All varieties of Chinese are tonal at least to some degree, and are largely analytic. The Chinese language is transcribed via a writing system consisting of logographic characters, historically in the grammatical form of Literary Chinese.

Welcome to the first and only living Chinese dictionary that is growing every day with its Chinese learners. You have the opportunity to contribute ways that you remember Chinese characters and photos of your Chinese writing as you learn from other students of Chinese.

Chinese art and culture has influenced much of Asia. Chinese characters are among the oldest writing systems on Earth, with a literary tradition dating back millennia to the Chinese classics. China is the birthplace of Confucianism and Daoism, which form the traditional three teachings of Chinese philosophy and folk religion alongside Buddhism.

Chinese languages, principal language group of eastern Asia, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese exists in a number of varieties that are popularly called dialects but that are usually classified as separate languages by scholars.

Chinese culture is diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended — an invaluable asset to the world. Our China culture guide contains information divided into Traditions, Heritage, Arts, Festivals, Language, and Symbols.

Information about written and spoken Chinese, including details of the Chinese script, and of different varieties of spoken Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc).

Click the animated Chinese character or the Next Stroke button below the animated Chinese character to hear the pronunciation of the strokes of the character again.

Masini, Federico, The Formation of Modern Chinese Lexicon and Its Evolution Toward a National Language: The Period from 1840 to 1898, Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 6, 1993, ISBN 978-1-55729-014-4

「中國」一词目前最早見於公元前11世纪商周之際，此前则难以考证。在 殷墟 甲骨文 中已有“四方风”、“西或（西面的国家）”、“东或（东面的国家）”等词汇， 殷人 则自称“中商” [17]。西周初年的 何尊 中 周成王 提到“余其宅兹中国”，意为“我要到中国（殷商故地）去定居”；铭文中 ...

In this video we will learn 100 basic Chinese phrases for beginners that you can use to start having a conversation with Chinese people immediately.