《将进酒》, known officially in English as Ballad of Sword and Wine, really surprised me; admittedly, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I picked up this danmei web novel. I knew very little about it, only that the plot is heavy on politics, with lots of characters and factions.
I was quite unprepared for the level of politics and complexity.
Thinking back, I feel I should have done a little bit more research and read a few more lighter historical novels before jumping into this.
Boox is a brand of e-ink devices, including e-readers and monitors, by the Chinese company Onyx International Inc.
In my opinion, Boox devices are one of the best and most accessible for Chinese learners from around the world. They ship to many countries, and in some regions, it’s also available on Amazon. They aren’t a new company, and their devices are popular in the Chinese market, so they won’t be going out of business anytime soon.
Road to Empress 《女王的游戏：盛世天下》 is my first full-motion video (FMV) interactive game.
It’s essentially a long movie where you can choose which direction the main characters go in, and these choices will affect changes in the story and the ending you’ll land on.
I’ve had some experience with interactive movies; there are some on Netflix, but nothing to the same scale as Road to Empress.
I’ve completed both games, and even 100% the first game on Steam. I really enjoyed them!
Chinese web novels (known as 网文) are the best reading material for a second-language learner. They are cheap (sometimes even free), easily accessible, have shorter chapters, and are compatible with pop-up dictionary reader tools such as Readibu and Yomitan.
Web novels are hugely popular in China, with dozens of platforms to choose from, but not all are easily accessible to you as a language learner outside China.
In this post, I will show you the best and most accessible platforms for reading Chinese web novels to help you further improve your Chinese.
You’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese for a while, may have had many lessons or may have completed a course, but you still feel you’re far away.
When you open a danmei webnovel, you don’t recognise most of the words and are not able to comprehend the sentence.
So, how do you go from being a learner to actually reading danmei webnovels? And how do you know it’s going to work?
“I speak Mandarin with my family, but how can I learn to read?” “I can read some Chinese characters, how can I learn more?” and “I used to be fluent in Chinese, but I’ve forgotten it. How can I regain this and learn to read?” are common questions asked by many people of Chinese heritage around the world.
Technology and the internet have changed our world in unimaginable ways and have affected how we learn languages. With access to millions of hours of content from all over the world, learning and improving a language couldn’t be easier, especially if you already have some experience with Chinese.
I’m a heritage speaker from a Cantonese-speaking background. I’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese for over five years. In this post, I will show you ways you, as someone with a background in Mandarin, can quickly and easily improve your reading abilities!
Chinese historical drama (also known as costume or period drama) is gaining popularity in the global entertainment space.
They are a brilliant form of escapist entertainment, but due to their traditional, cultural, and historical references and nuances, they’re not easy to understand if you’re completely new to them.
Whether you are interested in diving into Chinese historical drama or are a Chinese second-language learner looking to consume more content, I have just the right recommendations for you.
I’ve put together a list of interesting Chinese historical dramas with straightforward plots and not much politics. I feel these types of shows are perfect for newcomers to the genre.
Chinese historical dramas (also known as costume/period dramas) can be particularly challenging for second-language learners. They are rich in historical and cultural references, and along with formal dialogue and archaic language, the comprehension difficulty is much higher than that of modern dramas.
With the rising popularity and sheer volume of available drama on international platforms, it’s overwhelming for newcomers to the genre and Chinese language learners to figure out where to begin.
To make your immersion journey easier, I have put together a selection of historical-theme Chinese dramas that not only provide an excellent introduction to the genre but are also well-suited for language learners to start picking up common vocabulary.
《成何体统》 How Dare You!? is not just another historical Chinese drama that features a transmigrator as the main character; it features multiple transmigrators.
I first discovered this series from a clip on social media from the animation (动画 – donghua), which showed two transmigrators speaking English to each other. This instantly caught my attention, and I went on to watch season 1 of the animation, which I absolutely loved!
The completed live-action was released before the full season 2 of the animation was released, so I had to binge-watch it.
Is 成何体统 any different from other transmigration shows? Let’s discuss.
My Time at Sandrock is the second instalment of the My Time series, created by an independent studio in China, Pathea Games.
The My Time series games are very high quality, with over 70 hours of storyline, and most of the dialogues are voiced in both Mandarin Chinese and English.
The two games, My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock, are huge favourites of the cosy gaming community. After many years of putting it off, I finally played My Time at Sandrock.
