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Chinese Hard Reason 7:there are too many romanization methods

Because there are too many romanization methods and they all suck.因为字母化方案太多了,而且全都不给力。
Well, perhaps that's too harsh. But it is true that there are too many of them, and most of them were designed either by committee or by linguists, or — even worse — by a committee of linguists. It is, of course, a very tricky task to devise a romanization method; some are better than others, but all involve plenty of counterintuitive spellings.11 And if you're serious about a career in Chinese, you'll have to grapple with at least four or five of them, not including the bopomofu phonetic symbols used in Taiwan. There are probably a dozen or more romanization schemes out there somewhere, most of them mercifully obscure and rightfully ignored. There is a standing joke among sinologists that one of the first signs of senility in a China scholar is the compulsion to come up with a new romanization method.嘛,这么说可能有点过分。不过真的,把中文用字母表达的方案很多,而绝大多数都是由某个委员会或是某些语言学家弄出来的。有时候还更糟,是个语言学家组成的委员会…… 当然啦,设计一种字母化方案非常不易,有些方案比较好,但所有的方案都需要很多与直觉抵触的拼写。而如果你真想发展中文方面的职业道路,那你至少得会其中四五种,还不包括台湾用的那些鬼画符。总共恐怕有超过一打的字母化方案,大部分都是晦涩难懂而理所应当地被大家忽略了。长久以来在汉学家之间有个笑话:一个汉学学者老年痴呆的标志,就是他感到发明一种新的字母化方案的迫切性。

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Write “冬”(winter) in Chinese character

冬(dōng)   字形: 甲骨文的“冬”字是编绳子的线用完了的示意图,由此而产生终了的含义。现在的“冬”字上边是甲骨文的变体,下边是“冰”的异体,整个字的意思是年终的时候冷如寒冰的日子 The oracle version of the character “冬”, or winter, is a schematic drawing of the end

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Chinese Dumplings 中国饺子

According to an ancient Chinese legend, dumplings were first made by the medical saint—Zhang Zhongjing. There are three steps involved in making dumplings: 1) make dumpling wrappers out of dumpling flour(擀皮ɡǎnpí); 2) prepare the dumpling stuffing; 3) make dumplings and boil them. With thin and elastic dough skin, fresh and tender stuffing, delicious taste, and unique shapes, dumplings are worth eating hundreds of times. There’s an old saying that claims(俗语súyǔ), “Nothing could be more delicious than dumplings”. During the Spring Festival and other holidays, or when treating relatives and friends, Chinese people like to follow the auspicious custom of eating dumplings. 相传为古代医圣张仲景发明。饺子的制作是包括:1)擀皮、2)备馅、3)包馅水煮三个步骤。其特点是皮薄馅嫩,味道鲜美,形状独特,百食不厌。民间有“好吃不过饺子”的俗语。中国人接亲待客、逢年过节都有包饺子吃的习俗,寓意吉利。

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Chinese Vocabulary: Restaurant Dining

Chinese food is popular world-wide, but nothing beats the real deal. If you travel to China or Taiwan, you will undoubtedly want to sample the fabulous cuisine. There is a range of Michelin star restaurants like Ryugin Taipei in Taipei or T'ang Court in Shanghai. Of course, there are also more affordable but equally as delicious restaurants, eating halls, and food stalls that are scattered throughout.

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Sons of Dragon(1)龙的儿子(1)

Being different with other chinese zodiac, the dragon is one of the totems of ancient China and symbolizes good fortune in Chinese culture and folklore. It is an animal that lives only in people's imaginations, and according to legend, it has the head of a bull, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a lobster, the body of a snake, the claws of a hawk, and the tail of a lion.

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Chinese province cartoon 可爱的中国省市拟人卡通

安徽(ān huī)Anhui province 安徽(ān huī)Anhui province
安徽(皖)— —文房四宝,徽笔妙绝
地跨长江、淮河。境内天柱山古称皖山,西周时为皖伯地。春秋战国时分属吴、楚等国,秦置九江、泗水等郡,汉属扬州、豫州,直至清康熙六年始设安徽布政使司,以巡抚驻地安庆府(今安庆市)和徽州府(今歙县)两地首字为省名。
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny section in the north. The capital of the province is Hefei.The name "Anhui" derives from the names of two cities in south Anhui, Anqing and Huizhou (now Huangshan City). The abbreviation for Anhui is "皖" (Wǎn), because there were historically a State of Wan, a Mount Wan, and a Wan river in the province.
 

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