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About Chinese

The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語 or 中文) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. About one-fifth of the world speaks some form of Chinese as its native language, making it the most common natively-spoken language in the world.


There is great internal variety within Chinese, and spoken Chinese languages such as Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), Shanghainese (Wu) and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, there is a single standardized form of Chinese known as Standard Mandarin, which is based on the dialect of Beijing, which in turn is just one dialect within Mandarin, a large and diverse group of Chinese dialects spoken in Northern and Southwestern China. Standard Mandarin is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, one of four official languages of Singapore, and one of six official languages of the United Nations. Standard Mandarin also corresponds to the modern standard written Chinese language used by people speaking all forms of Chinese from all corners of China, including Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Hakka, Min-nan, and so forth. This textbook will teach Standard Mandarin, both spoken and written.


Chinese grammar is in many ways simpler than European languages (for example, you will see no tenses, plurals, or subject-verb agreement), but there are also plenty of pitfalls that will trip up the unsuspecting beginner (for example, you will encounter tones, measure words, and discourse particles, which do not feature as strongly in European languages.) In addition, the complexity of the writing system often daunts newcomers, as Chinese is one of the few languages in the world that does not use an alphabet or a syllabary; instead, thousands of characters are used, each representing a word or a part of a word. The government of China has developed a system of writing Standard Mandarin pronunciation in the Roman alphabet, known as Hanyu Pinyin or pinyin (汉语拼音/漢語拼音, "spelling according to sounds"). Hanyu Pinyin is used to write out Chinese words phonetically in an effort to help learners of Chinese with their pronunciation. This wikibook will teach you Hanyu Pinyin first, before any actual sentences. All examples and new vocabulary will always be given together with Hanyu Pinyin.

There are two character sets: Simplified Chinese characters (简体字/簡體字) and Traditional Chinese characters (繁体字/繁體字). Traditional characters trace their lineage back through thousands of years of Chinese history, and continue to be used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and among many overseas Chinese. Simplified Chinese characters were the result of reforms carried out in Mainland China to increase literacy rates and is now used there and in Singapore. The two systems share many of the same characters unchanged or with systematic predictable reductions in stroke; however, some changes are not as formulaic. As a result, most native Chinese speakers are able to write in only one of the two systems, though they can usually read both. You are recommended to do the same. It is considered easier for people who learn Traditional to read both sets than people who learn Simplified only, but Simplified characters may be less intimidating for beginners. In this wikibook, all examples and vocabulary are given in both systems, and you are encouraged to choose one system and stick with it throughout.

Chinese characters have also been used in the past by other neighbouring Asian countries, and are still being used by some of them today. Older Koreans still know how to read and write Chinese characters, though the younger generation has been taught almost exclusively to write in the Korean script, hangul. The Japanese still preserve many Chinese characters (which they call kanji) today and use them to write the Japanese language.

Chinese culture points Chinese Knot As is well-known, Beijing's Olympic emblem for candidature competition features a stylized traditional Chinese handicraft pattern - "Chinese knot", using the typical colors of the five Olympic rings. The knot here has another beautiful name called "knot of one heart", which connotes the unity of, cooperation among, exchange between and development for the peoples all over the world. Actually, Chinese Knot has a long history, a fine process and profound cultural connotations. It appeared in ancient times when our ancestors tied knots to keep records, developed as a type of decoration in Tang and Song Dynasty, and was popularized in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Purely hand-made, every Chinese Knot is woven out of one entire silk thread in various symmetrical shapes and colors. To fit in with the needs of modern life, Chinese Knot has developed various products. The two main series are auspicious hanging and knitting clothing adornment. Auspicious hanging includes large tapestry, big room hanging, automobile hanging etc. Knitting clothing adornment includes ring, eardrop, hand chain, necklace and other women's special adornments. In the traditional Chinese folklore, the knot is deemed to be the best ornament as well as a mascot, which wards off evils and subdue inauspiciousness, as "knot", in Chinese language, has the meanings of reunion, friendliness, warm, marriage, love etc. In addition, "knot" and "luck, felicity" have the same pronunciation, so Chinese knots are often used to express some good wish including happy, prosper, love and no evil. Besides, different knots, bestowed names in tune with their shapes and implied meanings can be paired to constitute an array of peculiar patterns, which present in-depth implications and all kinds of strong, passionate and sweet greetings. For example, "Full of joy". "Happiness & Longevity", "Double Happiness", "Luck and Auspiciousness as one wish" are Chinese traditional pleasant phrases expressing warmest regards, best wishes and finest ideal. Quietly, Chinese style has swept the entire world. We can always see lots of modern ladies in the western countries, with gingery hair and blue eyes, wearing a piece of traditional Chinese-style dresses such as cheong-sam. These exquisitely symmetrical knots which serve as adornments are as profound as the great cultural heritage of the Chinese people. Words and Phrases: Chinese Knot: 中国结 （zhōnɡ ɡuó jié）