Have you ever found yourself thinking and wondering what somebody meant when he or she used a certain phrase? For instance, if your friend told you to “belt up”, what does he or she mean? Or if he or she said you are “cheeky”. Although these phrases are pure English and you are from the [...]
The year’s ending again, which means the holidays are right around the corner. You may be craving some good old family time, roast beef and Christmas ornaments to get in the mood, but you happen to not be at home? No worries, turns out (most) Chinese cities have the same on offer during this special [...]
Some of us have been living in China for decades, some of us for only a week. Either way, we have all been in that situation where we need to haggle and barter for something at some point. Want that Burberry scarf, but deciding that 100 Euro seems a tad excessive? Haggle with a guy [...]
Many think that the Chinese language is one of the most difficult to learn. But the difficulty is relative. It depends on how much you want to learn Chinese and the methods you use for learning it. Many language schools provide formal lessons and several learning tools are available online. You just have to find [...]
Many would consider this an odd sight, it is a sweltering 40°C day and the sun is beating down, you reach for your bottle only to find it filled with boiling hot water. This might seem odd to those from Europe or America, but for those from China this is simply business as [...]
Beers, beaches, and nature galore. Just a few wonderful things that Qingdao has to offer. With a population of more than 9 million, Qingdao is one of Shandong’s Provinces major cities. This also translates to a nice environment with enough things to do and see. Below we give you an idea what exactly there is [...]
This week we have a special interview from a former Hutong School student, Laura Lee. She launched her career when she began working at lg2 located in Montreal, Canada. 18 months later she was mandated to lead the web design team in Beijing, later bought by Altima°, a known leader in E-commerce. A part-time Digital Nomad, [...]
This week we have a special interview from a former Hutong School student, Michael Danahy. Originally from the United States and graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Michael took Hutong School's intensive language course for 3 months at the beginning of 2018 in Shanghai and will be attending graduate school to further [...]
“What are you laughing at?” I bet you’ve heard sayings such as “Laughter is the fastest way to connect two hearts”, or “Laughter is the best medicine” before. Humor and laughter is a big part of any culture, but can vary in format, and language. In Denmark, the humour is very dark like the [...]
To all those Chinese learners out there, we're here for you, because we know the struggle of studying Chinese. This language can be extremely difficult with the many different tones, characters, and pinyin. Not only are the tones difficult to memorize, knowing how to pronounce them and actually being able to pronounce them is a [...]
