Today, I want to talk about a certain type of idiomatic expression so ubiquitous in both vernacular Chinese speech and writing, yet, only using a limited number of characters to do so. Almost all of them use just 4 characters, leading to one term called four-character idioms. The Chinese term is called ζθͺ or chengyu, … Continue reading Talking about four-character idioms
Literary Chinese
Classical (or Literary) Chinese is … weird
Even as a native Mandarin Chinese speaker, I find some aspects of Chinese literature particularly difficult to understand or interpret. And no, I do not mean the 4 Great Classical Novels or the ε倧εθ which are Water Margin or ζ°΄ζ»Έε³, Romance of the Three Kingdoms or δΈεζΌηΎ©, Journey to the West or θ₯ΏζΈΈθ¨, and Dream … Continue reading Classical (or Literary) Chinese is … weird
The Language Closet 