Confucius birthday is officially September 28th. Hong Kong celebrates his birthday and Teacher’s Day on the third Sunday of September while Taiwan remains true to the original date. China officially moved his birthday to September 10th, and celebrates it both …
Yvonne Wolf was born in Taiwan and educated in the U.S. and Europe. She has extensive experience living and working internationally (Denmark and Japan). She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Danish, and has studied Japanese, Spanish, and Greek. Between work and personal travel, she has visited more than 20 countries and well-traveled within the U.S. and Canada. She has worked with organizations and business executives focusing on communication strategies working with Chinese and East Asian partners. Among her many skills is mediating across cultural misunderstandings.
Chinese Counterpart to Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor has had a healthy population of Chinese reviewers in Taiwan and China. Recent years, Tripadvisor decided to merge all its reviews by destination and not by language. China’s counterpart site has a cache of international destination reviews for high …
A Banana is not just a banana
Bananas are yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Chinese Americans use the term “a Banana” to distinguish among themselves the spectrum of Chinese vs American cultural intelligence they belong. A Banana, like a Twinkie (see June blog), …
Beach Babes
Sun worshipping is new to Chinese beach goers. The Chinese equally enjoy walks along the beach, pier side seafood eateries, and cold drinks and bars as their counterparts in other seaside towns. However, the percentage of the population sunbathing, swimming …
Chinese ads during World Cup Russia 2018
Something new this year to the World Cup scene is Chinese ads in Chinese characters. Never before has Chinese ads in Chinese writing so visible and so frequent on the World Cup perimeter walls. Some articles noted that Chinese investors …
Fruit Loops
Seasonal fruits are pleasantly welcome as offering for various gods and many occasions, at temples and in homes. Sharing the harvest is a sign of humility, fairness, and thanksgiving. If you bring fresh fruits as gifts to your host, make …
Is Today a Good Day for a Funeral?
The Chinese calendar is just as puzzling and curious to the Chinese as it is to anyone else. This is why part of the planning for large social events involves consulting the Chinese calendar. More contemporary Chinese consult the calendar …
The Sometime Vegetarian
As recently as in the last 50 years China has experienced massive famines reaching millions in death tolls. The prosperity of the last few decades is so new that many Chinese are still acclimating to the idea of eating meat …
Children at Weddings
Whereas ringbearers and flower girls are token children at typical American weddings, children of all ages are an important presence at Chinese weddings. Chinese weddings celebrate family, community, and offspring. Many Chinese wedding snacks, sweets, decorations, gifts, banquet dishes, and …
Greek Expectations
Recent predictions note that Greece will attract more tourists than other Mediterranean countries. In fact, some experts expect a 50% increase in Chinese tourists from the high income bracket. There are good reasons for this growth, such as positive linguistic coincidences …