jenny's blog

春节期间，你可能会看到在一些地方的门上贴着两张虎目圆睁1、披盔戴甲2 的男人的画。

During Spring Festival, you may see portrays of two fierce-looking men outside of the main doors in some places.

他们被叫做“门神”。

These two men are called “door gods”.

现在，我们常见的门神分别被叫做秦琼和尉迟恭。他们是中国唐朝皇帝唐太宗的两个将军3。

Nowadays, the door gods we see are called Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong. They are two generals of Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty.

相传4，唐太宗有一次生病，被梦魇5所扰，彻夜6不得安宁，于是他便命两位将军手持武器于门外镇守，结果第二天夜里就睡了个好觉。

Now that we have began our days into the New Year of 2019, the Chinese are starting to prepare for the Chinese New Year.
If you have been visiting supermarkets, you will realise that they have already began selling all the Chinese New Year goodies and products are being packaged in the signature RED packagings.

As the Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, it changes every year. This year, Chinese New Year 2019 in Singapore will begin on Tuesday, 5 February. This is perhaps why many of the stores are already well underway in its preparations.

春节还有不到一个月就要来了！我们来一起学习春节的各种习俗吧！

CNY is less than a month away! Let’s learn the various customs of the Spring Festival.

““除尘”就是打扫房屋。这个传统可以追溯到几千年前。按照习俗，除尘的日期一般是农历腊月廿四日，也是今年的公历1月29日。

‘chuchen’ means house cleaning. This ritual can be traced back thousands of years ago. According to the ritual, house cleaning usually takes place on 24th Dec of the Agricultural calendar, which falls on 29th Jan this year.

在新年前，各家各户会进行大扫除，把房间的每个角落彻底地打扫得干干净净。

Before CNY, every family will do a thorough cleaning, do not leave any corner unattended.

美方将派代表团与本月7日和8日访问北京。这是自中美双方在G20会议后第一次面对面协商。

The US is sending a delegation team to Beijing on 7th and 8th Jan. This negotiation will be the first face-to-face of the two countries since the G20.

在G20会议上，双方领导人同意暂停征收更多关税。但是在过去的一个月里，中国华为在他国市场碰壁、美国苹果手机销量下降等等新闻依旧意味着双方需要尽快商讨一个切实可行的解决方式，否则两国的经济很可能会都会受到负面影响，两败俱伤。

It is now 2019!! Happy New Year all!
When it comes to the New Year, we will definitely think about New Year Resolutions, which in Chinese is 新年计划 (xīnnián jìhuà).

Let's explore some of the common New Year Resolutions in Chinese.

1. To exercise more: 多运动 (duō yùndòng)

2. To lose weight: 减肥。(jiǎnféi.)

3. To eat healthier: 饮食健康 (yǐnshí jiànkāng)

The new year is already here, will Chinese New Year be far?

2019年的农历新年，或春节，是公历2月5日，距离现在还有34天。

The Chinese new year of Agricultural calendar of 2019, or spring festival, is 5th February of the Gregorian calendar, 34 days from today.

华人庆祝两个新年，公历新年（元旦）和农历新年（春节）。

Chinese celebrate two new year days, Gregorian calendar new year and Agricultural calendar new year.

在大多数华人人的眼里，春节比元旦更重要，因为它记载着中华人民五千年以来的传统。中国各地的传统并不完全一样，不过一些比较典型并广为人知的包括舞狮、贴春联、放烟花、给红包等等。

因为预算僵局（jiāngjú. Stalemate），美国政府部分部门关闭已将近一周。在此期间，特朗普和民主党都是严守阵地（yánshǒuzhèndì. Strongly hold the base），寸步不让（cùnbùbúràng. Do not back off even an inch of step; do not compromise）。

Due to the budget hold-up, partial US government branches have been shut down for almost a week. During this period, both Trump and the Democratic party has been standing by their decisions without compromise.

围绕美墨边境墙的57亿美元预算问题，国会和白宫谈掰（tánbāi. Cannot reach an agreement）了。

2019年快要来了。在中国，一年的第一天有一个独特的名字：元旦。

2019 is coming soon. In China, the first day of a year has a unique name: ‘yuandan’.

“元”有开始的意思，而“旦”指天明的时间，也指日、天。元旦，便是一年开始的第一天。

‘yuan’ means beginning, whereas ‘dan’ indicates the timing when the sun rises and/or day. yuandan is the first day of a new year.

中国古代各朝元旦的时间并不一样。夏朝在正月初一，商朝在十二月初一，周朝在十一月初一，秦朝在十月初一，等等。这些日期基本都遵循了中国古代的农历。

Christmas is over and the next up and coming event is the new years!
While the Chinese didn't use to celebrate the new years on the 31st December since we have our own lunar calendar and our own Chinese New year. However, as with modern times, people are now coming together every year to celebrate the new year with fireworks and celebrations!

没图你说个贾斯汀比伯
Méi tú nǐ shuō gè jiǎsītīng bǐ bó

A direct translation of the phrase is "If you don't have a picture, you are just talking a Justin Bieber", which does not really make sense. Instead, People usually say this when they require to see a picture of what you just described.

贾斯汀比伯 is actually Justine Bieber in Chinese. By why Justin Bieber?
The acronym of Justin Bieber is JB, which means penis in Chinese. Penis can mean a lot in Chinese, but in this particular context, it basically means “nothing”.

An example of how you use this phrase: