Place names
Mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and also of Taiwan, being spoken by over 70% of the
population. But Mandarin and dialects of Chinese are also spoken by millions of ethnic Chinese living in, Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries
around the globe. More than 20% of the world’s population speak Chinese!
All Chinese is written using a system of characters, called Hanzi (汉字). Unlike the roman alphabet, Hanzi do not represent sounds,
but ideas.
Look at these 4 place names.
(běi)
北 |
(jīng)
京 |
Beijing |
(shàng)
上 |
(hǎi)
海 |
Shanghai |
(xī)
西 |
(ān)
安 |
Xi’an |
(xiāng)
香 |
(gǎng)
港 |
Hong Kong |
Test your knowledge: Chinese Place Names Exercise
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