This proverb is one that describes exactly what has happed causing the current global recession. It talks about solving a problem, by creating the exact same problem elsewhere. Which is exactly what has happened in modern society shifting debt around until it got out of control.拆东墙补西墙 chāi​ dōng ​qiáng ​bǔ ​xī ​qiáng​pull down the east wall to repair the west w...

This Chinese proverb means that sometimes things can't be prevented. Much like my recent experience of having a broken laptop could not have been prevented. This allows thought to be taken away from the incident and how to deal with it instead. If it could not have been prevented, now look to how to deal with it.防不胜防 fáng ​bù​ shèng​ fáng​you can't guard against it...

Just a quick note to say I am back, with my new laptop after my old one broke a while ago. It is very beautiful (windows 7 seems to be working well), much faster than the old laptop and has loud inbuilt speakers.All very impressive I'm sure, but I have been busy in my absense. I started Heisig's Remembering the Simplified Hanzi as anticipated when the book came. Although I haven't been testing myself much, past asking my girlfriend to casually...

The interenet regulator ICANN has now allowed web addresses to be in non-Latin characters – such as Chinese, Arabic, Hindi or Russian Cyrillic script. The first of these Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) is thought to be up and running by the middle of next year.This is quite exciting and interesting although all web addresses will still need "http://" at the beggining. It is being billed as one of the biggest changes to the interenet...

This is another Guest post from a friend that continues to learn Mandarin. Today's guest post is from Boyd, who runs several successful and interesting blogs related to Chinese culture. Boyd runs an Business English course for Chinese speakers. Chinese speakers My favourite of Boyd's blogs is Boyd's Bijou or his Musings on China. Here is a little about Boyd's journey Learning Mandarin.-----------------------------------------------------Chairman...

I wanted to do a proper post about learning Hanyu Pinyin and the Chinese tones. I found this video which is remarkably helpful distinguishing the intials, finals and tones. Though it looks like it was made for children, It hink it is useful for anyone learning the language.I will write a post when I get my new laptop with tables of the intials, the finals and the tones. With tips on how they are pronounced and equivalents in English. Hopefully this will give a little more deatail to what this video shows with how the syllables...

Just a quick message to those of you who do drop by here fairly often. A massive thank you for all helping me out with my Mandarin and I wanted to let you know that I haven't stopped and I certainly haven't quit writing here or learning Mandarin.My laptop decided to die a quiet and very untimely death this week (not the explosive death shown here). Which caused me more distress than the material laptop-ness of it. I had lots of posts saved...

This Chinese proverb means to crave something, to desire it and this proverb although could be taken to mean to literally salivate. I prefer the meaning to have a strong desire or craving. 'to drool over'.垂涎三尺chuí xián sān chǐTo drool overThe picture depicts my desire to get to China, and the celebration that will ensue. One of my goals is to spend Chinese New Year in China at least on...

This Chinese proverb comes with a fine story, about a wise man. It comes to mean a blessing in disguise. When smething bad happens, we must look for the good that follows. Equally when something great happens, we must be ready for something bad to happen as a consequence. Things are comparitive; the good comes with the bad.塞翁失马. 焉知非福. Sài ​wēng ​shī ​mǎ​. yān​ zhī ​fēi ​fú​.The old man at the frontier lost his horse. How do you know it...

This Chinese proverb describes someone taking advantage of a confused situation. It is similiar in use to 趁火打劫 (to loot a burning house.)浑水摸鱼hún ​shuǐ ​mō ​yú​to fish in troubled water...

China seems to like to be the best at everything, even if it doesnt always turn out the way they had intended. (See South China Shopping Mall for example) Also see 'The Onions' satirical and funny take on a certain recent rather large parade.Here are two Chinese building projects that are fantastic but a little crazy:Automobile Museum in Nanjing, An origami inspired, drive through automobile museum in Nanjing the capital of Jiangsu province...

Firstly, my Heisig book came today. Excited!!!! (due to being busy I start learning tomorrow.)The main reason for this post is that I have been asked by several people recently, to include Heisig's suggested 1500 Traditional characters as I had eluded to them in a previous post.Heisig proposes a method of learning where you only learn the meaning of the character and a way to remember how to write it through a story of its primitives and...

This Chinese proverb serves as a warning to us. It talks about how some people are never satisfied with what they have. It is also important to realise that happiness is found in moments not things.This proverb is used to describe how someone might follow a fad, and as soon as it falls out of fashion change to something new.见异思迁 jiàn ​yì ​sī ​qiān​to change at once on seeing something differentPhoto Source: Fli...

This Chinese proverb describes the feeling of a paradox. Where something seems correct but leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition.似是而非sì shì ér fēiApparently right, Actually wr...

This Chinese proverb describes perfectly what I hope the Heisig method of learning Mandarin will do to my learning process. Intensify it.This proverb is actually more often used in a negative way though. How one may aggravate or cause a situation to intensify through their actions.变本加厉biàn běn jiā lìbe intensifiedThe further story behind the character 本 (běn) can be found over at Grace Lee's How do you know Chinese?Photo Source: Fli...

乐队(band): 南拳妈妈 Nán Quán Māmā Nan Quan Mama国家(country): TaiwanNan Quan Mama are a Taiwanese pop group that are famous throughout Taiwan and China for their brand of C-pop / Mandopop that incorperates rapping and singing by different members. The guys all rap, whilst the choruses seem to be usually 'Lara' the female vocalist singing a catchy melody. Nan Quan Mama are also the official spokespeople for Motorola in Taiwan.It turns out past...

I ordered Heisig's the 'Remembering the Simplified Hanzi' last week as you may know if you read my post about my excitement. Whilst learning with this method I am still going to be carrying on learning sentences from books and carrying on with Rosetta Stone (although I have been finding my progress in it rather slow recently.)I won't be doing much preparation before I start this method of learning the Hanzi. Though, I did hunt out the list...

This Chinese proverb has come to mean all good things must first go through many trials and tribulations. It means that things that are good* are worth a struggle, and working towards. It is used especially in regards to love, and serves a reminder that perseverance through problems is a requirement of true love.*(whilst good is only a comparative statement contrasted by something being made bad, it serves its purpose here.)好事多磨hǎoshì...

This is the next edition of what I now hope to become a regular part of my blog. Guest posts from Mandarin learning friends, explaining why they decided to learn Mandarin. How they have gone about the learning process and where they are now in their journey, learning Mandarin. Today's guest post is from Bill Glover founder of #MandarinMonday who has been a great help and inspiration to me in keeping Discovering Mandarin moving forwards....

This Chinese proverb is about standing out, being so different from everything around you. This proverb is used to describe prominent people with good looks and impressive abilities among a crowd of people with lesser abilities.鹤立鸡群hè lì jī qúna crane standing among chickensJi Shao was a handsome and talented aid to the Emperor Jin Hui. When his country was being invaded, he accompanied Emperor Jin Hui in defending the country. Most of...

South China Mall : Largest Mall In The World & EmptyThe South China Mall is the biggest shopping mall in the world and opened in 2005. It is more than twice as big as the next largest (and previous biggest) shopping mall; The Mall of America in Minnesota. It has leasable space for over 1,500 stores in approximately 7.1 million square feet of total floor area.The South China Mall is located in Dongguan (东莞) Dōngguǎn near Guangzhou (广州)...

This Chinese proverb relates to how one can be narrow sighted and even complacent. Nowadays it is used more widely to describe someone who is ignorant of the things around them.井底之蛙jǐng dǐ zhī wāFrog in a wellIt is told, that a sea turtle came upon a frog that lived in an old abandoned well. Upon seeing the turtle, the frog boasted: “Look, I am happy and completely at ease here. Why don’t you come down and join me?" The turtle tried, but...

乐队(band): 水晶蝶 Shui Jing Die Crystal Butterfly国家(country): ChinaCrystal Butterfly (水晶蝶) are a Shanghai based band that have only released one album (Magical Mystery Tour - 2005). They have a name in 'space rock' in Shanghai emulating sounds they hear in U2 and contempory soulful indie rock. Crystal Butterfly recorded material for a second album, entitled Forest of Illusions, named after one the band's first songs 梦幻森林. However, the band's...

This Chinese proverb comes from the Chinese creation myth about Pan Gu creating the world. It is used to describe something advancing with giant strides.开天辟地kāi tiān pì dìto split heaven and earth apart / Giant StepsThis is a Chinese myth about the creation of the world. In ancient times, the sky and the earth were combined just like an egg. The founder of the world, Pan Gu, lived and grew up in the egg. After 18 thousand years, he began...

This Chinese proverb refers to how you might miscommunicate with people by aiming the communication level too high. It can mean that the method of communication you are using to talk to someone is too sophisticated and therefore will not work. This proverb implies that someone speaks or writes without considering his audience. Generally speaking, it means the speaker or writer has over-estimated his listeners or readers. In these cases,...

As I talked about in my blog post 'My First Three Months Of Learning Mandarin' I am going to start learning with the help of Heisig method so I can recognise characters more easily.Today I bought Heisig's book, after reading though the first section that you can download the Simplified version's First Chapter for free and if it inspires you I recommend you buy the entire book. Greg at Mandarin Segments has now learnt over 1000 characters...

This Chinese proverb is about letting your mind run away with itself. Even becoming preoccupied or obsessed with an idea. The proverb could also be used to describe someone who often daydreams.胡思乱想 hú ​sī ​luàn ​xiǎngto let one's imagination run wild​Another couple of English Proverbs with similiar meaning areA bee in your bonnet; andFlights of fancyBoth those proverbs have the meaning to let thoughts preoccupy yourself and to maybe even...

This Chinese proverb speaks of something I am certainly cursed with sometimes, and something we all might get affected by from time to time. Overconfidence is usually shortly followed by the feeling of stupidity when you realise you were not as good as you thought you were. Sometimes this is a good dose of humility, other times it can be disastrous...不自量力bù zì liàng lìOverconfident /To overestimate capabilitiesPhoto Source:Fli...

乐队(band): 五月天 Wǔ Yuè Tiān Mayday国家(country): TaiwanMayday (五月天) have sold over 1 million records and in 2007 Mayday released Jump! (Leaving the surface of the Earth) and toured the world with their fast paced anthemic rock appealing to both Western and Eastern listeners.Mayday's songs are mostly sung in Mandarin. Mayday through their hard work have become one of the biggest rock bands in Taiwanese pop culture. They have also received a...

This Chinese proverb is used to describe something is continuous or that doesnt stop. I get the feeling it can describe a large flock of birds, and possibly the way I see it, this proverb could be used to talk about time...络绎不绝 luò ​yì ​bù ​jué​an endless streamPhoto Source:Fli...

Three Months of Learning Mandarin I started writing this blog just after I decided to commit and start learning Mandarin. In the three months since, I feel like I have made good if a little slow progress. Before people jump up and tell me off for thinking that I have made slow progress. It is not that it is slow, so much as, I haven’t spent and dedicated enough time (that I told myself I would) revising the things I have learnt. I have...