used for a completed action. 过 is used to indicate previous experience. Common Error #3: Negating verbs: Getting the 不 and the 没 mixed up. Put in a simple way, the 不 is used to negate action verbs in... Show more

Top 5 Tools for Learning Chinese

Today we are going to give you our top 5 recomended tools to help you with mastering Chinese. 1.ABC Dictionary by John DeFrancis This is a great pinyin dictionary with great definitions and easy lookup system 2. Adsotrans This is a really good online super-dictionary, found at www.adsotrans.com. Just paste in any Chinese text and let Adso analyze it. Mouse over the results to see what the words mean in English, and how to pronounce them. There are numerous other features that come with this dictionary as well. Check it out! 3. Chinese Pera-kun A firefox plug-in that lets you get translation for Chinese text by putting your mouse over the word. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3349 4. Flashcards Try... Show more

Chinese Society

Hey everyone, today we are going to be discussing the social structure of China. Beijing Beijing is also a city of contrasts.  The political, educational and cultural center of China, the history of Beijing can be traced back over 3,000 years.  With such historical relics as the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs, and the Great Wall in close proximity, Beijing is a place one can get in touch with the China of old.  However, with the recent economic progress and the frenzy of new construction and infrastructure for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is now a changed city. Family Life Introduction: Families in China are generally still quite traditional, and the family is a focal point of life. Most holidays center around family... Show more

Chinese Cuisine part 2

Last week we discussed the basics of Chinese cuisine, well this week we are back to talk about our favorite subject some more, food! This week we will be discussing dishes we strongly recomend, and some other dishes that we recomend for the brave! Top Chinese Foods to Try 小 籠包 (xiǎolóngbāo) - Probably the most famous Shanghai dish: these small steamed dumplings are steamed in a basket and stuffed with meat and a tasty broth inside. The connoisseur bites a little hole into them first, sips the broth, then dips them in dark vinegar (醋 cu) to season the meat inside. 油条 (yóutiáo) lit. oil stick - Long, deep-fried donut. A very popular breakfast in China. Typically consumed in the morning with soy milk (dou jiang 豆浆), the... Show more

Chinese Cuisine part 1

The focus of this lesson was to teach about Chinese cuisine Basics of Chinese Cuisine Many people are surprised on their arrival in China to find that what they thought was Chinese food is nowhere to be found. Another challenge is that the names of Chinese dishes, even in Chinese, can be very cryptic, making ordering a challenge, even if you find a menu with English translations. Chinese dish names are generally completely irrelevant to the ingredients. Rice is generally a staple of the south, with noodles featuring in as well. Northern China features dishes made with wheat flour, such as noodles, dumplings, steamed buns, and thin pancakes. Where meat is often the focal point of many western meals, it is... Show more

Test Your China Knowledge

The focus of this lesson is to test your knowledge about China. This lesson will build your basic knowledge of China by quizzing you on 5 areas of Knowledge: Geography, Pop Culture, Travel, Economics and Myth Busting!! Are you ready? 1)What percentage of China's 1.3 billion people live in urban areas? A) 10%  B) 40% C) 50% D) 90% 2)China has the following number of provinces: A)22 B)23 C)34 3)Following are three famous Chinese people. One is a famous singer, one a politician, and one a sports star. Match the person with their profession: 王菲 刘翔 胡锦涛 (Liú Xiáng)(Wáng Fēi) (athlete)  (Hú Jǐntāo) (politician) (singer) 4) Rank in correct order the most popular travel destination in China: Shanghai Beijing Xi'an  5) What... Show more

Top 6 Must-Know Phrases (one for getting out of trouble…)

The following are 6 essential phrases guaranteed to be the best thing you ever learned in Chinese! 谢谢 (xièxie)  “Thanks.” The Chinese aren’t big on ‘please’, but they love thank you so much that they’ll often hit you with a barrage of it, ‘xiexiexiexiexiexiexiexie’. 听不懂 (tīngbùdǒng) “I don’t understand what you are saying.” This phrase is going to be your best friend, go-to and solace.  你好 (nǐhǎo) “hello” If you don’t know it yet, we don’t know where you’ve been. 不知道 (bù zhīdào) “I don’t know.” You may hear this phrase more than use it, however learn from the Chinese how to bu zhidao every situation you wish to evade, play dumb about, or avoid. 不好意思 (bùhǎoyìsi) “Sorry.”  Buhaoyisi literally means ‘bad feeling’, and can be used... Show more

Learn Chinese Direct from Beijing with ChineseClass101.com

Dear Chinese Students, Today we're pleased to announce the launch of ChineseClass101.com. This is a joint project between Popup Chinese and the folks at Innovative Language Learning. If you're familiar with the Innovative Language approach to teaching, you'll know the strength of their materials has always been tight, step-by-step progressive lessons for beginners. At Popup Chinese, we've historically geared our materials towards more advanced students, so when we had the chance to cooperate with the Innovative team and work together to build something that could take advantage of the powerful system they've already built we leapt at the chance, and began work designing a focused and stepwise program for Mandarin instruction. ... Show more