Introduction to Mandarin Chinese Mandarin 1 By Hua-Fu Liu

1. Introduction to Mandarin Chinese Mandarin 1 By Hua-Fu Liu Tian Tan, Beijing

2. Simple Greetings • 你好。(nǐhǎo) • 下午好。(xiàwǔhǎo) • 早。(zǎo) • 你好吗﹖(你好嗎﹖) (nǐhǎoma)

3. 我的名字 (wǒdemíngzi) • 刘华馥 (Liú huáfù ) • 刘老师 (Liúlǎoshī)

4. Chinese Languages • Mandarin vs. Chinese • Mandarin is spoken by the Han people in China • Mandarin is a dialect from Beijing • Mandarin is the official language in China • Mandarin’s writing system is well established • Mandarin can be called Putonghua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Zhongwen, Zhongguo Hua • There are over 900 million people speak Mandarin Huang Shan, China

5. Characteristics of Mandarin • Each syllable is a separate character 月（word/one character)；月亮 （word/ two characters) • A lot of them are homonyms (homophonic characters such as jī ) 鸡，肌，基，迹，机，饥

6. Characteristics of Mandarin • Tonal language 妈，麻，马，骂，吗 mā má mǎ mà ma

7. Characteristics of Mandarin • Characters (ideographic script) 日，月，山，木，鸟，鱼，车 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification

8. Characteristics of Mandarin • Isolated language (no declination; no changed in tense, person, number, gender, case, etc.) 是 (shì) • Simplified vs. Traditional characters 龙 学 国 凤 风 龍 學 國 鳳 風 • Pinyin system (letter of Roman alphabet)

9. 中国 • Ice cream was invented in China around  2000BCwhen the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in the snow. • Chinese President Hu Jintao loves Starbucks coffee (and so does Bill Gates). • In 550 AD, two Chinese monks smuggled silkworms out of China and started the western world's silk boom. • Fingerprinting was used in China as early as 700 A.D. • The Chinese physician Hua T'o, born sometime between 140 and 150 A.D., was the first doctor known to perform surgery under general anaesthetic. The potion used to render his patients unconscious was a mixture of hemp and strong wine called ma fei san. Prior to the communist revolution, a national holiday commemorated his birth. [ China | Medicine ] • The Sui, who ruled China briefly around 600 A.D., devoted much of their reign to constructing the Grand Canal, a waterway 100 feet wide, lined with roads and trees, and stretching for 1,000 miles. The canal was completed in less than 25 years, at a terrible cost in human life. Almost 5.5 million people were involved in the construction, and it has been estimated that 2.5 million died due to the harshness of the working conditions. The canal, extending from Peking to Hangchow, is as navigable today as when it was built almost 1,400 years ago. • http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/politics/Interesting-Facts-China.html (all above and more info) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RymsnSfJp7g (Top 10 Extraordinary Facts About China)

10. On-line Materialsof Chinese language • Chinese language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language http://www.chinalanguage.com/ • Written Chinese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_written_language • Chinese Script and Language http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm • Chinese On-line Dictionary www.nciku.com • Provinces of the People's Republic of China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_provinces