The Chinese Language

Description: Advanced Placement Chinese Language and Culture (commonly known as AP Chinese Language and Culture or AP Chinese) offers high school students an opportunity to earn credit for Chinese courses at the college level. Like other College Board programs, it is available to anyone worldwide who wishes to participate.

year of his life. This year, Shao will take the National University Entrance Examinations, which

Furthermore, the language, art, and celebrations are a few of the intriguing aspects of the Chinese culture. Initially, there are seven dominant dialects of the Chinese language. Each of these languages also have their own variations. For instance, Mandarin dialects are spoken by 71.5 percent, Wu 8.5 percent, and Yu (also known as Cantonese) 5

According to Marco Polo’s book, The Travels of Marco Polo, Quanzhou, a charming and quiet country had a great abundance of supplies for life’s necessities. (Doc A) This is significant because it vividly describes the daily life of Quanzhou, where citizens enjoyed a peaceful and quiet life; where a main reason that Quanzhou has such an abundance of necessities is due to all of the goods brought into the port. This supports that the cultural world was most affected by Quanzhou as a site of encounter because the citizens of Quanzhou were able to live a peaceful life, not having to worry about a lack of food or water etc. In his book, The Travels of Marco Polo, Marco Polo said that throughout Quanzhou, there was only one language and one kind of writing used but due to all of the foreign trade, there were many local differences of dialect. (Doc A) This is important because being a site of encounter exposed Quanzhou to many foreign countries in which the foreigners settled into the Quanzhou and spoke their own language; which created a language variety in this city. With such a variety of language located in this city, many native Chinese were able to learn the foreign languages where if they ever left China, they are able to communicate. In addition, knowing all these languages expanded the average Chinese

The language of our people is English, like Americans, and Mandarin, due to Chinese influence. English is taught in the beginning of a child's school experience up until graduation.

Money, units, measurements, language and even writing was standardized all around China. His idea to standardize money gave the whole nation only one currency so no other currency was valid during his reign as emperor. This was known as one of the biggest currency change around ancient times. The standardization of writing and language allowed China to communicate effectively across one side of China to another. This particularly helped in times of war because messages and orders were able to transport from one side to another very quickly. Shi Huangdi removed 3000 characters from the Chinese alphabet and only placed one main alphabet for people to write with within his nation. All of his standardization from measurements, currency to language and writing all helped in one of China’s major economic income which we all know as trade.

To be orphaned from my native language felt, and still feels, a crucial decision” (Li 144). Yiyun mentions how she does not write in Chinese nor does she have her books translated into Chinese. The reason for Yiyun distancing herself from her native language is because it is not “her private language.” In her memoir, Yiyun expands on how English is her private language. According to Yiyun, “English is my private language. Every word has to be pondered over before it becomes my word...In my relationship with English, in this relationship with its intrinsic distance that makes people look askance, I feel invisible but not estranged. It is the position I believe I always want in life” (Li,146). In the English language, Yiyun felt she could truly express herself. Every word she thought and wrote down belonged to her. Chinese, on the other hand, was her public language. In Chinese, Yiyun questioned if “one could form a precise thought, recall an accurate memory, or even feel a genuine feeling” (Li 147). In other words, Chinese limited the way Yiyun could express her emotion and ideas, which is why she chose to distance herself from it.

Considered as the ultimate ‘bible’ of TCM, the Nei Jing sets forth the foundations of Chinese

It's been a country whose language and culture make up their traditions. It is a country with certain rules, that are considered traditional and respectful. Such as there is a certain way to serve a cup of tea and a certain way to greet an older individual. Chinese people communicate with other individuals by speaking Chinese, but like any other country they also communicate with others by using facial or hand gestures. It is quite interesting knowing some of their gestures not only have a different meaning compared to other countries, but some of their gestures have more than one meaning. For example, Tu/Shen Shetou (sticking one’s tongue) is mainly interpreted as wanting to say something, but not knowing what exactly to say, due their disbeliefs.” But “Sticking out the tongue is also interpreted as I did not know this could happen, I feel something, and I found out about something”. “Mu Deng Kou Dai (wide-open eyes) also has different interpretations, but this time is due to the variety of emotions it carries.” (Ye 2016:204-206). In other words, in China wide-open eyes is mainly interpreted as a “mixture of emotions rather than surprised”. “For example, it can be interpreted as feeling bad for someone, feeling scared, or feeling startled.” (Ye 2016:205). On the other hand, there are also gestures that the Chinese culture tries to avoid such as “Mei Fei Se Wu (raising one’s eyebrows)

China had been composed of clashing groups of people with differing languages and cultures since the Warring States Period. Shi Huangdi established the first empire of China, the Qin, and creates uniform systems of weight, measurement, and coinage; a uniform law code; regulations regarding the lengths of axles on carts; and a common system of writing to unify the people of China. After the Qin Dynasty fell, the Han Dynasty adopted the systems of standardization used by the Qin. They were able to build roads, expand in population and size, and take part in trade due to a culture made of common, uniform systems. While a common system of writing was established in the Han Dynasty, it was controlled by the elite class so that no one else could outdo them in education and overtake their positions of control. In the Roman Empire, Diocletian created a series of reforms as emperor which controlled prices on goods, which was set in a standard system of money. Latin language and religion were other examples of standardized aspects of Roman society. Standardization was critical in both civilizations because both the Han and Romans controlled such a vast, diverse empire, and they had to have a common means of communication and commerce across the regions. Standardization allowed the civilizations to expand and flourish while keeping certain aspects of politics under governmental control.

English is the mostly widely spoken language, 65% of the population speaking English whereas 17% speak Chinese.

Chinese culture is truly one of the great civilization our world has come across. It boasts a vast geographic expanse, over 4000 years of written history, as well as a rich and profound traditional society. Many aspects of Chinese civilization can be traced back many centuries. It is so diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended, and presents itself a priceless benefit to the world.

The Chinese alphabet is very different from the others because characters represent whole ideas, concepts, or words. The dialect does not determine the symbols to be used and they are uniform throughout the different dialects. Chinese people speak the Mandarin and Cantonese. Cantonese dialect happens to be common and it is mainly spoken in the south while Mandarin is common in the northern part of the country. It is worth noting that a dialect is the way words are pronounced but not how they are written. Moreover, it is

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

Everyone has a different interpretation of the word, “invention”. However the word is simply defined as; a new device, method of process developed from study and experimentation. An invention is just a mental fabrication; it’s a falsehood (Dictionary.com 2013).1 Although in the essays, “Why I write” by Joan Didion, “Life in a new Language” by Eva Hoffman, and “Basmati Rice: An Essay about Words” by Audrey Thomas, each author has their own view on the English language, how they each began inventing their own writing styles, and also their reasons for why they chose to become writers. These are the three things that make their definitions of invention very particular and their own.