In this edition: declining marriage rates in China, interview with the winner of the world’s largest Chinese competition, English skills of Chinese people, 996 work culture, banning TikTok (or not) and the canceled Prime Minister’s press conference.
Why Chinese Girls Don’t Want to Get Married Anymore?
In recent years, China has witnessed a concerning decline in marriage rates, leading to a consequential drop in childbirths. This trend poses significant challenges to the country’s future economic landscape. Eileen and Sharon delve into the underlying reasons behind Chinese girls’ increasingly negative attitudes towards marriage.
The discussion in the video encompasses various topics, including the drastic changes in China’s marriage rates, the four primary reasons deterring Chinese girls from marriage, concerns about aging alone, and the broader impacts on birth rates and the economy. Additionally, they explore the emerging phenomenon of Chinese girls purchasing sex toys, speculate on the potential societal implications of declining marriage rates, and ponder the role of AI and robots in addressing loneliness among single Chinese women.
Although discussed as a uniquely Chinese problem, in my own social circle in Germany, I also observe less and less ‘interest’ in marrying, resulting in couples marrying when they’re in their late thirties or not bothering to marry at all, not to mention having children. This seems especially true for higher educated people.
As always: a highly interesting discussion and excellent listening material for intermediate and advanced Chinese learners.
Difficulty: HSK 4-5
| 中国德结婚率开始下滑了 | Zhōngguó dé jiéhūn lǜ kāishǐ xiàhuále | The marriage rate in China has begun to decline |
| 据我的观察 | jù wǒ de guānchá | According to my observation |
| 原因是多方面的 | yuányīn shì duō fāngmiàn de | There are many reasons |
| 找不到合适的伴侣 | zhǎo bù dào héshì de bànlǚ | Can’t find a suitable partner |
| 大男子主义 | dà nánzǐ zhǔyì | Machismo |
| 下头男 | xiàtou nán | internet slang for men who are not attractive to women or “turning off” |
| 爹味 | diē wèi | daddy-like |
| 我这一辈子是为了自己而活德 | wǒ zhè yībèizi shì wèile zìjǐ ér huó de | I live my life for myself |
| 接受孤独终老 | gūdú zhōnglǎo | accept growing old alone |
| 不公平德家庭分工 | bù gōngpíng dé jiātíng fēngōng | Unfair division of family labor |
ZERO Chinese to World Champion WITHOUT going to China (This is how she did it)
Iva Ilić was raised in Serbia and acquired proficiency in Chinese entirely outside of China. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, she found herself competing in the world’s largest Chinese competition, ultimately emerging as the world champion. Rita interviews her to find out more about her remarkable journey.
Difficulty: HSK 5
| 挑战自己 | tiǎozhàn zìjǐ | challenge yourself |
| 会有回报的 | huì yǒu huíbào de | will be rewarding |
| 书呆子 | shūdāizi | bookworm |
| 主动学习 | zhǔdòng xuéxí | active learning |
| 被动学习 | bèidòng xuéxí | passive learning |
| 轻松的状态下 | qīngsōng de zhuàngtài xià | in a relaxed state |
| 教的内容有点土 | jiào de nèiróng yǒudiǎn tǔ | learning content taught is a bit crude |
| 打了一个好的基础 | dǎle yīgè hǎo de jīchǔ | laid a good foundation |
| 表达你自己 | biǎodá nǐ zìjǐ | express yourself |
Can Top 0.1% Students in China Speak fluent English? | Street Interview
This street interview by Asian Boss tests the English skills of Chinese top university students. How do they rate their English skills and how fluent are they in reality? Why is it that China is (still) considered a “low proficiency English-speaking” country, although so many Chinese people are taught English and recognize the value of this second language? One interviewee speaks perfect American-English and doesn’t seem to lack self-confidence at all, but most others are struggling. Why is that?
Difficulty: HSK 5
| 考进大学 | kǎo jìn dàxué | to enter into University (by passing 高考) |
| 我的口语比较懒 | wǒ de kǒuyǔ bǐjiào lǎn | my spoken language is relatively bad |
| 谦虚 | qiānxū | modest |
| 在学习方面 | zài xuéxí fāngmiàn | In terms of studying |
| 在听说方面 | zài tīng shuō fāngmiàn | In terms of listening and speaking |
| 长期使用 | chángqí shǐyòng | long-term usage |
| 背单词 | bèi dāncí | memorizing vocabulary |
| 收到高中教育的人比较少 | shōudào gāozhōng jiàoyù de rén bǐjiào shǎo | there are relatively few people who have received high school education |
Can Adults Learn Languages Like Children?
In this episode of Rita AKA Fan laoshi, Chinese teacher Mairead Harris shares her insights on the question if adults can learn languages like children. You can guess the answer, however, Mairead does have a lot of wisdom to share on teaching Chinese to different age groups. She speaks Chinese with amazing fluency and I can tell she is a passionate teacher. What I liked particularly about this conversation is the amount language study vocabulary to be picked up.
Difficulty: HSK 5
| 教育制度 | jiàoyù zhìdù | Education system |
| 学习的技巧 | xuéxí de jìqiǎo | Study skills |
| 笔顺 | bǐshùn | Stroke order |
| 策略 | cèlüè | Strategy |
| 教学模式 | jiàoxué móshì | Teaching method |
| 语言学的知识 | yǔyánxué de zhīshi | Linguistic knowledge |
| 语法结构 | yǔfǎ jiégòu | Grammar structure |
| 练听力 | liàn tīnglì | Practicing listening comprehension |
Is The Extreme 996 Work Culture In China True? | Street Interview
Another street interview video by Asian Boss, asking what Chinese people think about 996 work culture. What’s even considered working overtime in China anyway, since long work hours seem to be so common? And what are the health implications for Chinese employees that work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day?
Listening to these interviews, I can’t help but feel pity. It can’t be the purpose of life to spend almost all of your conscious time on work? To speak of ‘work life balance’ in this context, although it really depends on your line of work, is a joke. I also doubt that working so much makes you more productive. I’d even go so far as to say that in most office jobs the longer the work week, the less efficient people perform their tasks. Like this commenter below I don’t think it’s so much about output and efficiency, but rather has to do with a collectivist spirit that is enforced by companies:
I grew up in Canada and have worked in China since 2015. Overtime definitely depends on industry, or more importantly a government job or private company. For government jobs, it is pretty lax. A lot of government jobs are usually 9:30am-11:30am, lunch break. then 2:30pm-5pm. But private company jobs often have lots of overtime. And a lot of tech firms, design firms, finance or other service firms are in fact private companies. In my case, as an architect, 50-60 hours a week is common. However, I feel overtime in China is actually pretty unproductive, usually caused by needless bureaucracy, bad client management, and just unhealthy overtime culture. I remember this one time, I finished my assigned work from my manager and left on time because my parents came to China to see me. The next day I was reprimanded for leaving before the project group finished their work. I was stunned at this, since I was focused and finished early rather than doing “tea breaks” and chatting during work.
And isn’t working overtime actually selling your time and energy for free? I also have to agree with this comment, wondering how we’ve been brainwashed to accept this kind of exploitation as normal:
I was surprised how many people considered it normal to work for free. When the work is making money for a business, why should they work for free? Maybe, if the work was making the world a better place…but if it’s just about making money for someone else, why? Why do that? We’ve been brainwashed.
Difficulty: HSK 5
| 超过八个小时 | chāoguò bā gè xiǎoshí | More than eight hours |
| 加班 | jiābān | overtime |
| 业余生活 | yèyú shēnghuó | leisure life |
| 科技大商 | kējì dà shāng | technology giants / big-tech |
| 高端有本事的人 | gāoduān yǒu běnshì de rén | high-end talented individuals |
| 互联网行业 | hùliánwǎng hángyè | internet industry |
| 对我个人来说 | duì wǒ gèrén lái shuō | For me personally |
Should the United States ban tiktok?
German YouTuber and traveler Laolei discusses if the United States will ban TikTok, expressing his curiosity how they will do it and which arguments they’ll use to defend this move. Laolei argues with the an eye for an eye principle, which in his view allows the USA to ban a Chinese social media platform if China does likewise with American platforms like Facebook and X.
Although it sounds logical and fair, I still think a leading social media platform should be banned for the right reasons. If there are data privacy concerns and cybersecurity risks for example, they should be investigated and the results shared for democratic debate. And even though I’m the last person to defend TikTok in anyway, I do think it’s reasonable to discuss various solutions, banning the platform altogether is not without alternatives.
Laolei shares his reflections hot of the press as always. He often breaks off a sentence, but that makes him all the more authentic (he doesn’t read his story off a piece of paper). Personally, I can follow him well and always pick up some useful expressions from his videos.
Chinese summary: 美国政府再次考虑禁止来自中国的社交网络平台TikTok。过去曾经有关于禁止该平台的讨论，但是美国政府并未采取行动。德国YouTuber老雷认为值得禁止TikTok展开讨论。在讨论中可以提及这家中国公司对美国的潜在危害和风险。
Difficulty: HSK 4-5
| 禁止tiktok | jìnzhǐ TikTok | to ban TikTok |
| 耐人寻味 | nàirén xúnwèi | thought-provoking |
| 美国国会 | Měiguó guóhuì | United States Congress |
| 让他自由活动 | ràng tā zìyóu huódòng | Let him move freely |
| 我只能指望 | wǒ zhǐ néng zhǐwàng | I can only hope |
| 讨论的结果是什么 | tǎolùn de jiéguǒ shì shénme | What is the result of the discussion |
| 中国官方媒体 | Zhōngguó guānfāng méitǐ | Chinese official media |
| 言论自由 | yánlùn zìyóu | Freedom of speech |
| 社交网 | shèjiāo wǎng | Social network |
Why did the CCP cancel the Prime Minister’s press conference?
In early March, China surprised everyone by saying they won’t hold the usual press conference with their leader, Premier Li Qiang, during their yearly meetings. This won’t happen for the next few years. This shows that China is becoming more controlling under its leaders, especially since they changed their constitution in 2018.
The premier’s press conference started in 1988. It was one of the few times journalists could directly talk to a top Chinese leader. Premiers have been attending these conferences regularly since 1993, with the last one held in 2023.
During these conferences, the questions and answers were mostly planned beforehand. But sometimes, the premiers showed their personality or talked about issues not usually mentioned in Chinese media. For journalists, it was a rare chance to ask sensitive questions about China’s politics.
Free journalist 王志安 sheds his light on the following questions:
- Why did the CCP cancel the Prime Minister’s press conference?
- Was this request made by Xi Jinping?
- What is the history of the Prime Minister’s Press Conference?
- What does it mean to cancel the press conference?
Difficulty: HSK 6
| 取消总理记者会 | Qǔxiāo zǒnglǐ jìzhěhuì | Canceling Premier’s Press Conference |
| 被删除了 | Bèi shānchúle | has been deleted |
| 理解中国的一个非常重要的窗口 | Lǐjiě Zhōngguó de yīgè fēicháng zhòngyào de chuāngkǒu | a very important window to understand China |
| 我没有更多需要补充的信息 | Wǒ méiyǒu gèng duō xūyào bǔchōng de xìnxī | I have no more information to add |
| 多余 | Duōyú | Redundant |
| 为什么过去的总理还要出来接受记者采访 | Wèishéme guòqù de zǒnglǐ hái yào chūlái jiēshòu jìzhě cǎifǎng | Why do past premiers still have to come out for press interviews |
| 这个理由不成立 | Zhège lǐyóu bù chénglì | This reason is not valid |
| 给外媒记者提问 | Gěi wàiméi jìzhě tíwèn | give foreign media journalists opportunity to ask questions |
That’s it for this edition. Hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back with more content soon!
Graded Chinese readers
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