Chinese idiom : Heavenly Clothing No Seams
Chinese Learning is such a hard work to achieve for westerners, but there are so many interesting Chinese idioms and stories could help your Chinese learning. Here is one:
Long time ago , there lived a man called guohan. It’s a really hot summer and couldn’t get sleep in the room. So he slept in yard. He just lay down and saw a lady in white dress floating down from the sky, talking to guohan:“I m zhinv from the heavenly palace. ”Guohan looked at her carefully and found out there were no seams in her dress, he felt very surprised and asked her:“why there is no any seams in your clothes?”the fairy answered:“immortal’s garment are not made with needle and thread. How could they have seams?”
Idiom: (tiān yī wú fèng - literally: heaven clothing no seams)
Meaning: Flawless.

Chinese Idiom: beat the grass and frighten the snake
In Tang dynastry, there lived a man called WangLu, a county magistrate who took bribes and practiced graft. One day, a person accused WangLu’s staff practicing graft. When he read the paper, found out that what the crimes recorded in the paper were just what he did before. Wanglu trembled when reading and forgot how to reply the lawsuit alleging，He wrote on it :”You have beaten the grass and frightened the snake.”
From then on , the Chinese idiom dacaojingshe means alert the target of one’s scheme by being incautious.
So you wanna know more about the Chinese idiom? MandarinGarden could help you with that. We have 4 free Chinese culture activities every month and you could come with families and colleagues and learn more Chinese idioms here.

Learning Chinese seems to be a hard work to achieve, but there are so many interesting Chinese idioms and stories in Chinese history, here is one:
Mark Boat Seek Sword:
In the period of zhanguo period, (Warring States period 475 B.C. to 221 B.C.), a man of chu kingdom was crossing the river. The boat was shaking and he lost his sword in the river, inspite of finding his sword immediately, he took out a knife and marked at the side of the boat. Everyone feel strange and ask him why did he do that. He smiled and said:” My sword fell off from this place, when the boat get to shore, I just need to jump into the river to find it. and that’s why I made the mark.”
after a while, the boat went to shore, the man of chu kingdom jumped from the boat to find his sword. Certainly nothing could be found, the onlookers watched his efforts and began to laugh.
The meaning of this idiom is: foolishly taking measures without regard to changing circumstances.
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Long long ago, in the period of chunqiu(literally "Spring Fall period" 770 to 476 B.C.), there was a peasant in song kingdom. Eeveryday after hardworking, he would had a rest under a tree in his field.
One day, he was digging in his field, a panic rabbit run past him, crashed to the tree and killed himself. The peasant got a rabbit without doing anything , he happily took it home and had a delicious meal. Since then, the peasant did no work in his field. He just waited and waited under the tree and waiting for another rabbit rash into it, surely this didn’t happen and from then on his field lay fallow and bare.
Chinese idiom: (shǒu zhū dài tù - literally "guard tree wait rabbit" ) You're waiting for a rabbit.
Meaning: Foolishly waiting for a most unlikely windfall instead of doing any work.

Long time ago, in the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-265)， commander caocao was on a expedition. The weather was extremely hot and nowhere to find the water. The soldiers were thirsty and tired , some of them suffered heatstroke and fainted on the road. The rate of marching slowed down. CaoCao noticed this and worried about losing the chance for combat. Suddenly he got an idea. He drove his horse to the head of the column and pointed with whip, said:“look! There is a big plum forest ahead, the plums are ripe, sweet and delicious.”hearing about this, the soldiers’ spirit was roused greatly.CaoCao grasped the chance and ordered to march full speed ahead.
With the nonexistent plums, CaoCao lead his soldiers walked out the predicament, arrived the battle ground with good spirits.
Chinese idiom: (wàng méi zhǐ kě - literally "anticipate plum stop thirst") Thinking of plums makes your mouth water and stops thirst.
Meaning: Living on fancies. Living on hope.
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Chinese idiom : dongshixiaopin
Chinese Learning is such a hard work to achieve for westerners, but there are so many interesting Chinese idioms and stories could help your Chinese learning. Here is one:
It was recorded that in chunqiu period(chūn qiū 春秋时期,770-476 BC), there was a beauty called xishi in Yue kingdom, she was so pretty that even every action was elegant. Therefore, many girls copied her clothing and movements. Someday xishi got a heart attrack . she frowned when went out to wash clothes , with another hand clutching her chest. But in others, she looked more beautiful . There was a neighbour , the ugly dongshi who envied xishi and copied her movements, also frowned and doubled over , clutching her chest. But this made her more ugly.
Later, this idiom came to be used to indicate improper imitation that produces the reverse effect.
Isn’t that interesting? You could find more interesting stories about Chinese idioms in MandarinGarden. We have 4 free Chinese culture activities every month. You could come with families and colleagues and know more interesting idioms here.
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Warmly welcome to join in Family Day
Mandarin Garden Exhibiton Booth 3A on 19th and 20th October.

We provide fantastic events and valuable premium package and elegant ceramic pens gifts for you!
Be sure not to miss it! We would show you exciting activities such as Chinese traditional fan-painting, Chinese knot and paper-cut here. Call to sign up and get the information. Only the first to come could get the equisite gifts!
Welcome to dial free hotline:400-600-2922 or 0086-021-52589885
Working time: 9am-9pm, Mon-Sun
Shanghai Headquarters:
Floor 3th The New Chinese Building No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai
Shanghai Pudong Center:Floor 1th,Unit B,Phoenix-Mansion No.18 Huangyang Road,Shanghai
Tel: 0086-021-50189130/0086-021-50189131

Warmly welcome to join in Family Day
Mandarin Garden Exhibiton Booth 3A on 19th and 20th October.

We provide fantastic events and valuable premium package and elegant ceramic pens gifts for you!
Be sure not to miss it! We would show you exciting activities such as Chinese traditional fan-painting, Chinese knot and paper-cut here. Call to sign up and get the information. Only the first to come could get the equisite gifts!
Welcome to dial free hotline:400-600-2922 or 0086-021-52589885
Working time: 9am-9pm, Mon-Sun
Shanghai Headquarters:
Floor 3th The New Chinese Building No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai
Shanghai Pudong Center:Floor 1th,Unit B,Phoenix-Mansion No.18 Huangyang Road,Shanghai
Tel: 0086-021-50189130/0086-021-50189131

Warmly welcome to join in Family Day
Mandarin Garden Exhibiton Booth 3A on 19th and 20th October.

We provide fantastic events and valuable premium package and elegant ceramic pens gifts for you!
Be sure not to miss it! We would show you exciting activities such as Chinese traditional fan-painting, Chinese knot and paper-cut here. Call to sign up and get the information. Only the first to come could get the equisite gifts!
Welcome to dial free hotline:400-600-2922 or 0086-021-52589885
Working time: 9am-9pm, Mon-Sun
Shanghai Headquarters:
Floor 3th The New Chinese Building No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai
Shanghai Pudong Center:Floor 1th,Unit B,Phoenix-Mansion No.18 Huangyang Road,Shanghai
Tel: 0086-021-50189130/0086-021-50189131

Warmly welcome to join in Family Day
Mandarin Garden Exhibiton Booth 3A on 19th and 20th October.

We provide fantastic events and valuable premium package and elegant ceramic pens gifts for you!
Be sure not to miss it! We would show you exciting activities such as Chinese traditional fan-painting, Chinese knot and paper-cut here. Call to sign up and get the information. Only the first to come could get the equisite gifts!
Welcome to dial free hotline:400-600-2922 or 0086-021-52589885
Working time: 9am-9pm, Mon-Sun
Shanghai Headquarters:
Floor 3th The New Chinese Building No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai
Shanghai Pudong Center:Floor 1th,Unit B,Phoenix-Mansion No.18 Huangyang Road,Shanghai
Tel: 0086-021-50189130/0086-021-50189131

Free Chinese Zither course here.
Zither is a very popular ancient Chinese instrument and there are many famous interesting pieces through Chinese history. You could have a junior zither course here, in MandarinGarden, and we have other free interesting courses such as weiqi, calligraphy and Chinese knot regularly updated in this website, we provide many kinds of Chinese culture activities and courses for you and your friends. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9:00PM October 21, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Free Calligraphy course here.
Calligraphy is a very traditional Chinese art and in this lesson, you could learn the history of calligraphy and character of mandarin in MandarinGarden. Besides this, we also have other free interesting culture courses such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot regularly updated in this website, we provide many kinds of Chinese culture activities and courses for you and your friends. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9:00PM October 22, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Free paper-cutting culture course
Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles. Because the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to "chuāng huā" (窗花), meaning Window Flower.
MandarinGarden provide the free paper-cut lesson for you and your friends. Besides this, we also have other free interesting culture courses such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot regularly updated in this website, Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：00PM----4:00PM October 23, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Free weiqi courses here.
Weiqi, a game played with black and white pieces on a board of 361 crosses，originated in 6th century BC, ancient China, one of the four traditional arts. Its one of the most complicated and ancient games in China and also in the world. We provide free courses for you to learn it. Besides this, we also have other free interesting courses such as zither, calligraphy and Chinese knot regularly updated in this website. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：45PM----4:30PM October 25, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

Free Calligraphy course here.
In ancient China, calligraphy was not only an art deeply ingrained in Chinese scholars during thousands of years, but also a good way for Self-cultivation and in this lesson you could get to know the basic art of it .
MandarinGarden provide free culture lessons for you. Besides the calligraphy, we also have other free interesting culture courses such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot regularly updated in this website, Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：00PM----4:00PM October 27, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Free Chinese Zither course here.
Zither is a very popular ancient Chinese instrument which could strongly show the interest of Chinese music. You could see zither in many places such as teahouse, hotels and scenic spots. It already become a symbol of Chinese tradition. You could have a junior zither course in MandarinGarden, learn simple pieces of it. And besides this, we also have other free culture courses such as weiqi, calligraphy and Chinese knot, which would be regularly updated in this website. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----8:30PM October 28, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Zither is a very popular ancient Chinese instrument which could strongly show the interest of Chinese music. You could see zither in many places such as teahouse, hotels and scenic spots. It already become a symbol of Chinese tradition. You could have a junior zither course in MandarinGarden, learn simple pieces of it. And besides this, we also have other free culture courses such as weiqi, calligraphy and Chinese knot, which would be regularly updated in this website. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----8:30PM October 28, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Weiqi, an ancient game originated in 6th century BC, ancient China. Its one of the four traditional arts, Qing, Weiqi, Calligraphy and Painting. Its one of the most complicated games in China and also in the world. Here we provide free courses for you to learn and know it. And in MandarinGarden, we also have other free interesting courses such as zither, calligraphy and Chinese knot. In this outlined website these culture courses would be regularly updated. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：45PM----4:30PM November 1, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

Weiqi, an ancient game originated in 6th century BC, ancient China. Its one of the four traditional arts, Qing, Weiqi, Calligraphy and Painting. Its one of the most complicated games in China and also in the world. Here we provide free courses for you to learn and know it. And in MandarinGarden, we also have other free interesting courses such as zither, calligraphy and Chinese knot. In this outlined website these culture courses would be regularly updated. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：45PM----4:30PM November 1, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

Weiqi, a traditional Chinese game originated in 6th century BC, ancient China, is one of the four traditional arts. It was played with black and white pieces on a board of 361 crosses, perhaps one of the most complicated games in China and also in the world. We provide free course for you to learn it. Besides this, we also have other free culture courses such as zither, calligraphy and Chinese knot regularly updated in our school website. Just call and appoint the course you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：45PM----4:30PM November 6, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

There are so many foreigners students come from all over the world in MandarinGarden. If you are ready to learn mandarin, or wanna find some language partner to practice, you could come to our school to attend the language exchange. In this activity you could meet people with different culture backgrounds and communicate your experience in China.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：45PM----4:30PM November 7, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

Tea ceremony is known as an oriental art in Asian. It’s not only an art but also a life style and a philosophy. Through the course of making, admiring and sharing the tea with others, we could learn the etiquette and promote friendship with people. In the long history of China, tea ceremony already become a way to cultivate one’s morality. In this course, you could know about the history and knowledge of tea in China. Besides this, MandarinGarden also provide you other free interesting culture courses, such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9:00PM November 18, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, as early as the Han and Tang Dynasties, women cut silver and golden pieces into types of flowers and birds as the flower sticks to stick on their temples or forehead. Its popluar and recorded in many poems and songs. In this course, we just learn how to make pretty cut outs to decorate in our doors and rooms, just like the Chinese knot. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：00PM----4:00PM November 20,2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Zither is a traditional Chinese instrument. It’s loud and could fully describe the interest of Chinese music. You could see it in many places such as teahouse, hotels and scenic spots. It already became a symbol of Chinese tradition. If you learned how to play it before, you could have an intermediate and advanced course here, in our school. Besides this, we also have other free culture courses such as weiqi, calligraphy, and Chinese painting, which would be regularly updated in our school website. Just call and appoint the course if you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9：00PM November 21 , 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai.

In ancient China, calligraphy was not only an art that deeply ingrained in Chinese scholars in thousands of years, but also a good way for Self-cultivation. In this lesson we just talk about how to appreciate the writer’s skills, the Seal and reign title of the masterpiece.
Besides this , MandarinGarden also provide other interesting culture courses such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot, which would be regularly updated in our website, Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----8:30PM November 29, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles. Because the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to "chuāng huā" (窗花), meaning Window Flower.
MandarinGarden provide the free paper-cut lesson for you and for your friends. Besides this, we also have other free interesting courses such as weiqi, zither and Chinese knot regularly updated in our school website, Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
3：00PM----4:00PM November 15,2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

China is known as the “country of ceremonies”，as we all know that China is a hierarchical society and in ancient China , people of different class have different ritual when they meet in their daily life. In this course you could get to know about the ancient ceremonies of China and many interesting stories. Besides this, we also have other free culture courses such as zither, calligraphy and Chinese painting regularly updated in our school website. Just call and appoint the courses you are interested.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9:00PM November 23, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road, Shanghai

This world is getting crazy, if you want to build your own inner world, not just chasing luxuries which can’t make you really happy. Don’t move with the world too fast, everyone need their inner world to enjoy life, not consuming your power. That’s just waste of time, not life. Make life slowly and look into yourself. That’s where you really are. And you could be really strong when you connect yourself, the source of power. The ancient arts could help you with that and that’s why they have been popular for thousands of years I suppose. There are different kinds of courses in MandarinGarden such as calligraphy, weiqi and also some folk-customs help you to understand the Chinese culture. These courses would be regularly updated in our school website. Just come and learn things your heart really needs. Call us and appoint the courses you like.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----9:00PM junior zither course, November 18, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

The 49th chapter of《老子》：“善者，吾善之；不善者，吾亦善之；德善。 信者，吾信之；不信者，吾亦信之；德信。。。百姓皆注其耳目，圣人皆孩之。”In this chapter, Laozi told us how a good governor treat people of different kind. “To the good and honest people, I treat them good and trust them. To people are not good and dishonest, I still treat them good and trust them. That looks stupid to ordinary people, but that s what we call “大智若愚”。Because I treat them equally，the “bad” cannot get any more benefit than the “good” , as time goes by, they would change themselves. Because he is fair to anybody, people would rely on him and surely listen to him carefully and in return, he treat everyone like his children. To me, its not important that he establish his government in people’s heart, this is not most important, but what he do adjust the Tao, the way nature and universe goes. This is what the sapiential governor did to their people。And this is what Laozi said in 17th chapter:“太上，不知有之。。。悠兮其贵言。功成事遂，百姓皆谓：「我自然」。”The best governor would not let his people feel his existence，“功成事遂”means because he do everything in the way nature goes and everything he do would surely get succeed. Even his people can’t sense this and just say: “we always live in this way.” You could learn to find these truth by yourself through culture courses of MandarinGarden. In our school, you could learn things about the confucian culture like zither, weiqi, calligraphy and painting and some folk-custom course would also help you to understand Chinese.
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3：45PM----4：30PM weiqi course November 13, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai

For thousands of years, the governor in China runs his dynasty in Laozi ’s witness, but outside what they show to others is confucian’s doctrine. That’s what we called “内用黄老，外示以儒。” They use Confucian’s doctrine to restrict peoples’ words and deeds. Then they could unite thoughts of people. It’s interesting in history that in large river areas such as Egypt, China, Babylon and Indian, centralization (of authority) is important to the emperor’s management. In Han dynasty, the wudi emperor found Confucian is so good for his management and established it’s leadership in the long long history. You could learn to find these truth by yourself through culture courses of MandarinGarden. In our school, you could learn things about the confucian culture like zither, weiqi, calligraphy and painting and some folk-custom course would also help you to understand Chinese culture.
[www.mandaringarden.org]
7：30PM----8:30PM calligraphy course October 27, 2013
Please call： 0086-021- 52589881 or 0086-400 600 2922
Floor 3th No.1358 West Yanan Road,Shanghai