Posts by Anthill

Ho ho ho (哈哈哈), a very merry Christmas and happy holidays to ants all over the world. The Anthill is taking a week's break, and will be back in the new year with more narrative sketches and stories from China. Until then, here's a cracker-full of chengyu, four-character Mandarin idioms – some meant for spring festival – that could be repurposed as more Western festive greetings ...

The 28 contributing authors of Unsavory Elements ("Stories of Foreigners on the Loose in China"), last did an AMA – Ask Me Anything – session on Reddit over the weekend. It's a window into the lives and writing of some folk who've been in China a long time, and is worth skimming in full. There were questions and answers across a wide range – from cross-cultural dating to toasting baijiu – but I've selected a few of them here that relate most generally to the expat experience. Enjoy.

There's a new noodle joint on my street, and this is the sign on the window:

After yesterday’s list of must-read China books, here are some tips for beginner Mandarin learners. I originally put this FAQ together for my old Chinese tutor’s blog, and it got me thinking about the motley methods I’ve used since beginning to learn the language in 2008 – including which ones weren’t worth it. Sorry to bore those of you with good Chinese, narrative posts will resume next week, and do post your own thoughts below.

Via Reddit, here's a collection of Pleco snapshots, "Funny/interesting entries from my dictionary app". It's a reminder of the versatility of characters, where one pictograph can have many, seemingly opposing, meanings – such as 哇 (wā), which most will know as the sound a baby makes, but also can mean both surprised delight, and vomming.