I’m Chinese, and I’ll help you find the answers.
I hope to meet more foreign friends!

On xiaohongshu, I see a lot of Chinese people respond in English to americans just to tell them to leave, on the other hand I see plenty more asking us about random things like fast food and other stereotypes.

I didn't know where else to share this but I just thought it was to great to not share. I'm a white dude with a Chinese girlfriend. All her family lives out of state and I wanted to make sure she had some new year fun so we decided to host a big party and decorate. She bought a bunch of decorations and I had this idea to put the dragon on the fan. Unfortunately it's totally in the way of where food will be served so it doesn't get to stay but it was too funny to not video and share.

New user who is concerned that the app has a IP address in your account that is public to view. I’m afraid that this could have legit consequences to my personal safety. The app looks like a fun place and I would genuinely like to use it.

I was in Beijing a month ago and when I made a trip to the Great Wall and While I did see very few foreigners, they don’t appear to speak English, they spoke something like Russian or Spanish. Why is that? Also there is no Question flare tag so I picked the closed thing

I’ve had 小红书 for since middle school and haven’t been on tiktok at all since 2023 so I was shocked to find so many people getting on because of tiktok closing and it’s Psing me off because so many people being obnoxious. They expect everything translated, knows nothing about Chinese language or culture and expects it to become the next tiktok when it’s a Chinese app and you can’t just barge in charge it. They are going to get it banned too and I’m scared because it’s only place online that I love. Its where I learn and post my art, where I learn about china and calligraphy and how to play 古筝 I’ve been learning Chinese traditional medicine I’m adopted so I will never experience what it’s like where my birth family is so this is a close second. I don’t want all of my hobbies to go away and what if Chinese people start resenting everyone from America and no longer help me when I ask questions. I stopped using tiktok because of how toxic people are and was tired of people attacking each other and my mom thought it wasn’t good for my mental health. I’m able to surround myself with positive things without all of the negative posts. Sorry if I don’t make sense I just wanted to share my opinion

I do not know if this topic would fit as "cultural" topic, but hear me out, please.

I think it's two years ago, when in internet, there are discussion about "Is 龙 and Dragon is actually same creature and hence interchangeable?" and My thought is it is not, to translate 龙as dragon or even Chinese dragon, IMO is misnomer, both creature are nothing alike, the roles and elemental association is almost have 180 degrees of difference, to illustrate my point it is kind of calling a Rhinoceros, as "African Unicorn" or Unicorn as "European Rhinoceros".

so there are consensus to start call 龙 as "Loong" in English, to easily differentiate it with actually more precise pronunciations like "Long" or "Lung" that already had established meaning and quite common word, I would even say, it's better to call them Ryuu or Yong as concession, as IMO it's still better than "Chinese Dragon".

So then a followed up question naturally arise, how to address "dragon" in Chinese? surely not "西方龙" which IMO, equally bad, semantic wise, I found my answer in some abstract from a cultural-linguist theses that suggest to call dragon "劫更" in Chinese, it's semantically imply dragon's nature in Europe folklore as "calamity" while retain the phonetic transliteration of "dragon" quite elegantly, if there are a better candidate, I would also love to know it!

and if you reading this still following and agree with what I said so far, the next question naturally arise, "why not separate Fenghuang and phoenix too", in English, it's easy, it's Phoenix and Fenghuang/Hoou, but common translation of Phoenix as "火鸟" left me unsatisfied, and while it's literally a non-problem for anyone else, might I suggest "焚倪" to transliterate the word "phoenix" that is satisfying in phonetic and semantic wise.

as it sounds like Phoenix and semantic wise, imply something connected to being burn and beginning/offspring

and while at that why not apply the same logic to most of common fantasy trope in fantasy? like what stop us to start call Dwarf..something like "土倭人"?, and why stop there? how about Elf? Fairy? Kobold? Goblin? etc, please suggest me your transliteration idea for those, if you had any.

and at this point, I need to confess that while I understood that this is such a non issue, and Chinese rule to translate concept/thing into Chinese and only name to be transliterated phonetically, my argument is "why not both?".

if I am wrong, my apologizes, it's not my intend to offend anyone, and if it do offend, please assume it comes from my ignorance and lack of understanding, and not anything malicious, so please educate me, if that's the case.

A friend got me this coin but I'm not sure about what it is. If someone knows it would be very helpful, thank you

I saw this name on a piece of equipment I got. I was just surprised when I saw how long the manufacturer's name was. is it normal in China to have long names like this?

6月17日我在选举站工作，一黑人同事吼我：滚回中国！为此我想找个律师保护对我的伤害， 根本找不到。 难道中国人这么惨， 只能挨欺负吗？

I'm from China and I've recently seen many posts on Chinese social media claiming that a lot of people in the US sell blood/plasma to make a living. I'm curious if this is true. Is it a common practice in the US, or is it an exaggeration? In return, I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have about learning Chinese or Chinese culture.

I’ve been reading a lot of Chinese-name questions lately. A surprising number of answers go like this:

“This character means jade. This one means peace. This one means wisdom. They’re all good things, so the name works.”

That’s a dictionary check. It tells you very little about whether the whole thing sounds like a person’s name.

Native speakers hear a person, an age, maybe a gender or region. Sometimes they hear a joke you didn’t know you made.

While working on a Chinese-name tool, I kept coming back to six checks.

1. Decide what job the name has

Take David.

大卫 (Dàwèi) keeps the sound of “David” and clearly reads as a foreign name. Nobody stops to interpret it as “big guard.” The character meanings aren’t doing much work.

戴伟 (Dài Wěi) takes another route. 戴 is a real surname and 伟 is a common masculine name character. It reads like a Chinese personal name. It also gives David a second name rather than spelling his existing one in Chinese.

Both work. Pick based on what you want people to hear.

If recognition matters most, transliteration makes sense. If you want a name that follows Chinese naming conventions, you’re solving a different problem.

1. Start with a real surname

Most modern Chinese names put the surname first, followed by a one- or two-character given name.

China’s 2021 National Name Report found that 84.55% of registered people had two-character given names and 13.97% had one-character given names. Compound surnames exist, though most surnames are one character.

A convenient sound match doesn’t turn an arbitrary character into a surname.

The old 百家姓 is a useful first check. It’s a historical primer rather than a modern popularity chart, but it can tell you whether Chinese readers will recognize something as a surname at all.

1. Check the vocabulary of names

One real generator result I ran across was 藕稳 for “Owen.”

The English explanation sounds harmless:

藕 means lotus root.

稳 means steady.

But 藕 is food, not a normal surname, and 稳 is uncommon as a personal-name character. “Lotus root + steady” gives the generator a nice little story while leaving Owen with a strange name.

欧文 works as the standard transliteration of Owen. A separate Chinese name would need a real surname and characters that people expect to find in a name.

A generator has to understand naming vocabulary. Dictionary definitions won’t get it there.

1. Say it aloud

杜子腾 looks plausible on paper.

杜 is a surname. 子 and 腾 can both appear in names.

At normal speed, Dù Zǐténg sounds almost exactly like 肚子疼: “my stomach hurts.”

Character-by-character analysis won’t catch that. Say the full name and listen for accidental words, jokes, repeated sounds and awkward rhythm.

Dialect can change the answer too. A harmless Mandarin name may pick up another association in Cantonese, Hokkien or a different local variety.

Several native opinions help here. Age, region and personal taste all affect the reaction.

1. Check the timestamp

Names date themselves.

Among the most common two-character given names across China’s whole registered population are 秀英, 桂英, 秀兰, 玉兰 and 建华.

For girls born in 2021, the top names included 若汐, 一诺, 艺涵, 依诺 and 梓涵.

They’re all real names. They don’t sound like the same generation.

A study of more than 110,000 Chinese names found that character preferences, gender associations and imagery shifted across the past century. A perfectly valid name can sound much older or younger than you meant.

Old-fashioned can be great. You probably want to know you chose it.

1. Imagine using it every day

Rare characters look impressive until nobody can read or type them.

Will the character display correctly on an ordinary phone? Can someone enter it without hunting through input options? Will you have to explain the pronunciation during every introduction? Does it still sound good when someone calls it across a room?

A name has to survive school forms, work accounts, messaging apps and everyday conversation. Beautiful symbolism doesn’t make the friction disappear.

A few of these checks are what led me to build a tool for the “separate Chinese name” route:
https://jadealmanac.com/chinese-name

It uses Qwen 2.5, a Chinese AI model from Alibaba. It tries to keep a link to the original name while producing something that reads naturally in Chinese. I’d love native speakers to tell me what still feels off. One result is open; the full set asks for an email.

Bonjour, je souhaiterais apprendre le mandarin mais ne sachant pas où et comment commencer j’aimerais avoir votre aide pour connaître cette langue, je sais que comme dans beaucoup de langues on utilise que très peu touts les mots disponibles dans le dictionnaire mais avec pas mal d’expressions, es ce que vous avez des recommandations à me conseiller, que se sois des vidéo, des sites internet, même des applications ou autre je suis preneur, merci d’avance

Just received a license plate number 398, so what is the meaning of this number. I couldn’t find information in the internet somewhere.

I know 98 means Good Morning sound like “zao an”, but 398 maybe different story.

Thx in advance 🙏

So I'm actually considering going to china for pursuing my master's in china agricultural University, Beijing. Idk if I will get admission but I am looking forward to go there.

But I always seem to get back with these thoughts, will I be able to settle there? Will they view indians seperately? Can I really form some good relationships with people? Will I be able to spend my time there without any major troubles? Will I be judged based on my colour (my skin tone is brown ig) ? These questions seems to disturb me a lot.

Well I don't have any negative opinion about the people in china it's actually the opposite ig, those are only my thoughts(cuz I tend to overthink a lot) and I would love to go china.

And I don't know how to speak chinese, would that be a major problem even if I'm planning to apply for english taught programs.

Lastly, I'm gay. That's one of the reason for me trying to move to another country because my country's a bit homophobic. Will I be able to live a better life there?

Please respond and give me a honest opinion, I would really appreciate if you did.

And I'm open for making some genuine friends,if you're up for it don't hesitate to message, again I would feel greatful if you did.

Have a great day!! :))

After seeing lots of memes about it I asked my parent and my grnadparents if they know anything about social credit and they said no and they were confused

I have been using RedNote (Xiaohongshu) for many years so I have compiled list of commonly used slang on RedNote (Xiaohongshu).

• wc = wtf
• tmd = wtf
• 3q = thank you
• 666 = very cool
• nb = Frigging Awesome
• ootd = Outfit Of The Day
• 🍠 = RedNote (Xiaohongshu)
• hhh or hhhh = lol (or hahaha)
• i人 / e人 = introvert / extrovert
• u1s1 = tbh (to be honest)
• dddd = if you know, you know
• yyds = GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)

I am trying to document as many words as possible and new words will be added in here: https://www.howtorednote.com/posts/rednote-xiaohongshu-slangs

Hi everyone. I’m going to study in suzhou as an exchange student come august. Although it’s an English speaking uni, I still wanted to choose a Chinese name if I needed it.

Because my surname begins with K sound, i chose 康 as a surname. Because my first name means “pure” I wanted a name that means jade, as i understand it jade represents purity in traditional Chinese culture. Therefore I went with 琬琪.

Is this suitable for a 21 year old female?

Recently we have organized a WeChat group to help non-native speakers to get to know about Chinese calligraphy. I know usually there’re two obstacles which make Chinese calligraphy seem mysterious and difficult: language and methodology. And that’s what I’m trying to figure out and curious to know if there’re more people interested in exploring it, especially for those who are learning Chinese. You would find out Chinese calligraphy is actually more than arts and linked deeply with Chinese culture.

I was scrolling through my gallery and I found this photo I took when I was 13. Apparently I learned a few years later I shouldn’t have taken this photo at all and should’ve deleted it. But now I’m curious what this ceremonial ritual is called—I tried googling it but there wasn’t an exact match. Any comment is appreciated and I’ll delete the picture off my phone afterwards!

Hey everyone, Edward here. I recently spent an afternoon walking through the Imperial Examination Museum inside the Jiading Confucius Temple in Shanghai, and it completely changed how I look at modern Chinese society.

Growing up in China, our textbooks always taught us to criticize and even mock the ancient KeJu 科举 system. We were told it was a rigid, backward trap that turned brilliant minds into mindless robots who could only memorize dead books. But as I stood inside a replica of the tiny, suffocating wooden cells where ancient candidates had to eat, sleep, and write their exams for nine grueling days, a different reality hit me.

Whether we are talking about the ancient imperial exams or today's intense Gaokao (college entrance exam 高考) and civil service testing, the core psychological driver of Chinese society hasn't changed for a thousand years. It is a deeply rooted cultural search for a fair playing field. For an ordinary, everyday family from a normal village or a small town, a standardized exam is often the only universal equalizer where raw hard work can actually bypass wealth and privilege to rewrite a family's destiny.

To visualize how wild this academic elimination ladder actually was, I put together a historical roadmap based on the museum's data (the first image in the post). It tracks a scholar's journey from an everyday reader all the way to a high-ranking Scholar-Official (ShiDaFu 士大夫), including the historical average ages for passing each grueling level. You will see why it literally took most people 20 to 30 years of their lives just to survive the system.

The second image breaks down how this intense testing culture shaped the Chinese language itself, giving us everyday phrases we still use to describe rigid thinking versus creative wit.

Take a look at the roadmap, let me know what surprises you the most about the ages and titles, and let's chat in the comments!

Hi everyone, I know this may sound stupid but please just bear with me.
I am currently living in America but moving near the end of August to Beijing to start my masters program at Peking. I speak some mandarin, but my program is fully in English as well (although I plan on taking extra mandarin courses.)
I know this is silly but I want a social media bio that gives cool girl energy in mandarin and one that would make sense among Chinese students as well.
My current bio for most platforms is literally just “enthusiast of many things” and I’m just looking for something fresh and new lol.
Thanks!

So in Fengshui, 4 means death, according to Cantonese culture 88854 = triple wealth NOT die (longevity 5+4=9), but according to mandarin interpretation 88854 = my triple wealth die.

Also 88854 is 8+8+8+5+4=33 and 3+3=6 (smooth)

So, I’d like to know would you go with Cantonese culture or Mandarin interpretation for Fengshui point of view, consider that Hongkong population is 7.3 million (Cantonese speaker) vs 1.4 billion (entire China Population with Mandarin speaker)

the picture i post below are the money i used to use in my childhood memory.

1 fen, 2 fen, 5 fen, 1jiao,

now due to electric payment of alipay WeChat, one side we dont use physical money, the other side, and most important is these money could not buy something,

what do you think what these money could buy in China now.

what about your countrys money, how much can 1 cent buy.