If you are applying for jobs in China, you may be expected to have some basic idea about China and its culture. Although knowledge of Chinese culture may not be a decisive factor in your job selection, but it’s likely to add value to the final job application outcome. So are you interested to learn Chinese culture? If so, this post will help you. However, before we dig the culture, let me put up the question again – do you know how long does it take to learn Chinese culture? Well, you’ll have a better idea after reading this post, and hopefully you’d discover China more meaningfully.
Related post – Learn Chinese Fast!
In fact, this is the 2nd part about tips for learning Chinese culture. You may check out the Part 1 as well. These two posts would give you a variety of ideas about Chinese culture.
Learn Chinese Language
Well, learning Chinese culture without learning Mandarin wouldn’t be complete. Do you know how to learn Mandarin? Although books can help you, finding a good book is not easy. So I’ll recommend you a book-
LC9001/LC9002 Chinese Language Level 1 & 2 (Pearson)
This book is officially recommended for the beginner students in NTU Singapore. Related post – How Long Does It Take To Learn a Language?
Common mandarin words AND SLANGS
You are advised to learn at least a few common mandarin words. I have listed some common Chinese slang-words here. In fact, Chinese characters and words may often have deep meanings. Once I was talking to a Chinese guy and asked him how many children he wanted, he replied me – “two”. Why only 2 (why not 1 or 3), I just asked him out of curiosity.
He explained to me that in Mandarin there is a character 好, pronounced as Hao (such as in Ni Hao). Hao means good. However, if you look closely at the character, it has two components – 女 and 子. Actually, these two components, each, have their own independent meanings. For example 女 means girl/women and 子 means son. So having a girl and a male child collectively means “Hao” or good.
女 + 子 = 好 (Hao)
Girl + Boy = 女 + 子 = 好 = Hao/good
You may often hear Chinese people saying that they’d prefer two children – one boy, one girl as it represent “goodness”.
There are so many such Common mandarin words in Chinese with deep meanings.
Chinese holidays and celebrations
In China, there are a few long weekends (around Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc.). The long weekends of Chinese holidays and celebrations are the peak travel season and the flight fares are often skyrocketing. The festivals also include eating a variety of delicious food. For example, a mooncake (月饼) is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節).
Travel and discover China
What else can be a better way to know a country than to visit it personally? I have written a series of articles about my travelling experiences in the mainland China. Well, China has a growing economy and there are a variety of cities. However, try to not miss the cultural cities.
In fact, Beijing is not just a political capital of China, but also a cultural hub. So a trip to Beijing is a must if you are travelling to China. Moreover, if you visit, for example, only Shanghai, you’ll miss the beauty of cities like Xi’an (the ancient capital). If you are in China, try to visit cities like Xi’an, Beijing, etc.
Moving to China
A couple of trips to China won’t suffice. A better way to discover China and learn its culture extensively could be live in China for a long time – find a job. Check out my post – Living in China -Moving to China for Postdoc, Jobs & Careers.
Play Chinese games
China has its own variety of games. Here is the video that I took in Beijing near Temple of Heaven (天壇). See if you like the traditional shuttlecock kicking game. It’s locally known as Jianzi (毽子) – a Chinese national sports game.
Drink Chinese tea
The tea culture is another wonderful dimension of Chinese tradition. There are so many types of tea in China. My favourite Chinese tea is Pu’er tea (sounds like “Poor tea”). Once I asked my Chinese friends about the same, and they said Pu’er tea is neither a “Poor tea” nor poor’s tea. 🙂
Join Chinese society/clubs
Well, I started learning about Chinese culture after joining a Chinese society and I was a society member for 3 years. My life changed a lot after joining Chinese society and then came a time when I had jobs in China.
So joining a society could be another way to learn and improve your Chinese skills. You can find a Chinese club in your university (or city). Generally, Chinese people are super enthusiastic about telling you details of Chinese traditions/cultures.
So How Long Does it Take to Learn Chinese Culture?
It’s going to take years! Learning Mandarin would require you to be in China for a long-long time. Don’t rush – as long as you are genuinely interested, you’ll learn Chinese culture slowly but surely. If you want to speed up your learning, you may consider living in China. As such, for a Chinese culture enthusiast, there is no substitute of physically living in China. 🙂
That’s all for this post on how long does it take to learn Chinese culture!
Please note that I am in no way an expert in Chinese culture. I am still very much a beginner and my advice is for the foreigners who are interested in Chinese culture. For a deeper understanding, you’d consult the native Chinese.
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You can also check out my other posts about Chinese tourism from my previous trips, or the other countries. You can also find more about me.
Hope now you have a better understanding about Chinese culture (how long does it take to learn Chinese culture). Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Last updated: Monday, June 25, 2018