Without Pinyin
过年 guò nián to celebrate Chinese New Year
春节 chūn jié Chinese New Year
饺子皮 (jiǎozipí) dumpling wrap
擀饺子皮gǎn jiǎo zi pí Roll dumpling skin
馅儿 xiàn er filling
包 (bāo) to wrap
捏 niē to pinch
边（儿） biān (er) edge, side
角 (儿） jiǎo (er) corners
包饺子 bāo jiǎo zi to make dumplings
肉末 ròu mò grounded meat
猪肉 zhū ròu Pork
牛肉 niú ròu beef
羊肉 yáng ròu lamb
白菜 bái cài Bok Choy Chinese Cabbage
韭菜 jiǔ cài Chinese Leeks
葱 cōng scallions
姜 jiāng ginger
蒜 suàn garlic
麻油 má yóu sesame oil
鸡蛋 jī dàn eggs
盐 yán salt
酱油 jiàng yóu soy sauce
糖 táng sugar
醋 cù Vinegar
辣椒油là jiāo yóu chili oil
煮zhǔ to boil
煮饺子(水饺）zhǔ jiǎo zi/shuǐ jiǎo
蒸 zhēng to steam
蒸饺子/蒸饺 zhēng jiǎo zi to steam dumplings
煎 jiān to pan sear
锅贴 guō tiē Pot stickers
把......放在.....上 bǎ......fàng zài......shàng Put something on something
把......放进/到......里 bǎ......fàng jìn......lǐ to put something inside something
2/4/19
新年快乐，恭(gong)喜发财！
1. Grammar Review
The 把 Structure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnvEr0rJO0Q
Person + 把 + object + verb +completion/end result
老师把电脑放在桌子上。
我的哥哥把狗带到外面。
你把水送给爷爷吧！
请你把椅子搬到床的对面，好吗？
2. Speaking Presentation using the 把 structure 包饺子口语考试 : 2/4/19
Team 1 教大家怎么做饺子馅儿
你先把肉末放在一个大碗里。
然后，你把葱，白菜，和韭菜放进肉里。
接着，你把盐，酱油，和一个鸡蛋放进肉里。
最后，你要把所有的东西搅合好。
Team 2 教大家怎么包饺子
把饺子皮放在手心上。
把馅儿放在饺子皮儿的中间。不要放太多。不然的话包不住。
把两边的饺子皮捏在一起。捏得越紧越好。
把包好的饺子放在锅里。蒸大概十分钟左右。就好了。
3. 教大家怎么包饺子
Videos：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1BycXRWoNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y03zwh7ynBE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlXfEo4_WR8
4. 打娘娘
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdkdEvng4II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbDlwM98FA4
By Julie Tha Gyaw | Date: September 3rd, 2014 | Category: Chinese Culture
Though much of China is still experiencing the last hot and muggy (mēn rè 闷热／悶熱) days of summer, the country has been gearing up for what’s known as the Mid-Autumn holiday for weeks now.
Festive lantern decorations are hanging in shop entrances and apartment building lobbies. Public transportation is filled with advertisements for various kinds of mooncakes. Travel agencies and websites are encouraging everyone to take advantage of the holiday to do some traveling.
Zhōng qiū jié is both a centuries-old Chinese holiday and an important one in modern Chinese culture. As someone who’s learning Chinese or is interested in China, you ought to know a thing or two about it, even if you’ve never been in China to experience it first-hand.
There are a lot of different traditions and stories behind the holiday, but as it is celebrated today in most of China, it can all be summed up by four main activities: admiring a full moon, giving and receiving mooncakes, getting together with loved ones, and taking a vacation.
Below are some basic explanations of those four things, along with some related Chinese language for you to add to your growing vocabulary, according to your level.
The Moon
The holiday falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, when there’s a big, bright full moon.
In the past, people would gather together to celebrate the harvest or to make offerings to the moon, but these days, most people just gather together with friends and family to enjoy the view of the moon together.
The moon being full and round is not only something to be admired, but also a symbol of unity and completeness.
Beginner Vocabulary:
• The moon
yuè liàng
月亮
• Full moon
mǎn yuè
满月
• Admire the moon
shǎng yuè
赏月
Intermediate Vocabulary
• 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar
nóng lì bā yuè shí wǔ
农历八月十五
• Wishing your whole family harmony and success!
zhù nǐ quán jiā hé mù yuán mǎn!
祝你全家和睦圆满
Up for a challenge!
• Check out this video of a beautiful Su Shi poem set to music and sung by Faye Wong, keeping in mind that the lyrics are entirely in classical, poetic Chinese!
• Learn this song, probably the most famous Chinese song about the moon
Mooncakes
This time of year, the whole country goes mooncake crazy!
Most people will buy a range of mooncakes during the season to give to the various people in their lives.
For that average acquaintance who doesn’t need to be impressed, you can buy a plain mooncake in basic packaging.
For someone who you need to impress, say, an important client, you can buy a box of super elaborate and pricey mooncakes in extravagant packaging.
Most people will receive so many mooncakes that they will still be eating them days after the holiday has ended, even if they are sick of them by then.
Many apartment and office buildings will also organize some kind of recycling initiative to help people feel a little less guilty about the amount of waste that’s associated with this tradition.
That's because even a mid-range mooncake is usually wrapped in a layer of plastic, put inside a plastic tray, and then covered in a cardboard box. Not to mention the amount of packaging that goes into making the high-end mooncakes look fancy is truly amazing!
Since they are round like the full moon, these traditional Chinese pastries are also a symbol of unity, and are eaten together with family and friends.
Not everyone especially likes traditional mooncakes, which are flaky crusts filled with lotus seed paste or red bean paste, but there are so many different varieties of fillings and crusts now that there is something to suit everyone’s palate.
Beginner Vocabulary
• Mooncake
yuè bǐng
月饼
• A box of mooncakes
yì hé yuè bǐng
一盒月饼
• To give (as a gift)
sòng
送
Intermediate Vocabulary
• Filling/flavor (of a mooncake or dumpling)
xiàn(r)
馅儿
• Lotus seed paste
lián róng
莲蓉
• Red bean paste
dòu shā
豆沙
Up for a challenge!
• Watch this video about Hong Kong’s “ice skin mooncakes,” which is part of the awesome TV documentary series called “A Bite of China.”
• See how much of the narration you can catch at the end of this mooncake advertisement
Time with family/loved ones
Similar to Thanksgiving in the U.S., Mid-Autumn Festival is one that’s best spent in the company of family.
“Reunion” is definitely a big theme of the holiday, and those who are living elsewhere will generally try to make it back home for a big reunion meal followed by gazing at the moon with their family.
A legend that’s told this time of year, the story of a champion archer named Hòu Yì (后羿) and his wife, Cháng É (嫦娥), is centered on this idea of reunion.
There are several different versions of the story, but the gist of them all is that Cháng É took an elixir that caused her to become an immortal living on the moon, forever separated from Hòu Yì.
He began offering her food and praying for her well-being during the Mid-Autumn full moon, and soon the tradition caught on.
Now Cháng É, the goddess in the sky, while she’ll never be reunited with her husband, receives offerings each year from those below who are fortunate enough to be with their loved ones.
Beginner Vocabulary
• Go home for the holiday
Huí jiā guò jié
回家过节
• Reunion meal
Tuán yuán fàn
团圆饭
Intermediate lesson
Check out Yoyo Intermediate Conversational Chinese Lessons 44 and 45 below to see interviews with Chinese people about how they celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival!
Up for a challenge!
• If you only ever learn one classical Chinese poem, it should be this one by Lǐ Bái about gazing at the moon and reminiscing about this home.
Vacation
Everyone gets just one day off of work or school in China for this holiday, but it’s usually at the beginning or end of a weekend, to make a three-day weekend.
And on some lucky years, Mid-Autumn Festival falls close to China’s National Day (October 1), giving people a whole week off.
Late summer or early fall is a great time to travel in China, so a lot of people take advantage of the time off and the good weather to go on a trip, often together with family.
Beginner Vocabulary
• Have a vacation from work/school
Fàng jià
放假
• To travel
Lǚ xíng
旅行
Intermediate Vocabulary
• How many days' vacation?
Fàng jǐ tiān de jià?
放几天的假?
• The weather is good for traveling.
Tiān qì shì hé chū qù lǚ yóu.
天气适合出去旅游.
Up for a challenge!
• Watch this news report and see how much you can catch about traveling for the holiday, airfare deals, and the possibility of seeing the moon from the plane on a late flight!
In Hong Kong where I live now, there are sure to be lots of vacationers visiting from around China for the holiday.
The day off here is actually on the day following the holiday, in order to give people a chance to stay up extra late to gaze at the moon and play with lanterns without worrying about getting up early for work or school the next morning.
So how will you be celebrating the holiday? Let us know in the comments section.
No matter where you are for the holiday, I hope you get a chance to enjoy the moon and wish your Chinese friends “zhōng qīu kuài lè!”
By Michael Hurwitz | Date: January 17th, 2014 | Category: Chinese Language
Chinese New Year is a time for fun, frivolities and some very unusual superstitions, but the changing social, migration and economic realities of modern China mean that bizarre and fascinating things happen when a huge portion of the world’s most populous country goes on the move. Train tickets (even the dreaded standing room cars!) are nigh on impossible to get for certain days, long-distance buses are packed to the gills, and even cheap flights are tough to find. So what, in short, is going on here?
First, a quick primer. "Chinese New Year" is just one of a handful of terms for the celebration of the turning over of the lunisolar calendar, which occurs in late January or early February every year. Other terms include Spring Festival (a.k.a 春节/chūn jíe, we’ll get to that in a minute) and 过年 (guò nián), which is technically a verb meaning to celebrate the holiday but often gets used in conversation to represent the event itself as well.
Doesn’t it seem weird that “Spring Festival” is celebrated during possibly the coldest part of the year? As a person who despises cold weather, is certainly does to me, and the reasoning behind it is interesting. The term “Spring Festival” only came into common use about 100 years ago, before which it referred to the first period, or 节气 (jiéqi), of spring on the lunisolar calendar. There are 24 jiéqi per year, and the calendar planners thought it wise to begin the year with spring, hence why “Spring Festival” takes place is possibly the coldest part of the year!
Anyway, there are such a huge number of ancillary festivals, important individual days within the holiday and other ways to celebrate Chinese New Year that it’d be folly to try to get into them all here. It’s essentially a two-week holiday with distinct individual celebrations on each specific day, but aside from common ones like setting off fireworks(happens on a huge scale in the Mainland and HK) and big family gatherings, specific foods are always eaten, often ones with names that sound like some sort of positive word.
People always eat fish, for example, because the word for fish, 鱼 (yú) sounds exactly like the auspicious word for extra excess or surplus, 余 (yú). It’d essentially be like Don Draper (played by actor Jon Hamm) fans eating ham at the start of every Mad Men season or something - I don’t know, maybe people do that anyway, I don’t watch that show (or eat ham). It’s a Chinese play on words, similar to the superstition surrounding the number four (four - sì (四 ) sounds like death - sǐ (死)), and the avoidance of many types of four-related activities and buildings.
Moving on, Spring Festival is far and away the most important holiday on the calendar in China and countries with large Chinese populations like Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. That’s in part because it’s been around for an extremely long time, some 4,600 years by most estimates, making it one of the world’s oldest continually-celebrated holidays. It’s importance also means that Spring Festival traditions, namely returning home and seeing family, are a big priority for most people, leading to the transportation chaos we mentioned earlier.
The result: People end up camping out in lines (in January, mind you) outside ticket offices like so many Cameron Crazies or Harry Potter fanatics (Potter Patrons?? Harry Heretics??) just for the chance to head home for a week or so. It’s all part of the largest regular human migration in history, known as 春运 (chūn yùn); an estimated 3.62 billion passenger journeys will be made during the multi-week travel period beginning this weekend, the highest ever and a difficult number to really wrap your head around. Let’s look a bit deeper at why the heck this happens.
First, holidays in China are weird. There are really only two breaks of consequence, known as “Golden Weeks” - huángjīn zhōu (黄金周), in which the central government mandates 7 consecutive days off for workers. One is for the October National Day holiday (though this only became official policy in 1999) and the other is for Chinese New Year, by a wide margin the most important day on the calendar. Not unlike Christmastime in the West, the tradition for Chinese New Year is to head home to relax with the family. For an enormous, developing country like China, though, travelling long distances is much more difficult than a simple jaunt down I-95 - hence the madness every January and February.
The second part of the equation here is the enormous internal migration that has happened in China over the last several decades. In short, industrialization and globalization came to China’s coastal, urban areas first, drawing hundreds of millions of people from that nation’s interior with the promise of city jobs, amenities, and much higher standards of living. As a result, much as with my hometown of Washington, DC, a huge portion of the residents of most cities aren’t actually from there, and often travel far and wide to return to their hometowns for the New Year holiday break. It’s like Thanksgiving and Christmas combined and then given 1990’s baseball players-levels of steroids - you gotta see it to believe it.
In my book, though, the most interesting part is how mammoth mega-cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou become relative ghost towns for a few weeks each winter - it is truly surreal to see places defined primarily by their energy and crowdedness suddenly become serene and quiet. Migrant workers, known slightly pejoratively as 外地人 (wàidì rén, “outside place people”), primarily work in industries like service and construction, and when they all head home you’ll see stores that are open 24/7 the rest of the year shut down entirely for Spring Festival - it’s the strangest thing. Shanghai goes eerily silent and gets noticeably cleaner as construction on the city’s myriad office and apartment buildings ceases. Tables at open restaurants in much of the city are easy to get, but here’s the kicker: tourist hot spots like the Bund, Yu Gardens and People’s Square are jam-packed. In this day and age, it seems, China has become a country where travel and tourism super cede even important traditions like Spring Festival.
端午节 May 5th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TECNMoBVCFo
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5
DIANA XIN
FEBRUARY 10TH, 2015
Once upon a time in Chinese legend, there was a beast named Nian who lived in the mountains. He had the body of a lion with the head of a bull.
At the end of each winter, when he ran out of food and prey, he attacked the villagers and ate their livestock.
Every year, the villagers would abandon their homes and hide in the mountains until Nian’s rampage ended.
Then, one day, an old beggar told the villagers the three things that Nianfeared: fire, noise, and the color red.
The next year, instead of running away, the villagers set off firecrackers, hung up red lanterns, posted red paper on their doors, and generally raised a ruckus. And so it has been every year since then.
The character nián (年) is as old as the oracle bones of the Shang dynasty, China’s first dynasty of mythical rulers and beasts. nián originally meant “ripe grains,” and now it also means “year.”
Historically, the marking of time was crucial for tracking agricultural activity, and China’s lunar calendar did just that.
The Lunar New Year is the most important Chinese holiday, occurring on the first day of the first lunar month, which typically falls in February in the Gregorian calendar. The many days of festivities are referred to as guò nián (过年), or crossing/passing the year.
Spring Festival comes with many traditions: going to temple fairs, acting out legends in lion dances, and watching the annual CCTV evening gala (It’s a big deal, guys!).
Watching the Spring Festival Gala during Chinese New Year is a ritual for many families in China
A few superstitions are also at play. People usually clean the house and settle their debts beforehand, and it is believed that sweeping, cleaning or washing your hair during the first three days of the new year will wash your fortune away.
Food for Chinese New Year
The most important part of the Spring Festival is spending time with family and gathering together with friends. Because of the long vacation and the number of people who work away from home, the Spring Festival now creates the largest annual human migration.
A train station during Spring Festival
Major cities often become quieter and less crowded when migrant populations return to the countryside. After hectic road trips, car rides, and crowded flights, that time at home with family is always precious.
And, of course, when Chinese people get together, Chinese people eat.
Just as turkey is served for Thanksgiving in the U.S., the Spring Festival comes with its own menu. Dishes may vary between regions, but these are some of the hard hitters, because their names are a play on words for wishing good fortune upon those you care about:
1. Dumplings, jiăo zi (饺子)
Shaped like the silver ingots used as currency in ancient China, dumplings have had a long history as a fortuitous dish, especially in the north.
During the Spring Festival, dumplings are often made at home as a family activity, with everyone chipping in to prepare the filling, roll the dough, and stuff and fold the dumplings.
Spring Festival dumplings are often made with pork, cabbage, and radish.
Cabbage, bái cài (白菜), sounds like băi cái (百财), or a hundred kinds of fortune.
Pork and chives make another great filling, since the 韭 in jiŭ cài (韭菜), chives, sounds like jiŭ (久), or long lasting, and can imply longevity.
For an extra dose of fortune and fun, some dumplings may contain a lucky surprise, such as a white thread or a copper coin.
2. Spring Rolls, chūn juăn (春卷)
黄金万两
Luckily, you don’t need to pay a high price to enjoy crunching into the juicy filling of a warm spring roll.
3. Steamed Fish, yú (鱼)
A popular treat in the south, spring rolls are popular during the New Year, because they resemble bars of gold with their crispy, fried dough wrappers.
An appropriate expression here would be this:
"Ten thousand pieces of gold"
huáng jīn wàn liăng
年年有余
4. Sweet Soup Dumplings, tāng yuán (汤圆)
Because the word for fish, yú (鱼), sounds like the word for surplus or abundance, yú (余), it is commonly served for good fortune. Sometimes, you’ll even see two fish served together, to really emphasize abundance.
There may also be cakes or bread products shaped like fish, or fish swimming along on posters and dangling from charms.
Here's a great phrase that plays on “fish” you can say to your friends and colleagues:
Wishing you year after year of abundance
nián nián yŏu yú
喜气洋洋!
Recipe: Red Bean Sticky Rice New Year Cake
Red bean sticky rice cake sliced thin
Ingredients
• 1 16-oz package of glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 to 1 can sweetened red bean paste or sweetened whole red beans
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
吉祥如意
Because 2015 is the year of the sheep, there may also be more dishes and expressions that play on the word sheep, yáng (羊).
So with that in mind, I wish you a holiday that is
Filled with joyful spirit
xĭ qì yáng yáng!
恭喜发财
A wish for good luck and fortune, according to the heart’s desire. This classical phrase can often be spotted on posters and banners,
jí xiáng rú yì
新年快乐
A wish for happiness and great fortune. This expression may be used in more formal settings, or when exchanging gifts.
gōng xĭ fā cái
过年好
A way to wish happiness in the New Year that works in both formal and informal settings.
xīn nián kuài le
Traditionally served during the Lantern Festival, yuán xiāo jié (元宵节), tāng yuán (汤圆) sounds like tuán yuán (团圆), meaning “reunion.” It reminds people of the importance of reuniting often as the Spring Festival comes to an end.
These round mochi rice balls filled with sweet sesame or bean paste are a symbol of togetherness.
The round shapes of these delicacies have no end, and with their fillings, each one holds something dear inside.
5. New Year Cake, nián gāo (年糕)
nián gāo prepared in different ways
The name of this treat literally means “year cake”, but it’s also a homonym for “year high”, meaning you rise in stature and success every year.
You can wish your friends nián nián gāo (年年高) as you share some nián gāo (年糕).
There are many ways to make this cake, with ingredients such as sticky rice, red dates, chestnuts, and more.
Some regions prefer a sweeter version than others. I've got a recipe for a sticky rice (mochi) red bean cake common in southern China. It's a popular version of New Year Cake.
But before we get to the recipe, here are a few more greetings and expressions you can use with your friends or loved ones during the Spring Festival:
A common greeting during the Spring Festival and a simple way of wishing someone a good New Year.
guò nián hăo
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together eggs, sugar, milk, and vegetable oil.
Stir in glutinous rice flour and baking powder. Fold the flour in until the batter is smooth and slightly thickened. It will still be fairly runny.
If you are using whole red beans, stir the red beans into the batter and pour the batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
If you are using red bean paste, pour half the batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Use a tablespoon to spoon a layer of red bean paste into the batter. The batter will be too runny to spread the red bean paste evenly, so it is okay of the red bean paste mixes with the batter. Pour remaining half of the batter into the baking dish so that it covers up the red bean layer.
Bake for 55 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Test with a chopstick or toothpick. If chopstick comes out clean, the cake is done.
Cool and cut into squares to serve.
Note: Leftovers should be stored in the fridge. This cake tastes best reheated in the oven, but it can also be microwaved or pan-fried.
Let me know if you plan on celebrating Chinese New Year in 2015. If you've experienced Chinese New Year celebrations in the past, what activities did you do? Did you eat any of the dishes mentioned in this article? Let me know in the comments below!