As more and more countries model themselves after capitilistic models, they find themselves increasingly unhappy compared to generations prior. In the world of Chinese netizens, there is a word that coincides and expressesthis sentiment quite accurately.
“内 (nèi)” means “inward,” “卷 (juǎn)” means “to curl,” and “化 (huà)” means “process” and all together “内卷化 (nèi juǎn huà)” means “involution”. In literal terms, it means “shrinking.”
内 (nèi)

卷 (juǎn)

内卷化 (nèi juǎn huà)

Involution is defined as the phenomenon found in some agriculture societies when population growth is coupled with a decrease in per capita wealth and is the phenomenon where human society has been stagnant or unable to transfer to an advanced pattern after developing to a stable form.
Chinese netizens have used the term in a more general sense, however, where over competition has forced all people involved to suffer from excessive and uneccesary stress.

The reason the concept of involution become popular is because of some photos from several ‘super scholars’. A well-known school counselor said, ”The involution reflects an inexhaustible cycle of energy consumption. In fact, as a counselor, I can understand this kind of competition and the psychology of comparison to a certain extent. However, in the process of communication with students, we hope that students should think consciously and do not let themselves enter this gyroscopic cycle.”

A well-known professor also expresses his concept saying, “Whether relative to the individual, or to the whole society, facing “Involution” is a challenge. Students themselves need to figure out ‘what kind of person I want to be’; while policymakers and implementers of education policies, as well as parents of students, need to think about ‘what kind of people are our educational goals’, what kind of people do we want to see our children become.”

The simplistic explanation is that China is a highly competitive society. If you don’t work hard, others will work harder than you or work longer hours every day to take your place. In a previous article outlining the formation of overtime culture, known as 996, is a typical “involution” process.

Although it’s a concept lacking in the English language it’s a useful one to describe a real phenomenon nonetheless. The closest English has to this word is “rat race”. It’s also one flaw in the notion that hard work and sacrifices are for the good of the nation as a whole.

But if everyone in the nation is too busy making sacrifices to enjoy their life, are their sacrifices really for the greater good, or actually for the benefit of a small number of idle elites?

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1.996 (jiǔ jiǔ liù)

“996” is the work schedule timetable that exceeds legal working hours and is in violation of the labor law of the people’s Republic of China. It refers to the working schedule of going to work at 9 a.m., getting off work at 9:00 p.m., resting for 1 hour (or less) at noon and in the evening (totaling a working day of more than 10 hours), while working six days a week. This represents the prevailing overtime culture in China’s internet enterprises.

In 2019, a project called “996icu” was launched by GitHub. Programmers exposed the popular internet company and boycotted the online company’s 996 working system.

Example:

wǒ fǎn gǎn zhè jiā gōng sī de jiǔ jiǔ liù gōng zuò zhì.
我反感这家公司的996工作制。
I dislike the working schedule of 996 in this company.

2.有内味儿了 ( yǒu nèi wèi er le)

This is a popular phrase on the internet. In the northern accent, it is customary to read “那 (nà)” as “内 (nèi)”, which means to have that feeling. It is generally used to indicate whether the things mentioned above are authentic or to appreciate the authenticity of things imitated.

Example:

A: Jack! wèi shén me nǐ yòu huàn le fà xíng ?
A: Jack! 为什么你又换了发型？
A: Jack! Why did you change your hairstyle again?

B: yīn wèi wǒ zuì jìn kāi shǐ mí méi xī le
B: 因为我最近开始迷梅西了。
B: As I have been a fan of Messi lately.

A: Em… què shí yǒu nèi wèi er le.
A: Em… 确实，有内味儿了.
A: Em… Really，有内味儿了.

3.豪横 (háo hèng)

“豪横” is a dialect in Beijing, which means bullying, bold and unconstrained, and powerful. In addition, the person being described has a strong character and backbone.

Example:

tā háo hèng le yī shēng , jué bú huì xiàng dí rén dī tóu .
他豪横了一生，绝不会向敌人低头。
He has been 豪横 all his life and will never bow to the enemy.

4.我太南了 (wǒ tài nán le)

“It’s so hard for me” came from a video on Tiktok where sad music accompanies a tight shot of an old man’s eyebrows and empty eyes. Then he says, “it is so hard for me!”.

Because “difficult” and “south” are homonymous, some people say “我太南了,” which is also the emotional expression of ordinary netizens hoping to release the pressure of life when uttering this phrase.

我太南了: It’s so hard for me!

Example:
zěn me yòu yào jiā bān ? wǒ tài nán le.
怎么又要加班？我太南了.
Why do I have to work overtime? It’s so hard for me!

5.我不要你觉得，我要我觉得 (wǒ bú yào nǐ jué de , wǒ yào wǒ jué de)

“我不要你觉得，我要我觉得”, I don’t want to know what you think, but what I think.
This phrase comes from one of China’s variety shows and reflects people’s disgust of overbearing personalities.

In this variety show, the store manager makes himself the center of importance and often ignores other people’s opinions on matters regarding the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. He displays his blind self-confidence and impulsive behavior incisively and vividly.

wǒ bú yào nǐ jué de, wǒ yào wǒ jué de.
我不要你觉得，我要我觉得.
I don’t want to know what you think, but what I think.

zhè gè shì qíng bù xū yào tǎo lùn.
这个事情不需要讨论.
There is no need to discuss this matter.

Listen to me. I have the final say (what I say goes).
听我的，我说了算.

Have you seen any of these phrases while on various social media platforms? Maybe you’ve heard them on TV. Now you know what they mean! You’ll be sure to see them pop up more often now that you have learned about them. Chinese netizens are clever and quick to come up with new words and phrases by combining other words or by adopting phrases seen on shows and assigning them whole new meanings. Just remember that slang words come in and out of popularity so check back often to stay on top of China’s lightning-fast slang evolution. What slang have you heard lately that you are unsure of? Leave a comment and let us know.

Please read the dialogue, and select the correct answer to fill in the blanks.

Tina: I plan to travel alone.
Tom: I don’t think it’s safe to go out alone, so find a friend to go with.
Tina: No, I just want to be alone. .

A.我不要你觉得，我要我觉得 (wǒ bùyào nǐ juédé, wǒ yào wǒ juédé)
B.我太南了(wǒ tài nánle)
C.豪横 (háo hèng)
有内味了(yǒu nèi wèile)

See Answer Analysis

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There are two moments in the year when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night consequently become equal duration. This is also when the two points in the sky where the ecliptic (the sun’s annual pathway) and the celestial equator (the imaginary circle equidistant from the celestial poles) intersect.

Most areas in China have gone into cool autumn weather featuring frequent rainfall and a sharp drop in “温度 (wēn dù) temperature”, as the cold air from the north butts up against warm air which falls gradually.

温度(wēn dù)： n. temperature

Examples:

wēn dù shēng gāo le.
温度升高了
The temperature has gone up.

wēn dù shì sì shí dù duō yì diǎn.
温度是40度多一点。
The temperature’s in the low 40s.

Customs

Offering sacrifices to the moon in autumn
In ancient times, it is said that people would offer sacrifices to the sun in spring and provide sacrifices to the moon in autumn. The autumn sacrifice is to worship the goddess of the moon with moon cakes, watermelon, apples, and other seasonal sacrifices.

Under the moon, after putting the memorial tablet of “the Goddess of the moon” in the specific direction of the moon and burning the candle, the whole family worships the moon successively and prays for blessings.

The custom of admiring the moon is to worship the moon, creating a relaxed atmosphere. In that time, the moon looks to be full and bright, thus the custom of feasting and gazing at the moon has existed all this time.

In an ancient Chinese myth, there is a female beauty named Chang’e who flew to the moon to live in a “宫殿 (gōng diàn) palace” so that her husband could not follow her.

宫殿 (gōng diàn): n. palace

Examples:

zhè zuò gōng diàn hěn hóng dà.
这座宫殿很宏大。
This palace is grand.

tā men jìn rù le gōng diàn tíng yuàn.
他们进入了宫殿庭院。
They entered the palace courtyard.

Eating autumn vegetable
During this season it is also a popular time to start traveling. “Autumn vegetable” is a kind of wild amaranth that can be found around the wild fields and can be seen flourishing quite often.
This “autumn vegetable” is picked and brought back home to be cooked into a “汤(tāng) soup” with fish fillets, which is called “autumn soup”.

汤 (tāng): n. soup

Example:

tāng tài xián le.
汤太咸了。
The soup is too salty.

bié bǎ tāng sǎ le.
别把汤洒了。
Don’t spill the soup.

In fact, this so-called “autumn soup” complies with autumn’s nourishing necessities proposed by Chinese Medicine.

Prick the mouth of the finch

During the autumnal equinox, everyone eats glutinous rice balls. It is also customary to insert many bamboo forks in the area of neighboring farmlands, aiming to protect crops from damages by sparrows by means of pricking them in the mouth. Sticking the moth of finch by may do not make efforts, but it is the good wish from farmers. This method doesn’t necessarily work as intended, however, it leaves the farmers hopeful.

As the name suggests, glutinous rice balls mainly consist of glutinous rice, therefore, the ingredients include high sugar content and calories. It is beneficial to replenish the heat energy of the body when eating during cool and cold seasons.

As it is said in the ancient book, The Detailed Records of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), “It is on the Autumn Equinox day that the Yin and Yang are in a balance of power…” So enjoy this special time of year.

Please choose the best answer to fill in the blank.

___________ zuì gāo dá 30 shè shì dù yǐ shàng .
________最高达30摄氏度以上。

A.宫殿 (gōng diàn)
B.温度 (wēn dù)

See Answer Analysis

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Like most Chinese language learners, many of my students have difficulty with listening comprehension in the beginning. If I speak at a normal or slightly faster-than-normal pace, they usually can’t understand what I say. As such, I have tried different methods for them to improve their listening skills, and the results speak for themselves — the following method is the quickest way my students improve.

Since it’s difficult for non-advanced-level students to clearly distinguish each Chinese word, the quickest way to improve listening skills is to learn to instead listen for the keywords in the topic or sentences. Here are 3 ways I have used to help my students efficiently pick out keywords.

1. Learn common Chinese sentence patterns:

● Sentences with “是 (shì)”

Example:

wǒ shì Dora.
我是Dora。
I am Dora.

“wǒ” means “I/me”, “shì” means “to be”, “equals to”, or “is/am/are”. We can use this sentence structure to introduce our name, nationality and so on.

● Questions with an interrogative pronoun

Example:

nǐ jiào shénme?
你叫什么？
What’s your name? (lit.: “What are you called?”)

“nǐ” means “you,” “jiào” means “to be called,” “shén me” means “what”.

● Sentences with a verbal predicate.

Example:

wǒ yào kāfēi.
我要咖啡。
I want coffee.

● “Yes / no” questions with “吗 (ma)”

Example:

nǐ shì zhōnɡ ɡuó rén mɑ?
你是中国人吗？
Are you Chinese?

“ma” is a question word that we put at the end of the sentences to make a ‘yes or no’ question.

2. Pay more attention to the nouns and verbs in sentences.

Normally, nouns and verbs provide the most useful information on a topic.

Nouns have four main characteristics:

● The majority of the time, they are modified by a measure word.

Example:

yí ɡè pínɡɡuǒ.
一个苹果。
One apple.

Grammar: Number + measure word + noun

● They can act as a subject, an object or a complement, but never as a result. A noun can occasionally be adverbial, but not often.

Examples:

1）pínɡɡuǒ hěn hǎo chī.
苹果很好吃。
Apples are delicious.

2）wǒ yào pínɡɡuǒ.
我要苹果。
I want apples.

● They may not be modified by the negative adverb “不 (bù)”.

● They may not be reduplicated (unless it’s for a “cutesy” effect, usually when speaking with small kids).

There are five main characteristics of verbs in Chinese:

● The main function of verbs is to be in the predicate of a sentence.

● The majority of Chinese verbs are transitive, which means they take an object.

Example:

wǒ yǒu yì zhī bǐ.
我有一支笔。
I have a pen.

● Verbs CAN be negated by the adverb “不 (bù)”. However, other than verbs of emotion, they CANNOT be modified by “很 (hěn).”

Examples:

1）wǒ bù hē kāfēi. (CORRECT)
我不喝咖啡。 (CORRECT)
I don’t drink coffee.

2）wǒ hěn hē kā fēi. (INCORRECT)
我很喝咖啡。(INCORRECT)

● Most Chinese verbs can be reduplicated, softening their meaning slightly.

Examples:

wǒ yào shì shì zhè jiàn yī fu.
我要试试这件衣服。
I want to try on this dress.

● Most verbs can be modified with the aspect particles “了 (le)”, “着 (zhe)”, and “过 (guò)”.

Example:

1）wǒ chī le pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃了苹果。
I ate an apple.

2)wǒ chī zhe pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃着苹果。
I am eating an apple.

3）wǒ chī ɡuò pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃过苹果
I have eaten apples before.

3.Memorize high frequency vocabulary used in daily conversation.

● Personal Pronouns: 你 (nǐ), 我 (wǒ), 她/他/它 (tā)

Examples:

1）wǒ shì zhōnɡ ɡuó rén.
我是中国人。
I am Chinese.

2）nǐ shì měi ɡuó rén.
你是美国人。
You are American.

3）tā shì yīnɡ ɡuó rén.
他/她是英国人。
He/she is British.

● Numerals and Quantities: 一 (yī), 二 (èr), 两 (liǎng), 三 (sān), 七 (qī), 十 (shí), 百 (bǎi), 千 (qiān), 万 (wàn), 亿 (yì), 半 (bàn)

Examples:

1）liǎnɡ wàn sān qiān qī bǎi yī shí liù
两万三千七百一十六
23,716

2）yí yì měiyuán
一亿美元
a hundred million dollars

3）bàn ɡè pínɡɡuǒ
半个苹果
half an apple

● “是 (shì)” and “的 (de)” may be used in almost every Chinese conversation.

Examples:

1）zhè shì pínɡɡuǒ.
这是苹果。
This is an apple.

2）zhè shì wǒ de nǚér.
这是我的女儿。
This is my daughter.

Of course, if you want to be able to fully understand native speakers, you still need to practice with full conversations in different contexts, using a wide variety of materials like Chinese movies, videos, songs etc. There is no shortcut, but there are highways!

01

作为一名华裔，留在心底最深处的恐怕就是难以割舍的中国情怀，作为华裔孩子，也承担着爸爸妈妈甚至于爷爷奶奶、外公外婆老一辈的期许。

打电话用英语？爷爷奶奶听不懂。

微信聊天用英语？外公外婆看不懂！ (more…)

如今，在全球化格局的影响下，如何能让海外华裔儿童实现汉语保存与双语发展也成为海外华人群体，尤其是华人父母最为关注的话题。

华裔儿童从小游离于两种主要文化（居住国文化及中国文化）之间，语言能力得到充分发展的孩子，能够做到使用两种语言在日常生活中顺畅交流，他们就是我们常说的“双语语言使用者”。

(more…)

各位海外华裔少儿家长：

你们好！
我们虽然没有见过面，但我想这并不代表我们没有需要共同探讨的话题。作为一名中文老师，我虽身处“方寸之间”，但我每日都有“日行八万里”之感。得益于我的工作，我每天都会遇到各种有趣的学生，和世界各地的学生一起分享有趣的事，在有趣的体验中一起收获进步。可以说，我越来越爱我的工作了。

(more…)

最近遇到一个华裔妈妈，添加我的微信特意来问“四岁孩子到底要不要学习中文？有没有什么好的学习方式能吸引孩子的学习兴趣？”

因为平时也有不少家长问，所以今天就写篇文章来谈一谈这个问题。我自己认为越早让孩子接触中文，对于孩子的中文学习是更有利的。我身边也有一些家长，在孩子1岁多的时候就开始双语养育了，现在孩子快3岁了，中文和英语表达能力都很不错，也能根据不同的语言环境进行一些语言上的切换。

当然，这个孩子的学习成果离不开家长的坚持和付出。所以通过这个例子，我想说明的是，如果你想要你的孩子说中文，建议可以早一点启蒙，这样，越到后面越省力。

在这里我也给大家提供一些好的方法，也是很多孩子实践后管用的办法。

(more…)

今天想通过分享一个华裔少儿学中文的案例来总结一类华裔少儿学生学习中文的学习兴趣。

01
学生姗姗六岁，比较害羞，不排斥学中文。

妈妈之前自己有教过一些简单的中文，学生模仿能力比较好，但是忘得很快而且也很难主动说中文。

因为姗姗年龄较小，注意力容易分散，持久度不足，而且容易偏离教师的教学要求，自控能力相对比较弱。

01

当对外汉语老师这些年，我发现：初看，华裔孩子们普遍听说强于读写；再一接触，其实华裔孩子们听说方面存在的问题也不容忽视。

懂，不一定是真的懂。

由于受家庭语言环境的影响，很多华裔孩子可以与老师进行简单的沟通，他们似乎能够听懂老师所说的话，甚至当老师确认他们是否明白时，他们也会毫不犹豫地告诉你‘no problem’。然而如果老师再多问一句“What does this mean?”,他们不一定可以说出正确答案。

(more…)