Learn Chinese Slang

Everyone knows that what you learn in the classroom isn't always what you hear on the street. we've gathered some the traditional Chinese idioms and slang we local Chinese use in daily life and brought them to one convenient spot for you. Let's start today

méi zhé
没 辙
There`s nothing you can do about it.It`s out of my hands.(...so just let it go. ...so forget about it)
Míngtiān nǐ néng bāng wǒ hé lǎobǎn qǐnggè jià ma?
A：明天 你 能 帮 我 和 老板 请个 假 吗？
Can you do me a favor to ask for leave tomorrow?
Míngtiān wǒ yě bùqù gōngsī a!
B：明天 我 也 不去 公司 啊！
I will not go to the company, either!
Méi zhé , wǒ zhǐhǎo zǐjǐ jiějué le !
A：没 辙 ! 我 只好 自己 解决 了 !
So forget about it. I have to solve it by myself.
“没辙”means that you can find no way out, here we give you more situational dialogues, hope it works.

Here A asked B to do him a favor to ask for leave from boss, but B did not go to company, so B couldn’t help A either, in that case, A had to solve the problem by himself ,so he said to B ” forget about it”.

Clear?

More on www.raychinese.com.

Top Five Romantic Bridges in China

The mortals think the bridge is only one kind of tools that help people pass through the rivers. Actually, most bridges have spirits. Each bridge, new or old, has a story, which may be romantic, miserable or sad. Can you feel the romance of the following five bridges?

Broken Bridge
Broken Bridge links the Baidi Causeway with the shore. It is particularly beautiful in winter when covered with snow. A well-known Chinese love story relates how on this bridge many hundreds of years ago the White Snake, in the shape of a beautiful woman, met the academic Xu Xian for the first time. They fell passionately in love, but a malicious monk forced them to part.

Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge is a provincial landmark, built in the beginning of the Song Dynasty, with length of 140 meters, a width of 6.5 meters, with four piers and archways. It crosses the river of Wu like rainbow. The eleven pavilions in different way make a long corridor. It is simple and unsophisticated. There are corrals and seats on the both sides for tourist getting a view and having a rest.

Maple Bridge
The Maple Bridge, Hanshan Temple, Tieling Pass, Maple Bridge Town and the Grand Canal make up the five sights of the Maple Bridge Scenic Area. The bridge was simple, unsophisticated and elegant. Like the Hanshan Temple, this bridge has been also eternalized by the poem Anchorage by the Maple Bridge. From on the bridge, visitor can enjoy a nice view of the ancient city of Suzhou. Tieling Pass, also known as Maple Bridge Watchtower, was a Ming Dynasty architecture, which witnessed ancient Chinese fighting against the Japanese invasion in the Ming Dynasty. Maple Bridge Town is a time-honored town dating back to the ancient Liang Dynasty, over one thousand years.

Jade Belt Bridge
Built of marble and white stone, the Jade Belt Bridge is one of the six bridges standing on the West Dike of Beijing's Kunming Lake. The bridge body is built by white marbles and the blue white stones. On the columns of pure white bridge, there are various types of Manchurian crane which are soaring in the clouds. The bridge arch is high and thin with extremely smooth shape. The semicircle aperture of bridge and the water inverted image form a transparent full moon. The picture is extremely moving.

Five-pavilion Bridge
It is a wide bridge across one of the narrow parts of the lake, and is covered by a series of pavilions. There are two pavilions on each end, connected to a large central pavilion. Scholars of traditional architecture think this is one of the most striking bridges in China because it combines the monumental structure of a bridge with the lightness and elegance of the inter-linking pavilions. Set in the middle of the garden and surrounded by some of the park's most famous sights and views, the Five Pavilion Bridge is not only interesting to look at, but also a great place to admire the garden. Under the bridge's pavilions you can look out over the rippling lake and the willows and pavilions along the shores.

Learn Chinese at www.raychinese.com, easy and fun!

Another Beautiful World―Public Service Activity

This is a public service activity for international educational and cultural exchange;

This is an educational and cultural exchange activity co-sponsored by students of Wuhan University WTO Studies School and teachers of supports action plan for rural schools of Hubei Provincial Department of Education for rural middle schools of China;

This is a Sino-French educational and cultural exchange activity with students of Wuhan University, Wuhan Rayzone Language and Culture School, French teachers in Wuhan and students of rural middle school as the main participants;

This is a Sino-French educational and cultural exchange activity highly praised and deeply involved in by French Consulate General in Wuhan and Hubei Provincial Department of Education;

This is a Sino-French educational and cultural exchange activity materially and spiritually supported by Wuhan University, Wuhan University WTO Studies School, Rayzone Education & Technology Group, and UNESCO Association in Hubei Province.

Professor Gu Hailiang, president of Wuhan University, is pleased to write the inscription for the activity "seeking for truth, seeking for reality, seeking for innovation, seeking for beauty, seeking for perfection " to placed great hopes on volunteers.

Mr. Michel Freymuth, Consul General of French Consulate General in Wuhan wrote the inscription "Education is the hope of a country" for the activity of "Another Beautiful World".

French Consulate General in Wuhan donated over one hundred books, Mr. Michel Freymuth, Consul General, Mr. Paul, two terms of Culture and Education Commissioner and Miss Liu Peihua, respectively participated fully in the first and second activity. As a foreign envoy, present Culture and Education Commissioner, expressed that activities like this not only allow French people to have a closer look at the current status of the basic education in rural areas of China, but also open up a new moving channel for Sino-French educational and cultural exchange.

Dr. Xie Wu, one of the chief directors, president of Rayzone Education and Technology Group and professor of Wuhan University WTO Studies School, provided a great deal of support and guide for the activity and participated in the overall process of every activity. He wrote on his blog:" I'm moved and encouraged by this beautiful new dream world, and I'll do my best to keep this beauty moving on and spreading out.

Footprints of "Another Beautiful World":

In October 2005, Liu Liuyin, student of year 2005 of Wuhan University WTO Studies School, as well as one of  the sponsors of the activity, hit upon the beautiful dream of launching the Sino-French cultural exchange activity;

In March 2006, Qu Songming, graduate student of year 2006 of School of  Foreign Language of HuaZhong  Normal University, as well as one of the sponsors of the activity, came to Lidian Central Middle School of Guangshui, Hubei with one foreign teacher in March 2006, and start the pursuit of "Another Beautiful World";

In January 2007, More than 50 volunteers came to Guangshui No.2 Middle School, Lidian Middle School and Chenxiang Middle School to carry out activity;

In January 2008, 10 rural middle school student representatives from Yangxin, Hubei came to Wuhan University to join in the activity;

In March 2008, more than 50 volunteers came to Liangzihu High School of Ezhou, Hongqing Middle School of Yangxin County to carry out activity and provided "Loving Fund" for the first time;

In April 2008, volunteers came to Tongjiaping Primary School of Badong, Hubei to carry out the activity;

In May 2008, volunteers came to Tumen Middle School of Mianzhu, Sichuan to serve students in disaster areas;

In July 2008, volunteers came to Chengdu, Sichuan to take part in the activity of "Children's Carnival" to welcome the Beijing Olympic Games;

In August 2008, activity group donated more than 2000 books and 100 sets of  teaching equipments to Tumen Middle School of Mianzhu, Sichuan;

In October 2008, activity group provided "Loving Fund" for Hongqing Middle School of Yangxin, Hubei for the second time.

In March 28, 2009, more than 50 volunteers came to Jingmen  to bring love to the local primary and middle school students.

By December 2008, "Another Beautiful World" activity had attracted more than 200 volunteers, and 40 foreign teachers, held 7 lectures in rural schools and more than 100 foreign language lessons, donated more than 12000 books and "Loving Fund" of ￥5500 , about 7 rural schools and 10000 students benefited from it. 

The end of one activity is not the end of the activity, the beautiful dream is still continued, maybe by you, maybe by him, maybe by more friends…

Activity Official Website:

www.abworld.org.cn 

Activity Supported by:

www.Raychinese.com

www.Youfr.com 

www.whuwto.com www.exals.com

10 Suggestions to Chinese Learners

1. Listen to the basics of the language until it becomes automatic.

Listen to it as many times as it takes until you know how every possible pinyin pronunciation, maybe a million times.

2. Find good starter's materials.

Some people have recommended Raychinese learning software (perhaps someone could recommend other starter's material?) Be sure that the material focuses on listening and speaking. It would also be ideal if it focused on practical dialogues.

3. Learn the radicals.

Almost 90% of characters are composed of a radical along with a pronunciation component. The radical tells you something about the meaning of the character. The pronunciation part gives you a rough idea about how the word sounds.

In any case, there are a lot of radicals. You probably don't need to memorize all of them at the start, but you'd memorize the 30 or 40 most important ones. You can spend a few hours practicing looking up unknown characters in the dictionary by identifying the radical. After a few months of practice looking up unknown characters, you'll become good at knowing which part of a character is the radical and which part refers to pronunciation.

4. Visit free websites.

Chinese Corner, E-Magazine (English and Chinese), Chinese Resource at www.raychinese.com are free. So are some other websites.

5. Label things in your apartment.

6. Enroll in a class or find a teacher.

Obviously, an experienced native speaker is an invaluable resource. Like others have said, it's good to find a teacher that will honestly correct your pronunciation and give you encouragement.

If you are in Wuhan, welcome to join Raychinese Chinese Language and Culture Training School.

7. Find good learning materials.

8. If you are in China, buy a small notebook to write down new stuff.

9. Buy music on DVD's and CD's. 10. Make flash cards.

10. On one side write the character, on the other the pinyin and English. Chinese words are usually comprised of two characters.

Chinese Menu in English

    A number of students of Raychinese told me that they love Chinese food so much, but they are always confused with the names of Chinese food. Here are a Chinese menu in English, maybe helpful for you too.

1  夫妻肺片(fūqī fèipiàn) Pork Lungs in Chili Sauce

2  红烧狮子头(hóngshāo shīzi tóu) Stewed Pork Ballin Brown Sauce

3  回锅肉片(huíguō ròupiàn) Sautéed Sliced Pork with Pepper and Chili

4  酱猪手(jiàng zhū shǒu) Braised Pig Feet in BrownSauce

5  京酱肉丝(jīng jiàng ròusī) Sautéed Shredded Pork in Sweet Bean Sauce

6  木须肉(mù xū ròu) Sautéed Sliced Pork， Eggs and Black Fungus

7  糖醋排骨(tángcù páigǔ) Sweet and Sour SpareRibs

8  四喜丸子(sìxǐ wánzi) Four-Joy Meatballs (Meat Balls Braised with Brown Sauce)

9  当红炸子鸡(dānghóng zhà zǐjī) Deep-FriedChicken

10  宫保鸡丁(gōngbǎo jīdīng) Kung Pao Chicken

11  口水鸡(kǒushuǐ jī) Steamed Chicken with Chili Sauce

12  叫化鸡(jiàohuà jī) BeggarsChicken(Baked Chicken)

13  清蒸童子鸡(qīngzhēng tóngzǐ jī) Steamed SpringChicken

14  西红柿炒蛋 (xīhóngshì chǎo dàn)  Scrambled Egg with Tomato

15  鱼香肉丝 (yú xiāng ròusī)  Sautéed with Spicy Garlic Sauce

16  酸菜鱼(suāncài yú) Boiled Fish with Pickled Cabbage and Chili

17  担担面(dàn dàn miàn) Noodles， Sichuan Style

18 上汤云吞(shàngtāngyúntūn) Wonton Soup

    Any question, please contact teachers at www.raychinese.com for help.

New Friends From Virginia

Anna & Samuel, new friends from Virginia, joined Rayzone on such a sunny day. So happy that they participated in Raychinese.com for Chinese learning.
We met Anna and Samuel for the first time at Daimei, a hot-pot restaurant two weeks ago. Hot pot can be taken as a special of Wuhan, though it is not so famous as in Chengdu. To our surprise, they like it very much, we taught them how to scald thin slices of meat into boiling soup and take out in few seconds and explain how to choose different oil plate according to the flavor—garlic, spicy or normal. Besides, we introduced the famous Wuhan snack-- 热干面(hot dry noodles) to them. It was the first time that they ate hot dry noodles, but it seemed that they loved it. We really enjoyed that lunch.
Anna and Samuel has been in Wuhan for business for nearly one month, they love Chinese culture as well as Chinese language, so our friend introduced Raychinese to them. We explained the teaching concept and method of RayzoneTM学伴TMto them, as well as the greatest advantage of raychinese-- diverse products for choice, Online Course, Offline Training, Online Tutoring, Software for Self-study, etc.
Although they had had sample class at the other school, they selected Raychinese.com at last. Professional teacher, advanced teaching concept and individualized service are the key points for winning new friends.
Raychinese will keep doing best to serve more and more Chinese enthusiasts and make friends all over the world.

Celebrities Learn Chinese

Chinese is so popular and useful a language with the continued political stability, social progress and economic prosperity of China that more and more people realize that mastering Chinese is necessary. Even lots of celebrities learnt Chinese, and some of them can speak Chinese well enough to shock you. Do you know who are these celebrities? Here, raychinese give you some introduction.

1.      陆克文--Kevin Rudd: Prime Minister of Australia. Kevin Rudd is a China expert 中国通 (pinyin: Zhongguo tong). He worked in China as a diplomat with his family in the 1980s. Today, his elder son is studying at FUDAN University in Shanghai, and his younger son who is in a senior high school starts to learn Chinese language too. Personaly, Rudd showed great interests in Chinese history and culture when he as quite young, he studied Chinese history and Chinese language at the Australian National University in Canberra, and pursuit further learning at Taiwan Normal University later on.PM Rudd is the only leader from the western countries who can speak fluent Chinese language up to now.  It is more intersting that Kevin Rudd adopted the Chinese name 陆克文 (pinyin: Lù Kèwén) , a very nice creation according to the similar pronunciation of his English name:  LU 陆 for RUDD as the family name, and KEWEN 克文 for Kevin as the given name. Just from his creation for the Chinese name, you may find out that he has a great grasp of the world language of a new empire.

2.      Dashan: AKA Mark Rowswell, one performer in CCTV's 2009 Spring Festival Gala, has been called "the most famous foreigner in China", where he has worked as performer, television host and cultural ambassador for over 20 years. Although relatively unknown in the West, it's hard to find anyone in China who does not know of Dashan. Born and raised in Canada, Rowswell began studying Chinese in the mid 1980s, first at the University of Toronto and later at Beijing University. While in Beijing, Rowswell became interested in Chinese performing arts, particularly xiangsheng, a popular form of comic dialogue. An opportunity to appear on television suddenly gave Rowswell national exposure under the stage name "Dashan". Repeated appearances on programs with audiences in the hundreds of millions gradually turned "Dashan" into a household name across China.

3.      Michael Phelps (US):  who won his eighth gold medal of the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 4×100m medley on Sunday, breaking the record for most in a single Games. Phelps got everything ready before he started his Olympic visit to Beijing. He spent some time on Chinese learning over computer. He can speak Chinese a little bit for simple conversations. That's enough. If he can spare more time on mandarin Chinese, probably he can win a ninth gold medal for Chinese learning in the near future, I bet.

Are you going to learn Chinese? Raychinese.com will give you help. Any question please visit www.raychinese.com for free online tutoring.

The Fourth "Sino-French Cultural Spring" of 2009 Was About to Begin!

2009第四届"中法文化之春"即将拉开帷幕！‏

The Fourth "Sino-French Cultural Spring" of 2009 Was About to Begin!

2009年3月6日晚间，在法国驻武汉总领事馆总领事费勇先生官邸，总领事先生宣布，"2009中法文化之春"即日拉开帷幕！"2009中法文化之春"将历时100天，在中国20个大城市举办100余场活动（舞蹈、戏剧、音乐、展览等）。期间，法国驻华大使馆文化专员Cavalier先生介绍了活动的主要情况。

Mr. Fei Yong, consul-general of French Consulate-General in Wuhan, announced that "2009 Sino-French Cultural Spring" was about to begin at his official residence on the evening of March 6, 2009. 2009 Sino-French Cultural Spring will last 100 days, including more than 100 events (dance, drama, music, exhibitions, etc.) in 20 major cities in China. Mr. Cavalier, cultural attaché of French Embassy, introduced the main Events.

会议邀请了湖北省外办、武汉市外办领导，武汉大学WTO学院余敏友院长、瑞中集团总裁助理王锐先生（Raychinese.com、exals.com总监）也一同出席。

Yu Minyou, Officer of Hubei Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and Wuhan Foreign Affairs Office, and Dean of Wuhan University WTO School, and Mr. Wang Rui, Assistant President of Rayzone Group(Raychinese.com, exals.com Director) were invited to attended the conference as well.

 

2008年"中法文化交流之春"取得巨大成功，从以下关键数字可以看出：

2008 "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" was a great success, which can be seen from the following key figures:

- 240 000名观众及参观者 （2006年是200 000名）
- 18个城市，42项不同的活动 （2006年是11个城市、29项活动）
- 16项展览，26项共计88场演出
- 150万欧元预算
- 96篇媒体报道文章，293篇网络文章，18家电视台报道

-240,000 spectators and visitors (200 000 in 2006)

-18 cities, 42 different events (11 cities, 29 Events in 2006)

-16 exhibitions, 26 shows and 88 performances in all

- € 1,500,000 budget

- reported by 96 media reports, 293 network articles, 18 television stations

"中法文化交流之春"是中法两国政府继成功举办中法文化年之后，希望继续促进中法文化交流而创办的活动。她是我们友谊的体现。

"Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" is an activity, held by Chinese and French governments with the hope to continue to promote Sino-French cultural exchanges after the success of the Sino-French Culture Year.

自2006年创办之年开始，这一活动即取得成功，2008年我们接待了24万多名观众。通过历时两个多月，遍及中国18个城市的高水平的文化活动，中法两国的机构和艺术家们使公、私立赞助者在全国范围内更加令人瞩目。

Since it was launched in 2006, it has succeeded. We received more than 240,000 spectators in 2008. Through the two-month high-level cultural activities in 18 cities, organizations and artists of France and China make public and private sponsors even more impressive throughout the country.

包括朱丽叶•比诺什和伊莎贝尔•于佩尔等明星的来访，各种重要展览以及主题周活动的2009年活动计划再次预示着一个让人充满期待的春天。我们的目标是使大众满意。

The 2009 activity program, including the participation of stars like Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert, various important exhibitions and theme week activities, indicates a hopeful spring. Our goal is to make the public satisfied.

2005年——中国国务院总理温家宝提出举办"永不结束的中法文化年"。作为回应，法国驻华使馆向中国文化部建议，共同创办一个一年一度的大型的中法文化艺术节：即"中法文化交流之春"。

In 2005-- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed to hold "Everlasting Sino-French Culture Year". In response, the French Embassy in China suggested to Chinese Ministry of Culture that China and France co-found an annual large-scale Sino-French Culture and Arts Festival: "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring".

2006年——第一届"中法文化交流之春"于4月份拉开帷幕，成为在中国的惟一一个大规模的法国文化盛事。法国总统10月份访华期间签署的中法联合声明将"中法文化交流之春"确定为一项长期的活动。

2006-- the first "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" began in April, which was the only large-scale French cultural event in China. It was identified as a long-term event in Sino-French Joint Declaration signed by French president during his visit in October.
2007年——"中法文化交流之春"活动首次在中国14个城市举办了100场活动。

2007-- "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" held 100 activities in 14 cities in China the first time.

2008年——"中法文化交流之春"参加了中国国家大剧院开幕演出季。分别以歌剧《国王》和法国蒙塔沃—艾尔维舞团的《拉莫的异想世界》舞蹈作为"中法文化交流之春"的开闭幕式演出。"中法文化交流之春"扩展到18个城市。

2008-- "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" took part in the opening performance season of Chinese National Grand Theater with the opera "The King" and the dance "Rameau's Thinking World" performed in the opening and closing ceremonies. "Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" extended to 18 cities.

2009年——"中法文化交流之春"将是中国文化舞台上不容错过的一次春天之约。

2009--"Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring" will be an unmissable spring pageant on Chinese culture stage.

2009年中发文化之春在武汉市将开展如下活动：

2009 Sino-French Cultural Exchange Spring will undertake the following events:

钢琴–亚历山大•帕雷

Piano – Alexander.Parygin

展览–《品味》烹调展

Exhibition –"Taste" Cooking Show

音乐–Flammes&Co

Music- Flammes&Co

音乐–威廉•舍勒

Music- William • Schoeller

城市文化–Yamakasi飞檐走壁的人

City Culture-Yamakasi

戏剧–《正午的分割》

Drama - "The Split Noon"

电子音乐和VJ-ing–天文馆

戏剧–《戏箱》

Drama - Costume Trunk

吉他–帝搏•考文

Guitar - Dili stroke • Cowen

音乐–扬•提尔森

Music - Jan • Tierson

更多信息请登陆：www.faguowenhua.com  。

For more information, please visit: www.faguowenhua.com

Origin of International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is coming. The Gentlemen of Raychinese.com invited all girls in 1701 to see the French film "Deux mondes, Les"  last night to celebrate the upcoming International Women's Day. That is so amazing and unforgettable night. Many thanks to all gentlemen here on behalf all girls. :) Now, let's get down to business to introduce the origin the International Women's Day.

    International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

    International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

    The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:

    1909

    In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.

    1910

    The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

    1911

    As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

    Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

    1913-1914

    As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

    1917

    With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

    Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

    The Role of the United Nations

    Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

    Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.

    2000 - 2007

    IWD is now an official holiday in Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

    The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

    However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

    Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. While there are many large-scale initiatives, a rich and diverse fabric of local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

    Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google even changes its logo on its global search pages. Corporations like HSBC host the UK's largest and longest running IWD event delivered by women's company Aurora. Last year Nortel sponsored IWD activities in over 20 countries and thousands of women participated. Nortel continues to connect its global workforce though a coordinated program of high-level IWD activity, as does Accenture both virtually and offline. Accenture supports more than 2,000 of its employees to participate in its International Women's Day activities that include leadership development sessions, career workshops and corporate citizenship events held across six continents - in eight cities in the United States and in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa and the UK. Accenture also coordinated am IWD webcast featuring stories about Accenture women worldwide that ran uninterrupted for 30 hours across 11 time zones via Accenture's intranet. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'.     So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

 

Chinese Lesson 2: Welcome!

This lesson will show you how to welcome a friend or guest in Chinese.

Chinese Speaking and Writing, Easy or Difficult?

Chinese mandarin and Chinese Characters have long been taken as the most difficult language and characters to teach and to learn in the world. There is even a popular saying "C'est du chinois" in France, meaning that "Look, this is Chinese language", which is used when people fall into extreme difficulties.

 

Is Chinese (Chinese speaking and writing) really difficult?

 

Nowadays, Rayzone Education Group has brought forth its new Rayzone学伴Chinese education products with the developing(teaching and learning) concept: Separating the teaching of Chinese language listening and speaking from Chinese characters reading and writing; Chinese language listening and speaking prior to Chinese characters reading and writing; Chinese language listening and speaking interact with Chinese characters reading and writing; situational teaching.

Rayzone Group has been exploring and summing up experience in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and achieved a lot in the cooperation with nearly 30 foreign universities. Eventually, they come out with Rayzone 学伴series products under the theory above to share their achievements with all Chinese teachers, and as well as to help Chinese learners get out of the misunderstanding of Chinese is the hardest to learn in the world.

Do You Know the Difference Between 发现fāxiàn and找到zhǎodào?

One Australian student, who has learnt Chinese for one year with the help of Raychinese.com, is confused with the difference between发现fāxiàn and找到zhǎodào and always making mistakes of using them. The other days, he asked his teacher in the class once again. Do you know the difference between them?

Here, we'll see what the teacher at Raychinese.com explained to him.

1.    发现=discover （discover what has existed but not known before）

2.  找到=find  (find something lost, or known before)

The Top 10 Hot Words in 2008

1. 山寨copycatting

This Chinese term literally refers to the mountain strongholds of bandits. First borrowed to describe rip-off products, it has evolved to refer also to homemade products, such as video parodies of movies.

2. �be sunk/sunken

This is an ancient Chinese character, pronounced jiong. It means "light shining through a window". Young Chinese use it to express embarrassment, or a bad mood. Look at the character. Doesn't it look like a disappointed face?

3. 很黄很暴力very pornographic, very violent

During a CCTV interview about a new Internet censorship regulation, a girl said that an uncensored Web page once popped up on her computer. She called it "very pornographic, very violent". Some believe the girl was told to say it by CCTV, so it is now used to mock the way the network covers news. Besides, this very…very… sentence pattern is frequently copied by nitizens. For example 很傻很天真（very stupid, very naive, said by one heroine of the Edison Chen scandal）, and很爽很raychinese（slogan of a Chinese learning website www.raychinese.com）.

4. �nuts

Pronounced méi, the word is a variant of the word for "梅". But it also looks like a double version of the character 呆 (dai), which means stupid. So netizens have borrowed it to mean "very silly or very stupid".

5. 叉腰肌Psoas muscle

Xie Yalong, the former head of the Chinese Football Association, once criticized women players, saying they have weak Psoas muscles. (This is the muscle that links the trunk to the legs; it's important for motion.) However, nobody, including the players, knew where the muscle is. This quote is now used to mock Xie, who was recently removed from his position.

6. 打酱油get some soy sauce

When a person in Guangzhou was asked to give his opinion of the sex scandal involving Hong Kong star Edison Chen (Chen Guanxi), the man answered, "It is none of my business. I am just out to get some soy sauce." People have since begun using the words to mean "it's none of my business".

7. 泡良族 pick-up artists

This expression refers to men who seduce married women.

8. 凤凰男Phoenix man

This expression refers to a man who grew up poor and in the countryside, but later moved to a big city and married a city girl. Due to the couple's different backgrounds and habits, they often encounter problems.

9. 做人不能太CNN don't be too CNN

It emerged in response to foreign media's coverage of Tibet. Many Chinese thought it was biased. It gained more popularity after CNN commentator Jack Cafferty's rude talk of China.

10. 三个俯卧撑three push-ups A girl in Guizhou was rumored to have been killed by the relatives of local police officials. However, a local government official claimed the girl's boyfriend said the girl had jumped into the river when he was doing push-ups. The popularity of the term signals people's doubts over the story.

Top Ten Chinese Expressions in Everyday Life

Do you know the top 10 useful Chinese expressions in everyday life? ~_~

 

1.你好

nǐ hǎo

Hello!

――――――――――

2.我叫…

wǒ jiào

My name is …

――――――――――

3.欢迎，欢迎!

huānyíng huānyíng

Welcome, welcome!

――――――――――

4.认识你很高兴。

Rèn shi nǐ hěn gāo xìng

Nice to meet you.

――――――――――
5.谢谢 xiè xie

Thank you!

.不用谢

bú yòng xiè

You are welcome.

――――――――――

6.再见 zài jiàn

See you later.

――――――――――

7.对不起

duìbuqǐ

I am sorry.

――――――――――

8.没关系 méi guān xi

It doesn't matter.
――――――――――
9.多少钱？

duō shǎo qián

How much is it?

――――――――――

10.太贵了

tài guì le

It's too expensive.

This post is courtesy of  http://www.raychinese.com . 

The Most Simple But Useful Chinese Greeting

This is to present you the most simple but useful Chinese greeting.

Scene Description: Zhao Meijia met Li Yongzhe on the way, they greeted each other.

The New Issues of E-Magazine of Raychinese Are Upcoming

The last 9 issues of E-Magazine at www.raychinese.com are appreciated by a lot of web visitors and users for the all-inclusive content and colorful illustrations.

The readers leave message that these E-Magazines are helpful and interesting to get them close to Chinese life, Chinese festivals, Chinese etiquette, etc. and they are impressed with novelty and delicacy very much.

The good news is that Raychinese is doing hard to produce some new issues as they did always to repay all readers. Please keep your attention to our magazines at all times, we will come up with issues you are interested in as fast as possible and help you quickly raise your Chinese level.

Getting Close to Chinese Kungfu

Since the great success of Kungfu Panda and The King of Freedom (The Forbidden Kingdom), more and more people have been addicted to Chinese Kungfu.

Are you a Kungfu enthusiast? Do you want to be cool with Kungfu?

Here we'll get close to Chinese Kungfu.

Kungfu is a sport, gradually formed with continuous creation in the long process of historical evolution. It has unique nature different from the general sports. For general sports such as track and field, ball games, weightlifting, boxing, etc. the player over 30 should retire from the playing field due to physical reasons, besides, some maybe suffer health problems without awareness for too vigorous movement during adolescence.

"Chinese Kungfu" can be divided into Waigong and Neigong, namely the so called "training body outside and spirit and energy inside".

In addition to exercising a strong and flexible physical body, it can do physical and mental adjustment, strengthen the organs and smooth all streams of vital energy. The older the players are, the more effect they get. It has great effect on health and longevity.

Now there are lots of schools teaching Kungfu, learners can learn Chinese language in process of learning Kungfu, as well as enjoy the beautiful scenery and make lots of friends. Rayzone Language and Culture Training School and other 9 schools were awarded as the top 10 Kungfu schools.

      There is more detailed information at www.zhwushu.com , www.civcn.com , and www.raychinese.com .

How to Choose a Chinese School or Website?

With learning Chinese trend hotter and hotter, Chinese schools as well as Chinese learning websites spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, meanwhile, "how to choose a good Chinese school" becomes more and more important for every Chinese enthusiast. It is a question related to the learning effect and result.

How to Choose a Good Chinese School? Today, we'll give you some advice from the following aspects:

1.      The more suitable, the better.

The reason for Chinese learning varies from different learners. You can choose Chinese school or website according to your learning habit. If you want to learn Chinese with teacher face to face and you have enough time, the Confucius Institute will be fit for you, professional and available at big cities throughout the world, more information at www.chinese.cn . If you are too busy to learn Chinese regularly, you can choose to learn online, at your convenience and comfort, anytime and anywhere, www.raychinese.com  , www.chinese-tools.com  , etc. will be good choices.

2.      The more choices, the better.

Your learning goal, your Chinese level, and your learning time may change on and off. Therefore, it is better that the Chinese school or website can give you lots of choices to meet your requirement at different situations, such as online learning, offline learning, learning software, textbooks, free resources and so on. www.raychinese.com is the very website can offer your all these services: Distance Learning (with native teacher), Offline Training, Chinese Learning Software (for Pinyin and Chinese characters), Online Course (self-study) and free English-Chinese E-magazine. Besides, free resource at www.myhappyplanet.com  is also good.

3.      The more personalized, the better.

If you want to travel to China, course on Chinese travel will be fit for you; if you are interested in Chinese Culture, course on Kungfu, shadowboxing, calligraphy, paper-cutting will be wonderful; if you are a businessman trading with Chinese people, Business Chinese will be the best…The website with Customized Course will be your right choice, where whatever you want can be found. So will www.raychinese.com . 

 

May you raise your Chinese level rapidly!