Most Common Names in China

Last July, Xmnext.com 新民网 reported the list of most common names in China. According to the report, the most common name is Zhang Wei, and there are 290,607 of them in China. Let's take look the top 10 list. It might be helpful when you exchange name cards with Chinese!!

Last name First name (its meaning) Sex Number of people
Zhang 张 Wei 伟 (great) M 290,607
Wang 王 Wei 伟 (great) M 281,568
Wang 王 Fang 芳 (fragrant) F 268,268
Li 李 Wei 伟 (great) M 260,980
Wang 王 Xiu Ying 秀英 (elegant, flower) F 246,737
Li 李 Xiu Ying 秀英 (elegant, flower) F 244,637
Li 李 Na 娜 (graceful) F 244,223
Zhang 张 Xiu Ying 秀英 (elegant, flower) F 236,266
Liu 刘 Wei 伟 (great) M 234,352
Zhang 张 Min 敏 (smart) F 233,708

Although the data is said to be from the Citizenship Inquiry Center of the Ministry of Public Security, who the most common name in China is still controversial. Popular first names for men are also : Jie 杰 (heroic), Yong 勇(brave), Qiang 强 (strong), Chao 超 (super) , Jun 军 (army), Tao 涛 (big wave), Ping 平 (peaceful) , Yang 洋 (ocean) etc. Popular first names for women are: Yan 艳 (glamorous) , Li 丽 (beautiful) Jing 静 (calm), Juan 娟 (beautiful).
To read this original article in Chinese, click here.

ChuSok-Korean Thanksgiving day

The Harvest Moon, Chusok 추석 is the autumn full moon day that falls on the 15th day of the eighth month by the lunar calendar, usually some time in September by the Gregorian calendar. It's on September 25th this year. Since its right after a weekend, most of the people enjoy 4~5 days of long holidays.
As this date marks harvest time, it is regarded as a Thanksgiving Day in Korea, and is celebrated almost as enthusiastically as New Year's Day. Media is constantly reporting traffic info, as highways, airports and train stations are full of people visiting their hometowns. People visit the graves of their ancestors, and they cook using the first fruits and crops of the year.


Songpyeon 송편 is a typical dish. It is a pine flavored rice cake stuffed with chestnuts, sesame, or beans. Usually whole family sit together to make songpyeon, oftern days before. Several games are commonly played including tug of war and the Korean round dance.

Ramen or Ramyen?

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish which is originated from Chinese La Mian 拉麵, and Ramyen is its Korean counterpart. The original Chinese La Mian is hand cut egg noodle soup with sauce.
Ramen is a kind of Japanese style fast food, and one of the most common street foods. Many individual restaurants across Japan have built their own Ramen identity with their own distinctive flavor and style. They may even serve only one type of ramen, having perfected their recipe. Ramen is usually seasoned with miso (bean paste), shoyu (soy) or shio (salt), though the stock base is made from meat bones. They are often topped with meat, bean sprouts, or bamboo shoots. The Japanese version of Ramen is a fresh noodle soup with regional variations.

It is also readily available as instant ramen in supermarkets and convenience stores. Instant ramen was invented by Momofuku Ando 安藤百福, the founder of Nissin in Japan. (Momofuku Ando died on January 5th 2007 in Osaka Prefecture. He was 96.) First instant ramen in styrofoam container, called "Cup Noodles" was also invented by Momofuku Ando in 1971. He is said to come up with this idea when he saw his foreign buyer put instant noodle in the mug and pour hot water in it. Currently there are many kinds of instant noodles available, and Nissin alone makes 68 kinds of cup noodles. There is an interesting story about how cup noodles got popular in the beginning. In February 1972, there was a hostage and police seige incident, called Asama-Sanso Incident, which live- broadcasted for almost 11 hours in Japan. The police eating cup noodles during broadcast interested many Japanese.

In Korea, Ramyen 라면 only means instant noodles. It is a popular food item among students in Korea due to its ease of preparation and low cost. In Korea, there are around 130~140 different kinds of instant ramyen available as of 2005, and they are a popular export item. China, Taiwan and Indonesia consume high volume of instant noodles as well.

Instant noodles are always associated with health concerns despite its cheap price and convenience. It's high in carbohydrates but lack of minerals and vitamins. It's also high in sodium and MSG.

*How to make "healthier" instant noodles
1. Cook the noodles as package directed. Drain the noodle. This will help to lose oil contents. Run noodles in cold water. Set aside
2. Boil the "half" of water as package directed. Add "half" of the soup base. Add vegetables, eggs, shrimp, meat etc. Pour the soup over noodles.

Chinese Greetings 4- What's your name? My name is......

There are a few ways to ask someone's name in Chinese. Unless addressing a child, people usually use a polite way to ask names or last names.
The most common way is, ni(3) jiao(4) shen(2)me ming(2)zi 你叫什么名字? This means "what's your name?", and the order in Chinese is you + be called + what + name.

When addressing someone older than you, on the phone, or to business partners, you might want to politely ask their names. What's your last name? is nin(2) gui(4) xing(4) 您贵姓?. This sentence is a polite one because of the word gui(4) 贵, which means "your" in a polite way.

Let's answer these questions. My name is........ in Chinese is wo(3) jiao(4) 我叫……. If you just want to say your last name, say wo(3) xing(4) 我姓.....

Names of foreigners are usually transliterated based on the pronunciation. Although characters are chosen for their sound and good meaning as well. Exceptions are Japanese and Korean names which already have Chinese characters that Chinese read in their own Chinese pronunciation. For example: the Japanese last name Mazda (or Matsuda) 松田 is Songtian in Chinese. Here are some examples of English names and their Chinese names with meanings.
John : Yue(1) han(4) 约翰 (yue 约-simple, han 翰-brush)
Chris: Ke(4) li (3) si(1) 克里斯 (ke克-overcome, li 里-town, si 斯-gentle)
Susan : Su(1) shan(1) 苏珊 (su苏-come to, shan 珊-coral)

Chinese Greetings 3-I'm doing fine, and you?

When someone says ni(3) hao(3) 你好 to you, you might want to carry on the conversation. Let’s make an answer starting with I.

A: How are you? ni(3) hao(3) 你好?

B: I am doing fine, and you? Wo(3) hen(3) hao(3) 我很好, ni(3) ne 你呢?

Hen(3) 很 means quite or very. It modifies the following adjective.

Ne 呢 is a postposition used at the end of the interrogative sentence. This grammatical point sounds a little bit difficult but just remember, it is used to make a question sentence.

As you may have noticed, wo(3) hen(3) hao(3) 我很好 is three 3rd tones in a row. Since hen(3) hao(3) 很好 are related to each other (adverb and adjective), read it as half 3rd + 2nd + 3rd tones. When 3rd tone is followed by a neutral tone as in ni(3) ne 你呢, ni(3) 你 becomes half 3rd tone.

Kung Pao Chicken

Do you like Kung Pao chicken? Have you ever wondered why this dish is called Kung Pao?
Kung Pao chicken 宫保鸡丁 is a classic dish which originated from Sichuan province. The term Kung Pao is derived from the name of the government official title Gong Bao 宫保 of Ding Baozhen 丁宝桢(1820~1886) in the Qing dynasty. Ding was born in Guizhou province and served as a governor of Shandong province. He was quite a gourmet expert and had many famous cooks at home. He usually served stir-fry chicken when entertaining.

Later he transferred to Sichuan province and added chili peppers to his chicken dishes to meet the spicy loving Sichuan people's taste. He was titled as "Taizi Shaobao 太子少保" by the Qing dynasty and "Gong Bao 宫保" (literally means palatial guardian) is its honorary name. The way of making Kung Pao chicken is slightly different by region in China, and from its westernized version. Now its main ingredients can be pork, shrimp, or tofu. Regular dried chili peppers are used when Shichuan peppercorn is not available, which adds a distinct flavor to many Sichuan dishes.

How to make Kung Pao chicken

1/2 lbs chicken

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 tsp sugar1 tsp vinegar

1 Tbs soy sauce

1tsp rice wine

2 tsp sesame oil

2 Tbs corn starch dissolved in water

Minced ginger, minced garlic and green onion slices

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes, and marinate with salt, pepper and corn starch for a half hour. To make sauce, mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, rice wine, starch water, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Set aside. Fry the chicken and drain the oil. Leave 2 Tbs oil and fry chili peppers and green onions. Add chicken back into the pan and sauce. Add peanuts last. (If peanuts are raw, fry with chicken.)

*This is a traditional dish and every household or restaurants have their own way of making it. Measurements are for information only. Add more or less as you like.

Korean Greetings 2 -Thank you!

Yes : Ne 네 , Ye 예
No : Aniyo 아니요
Hello?(on the phone) : Yoboseyo? 여보세요?
(Yobo 여보 alone means "darling", used to call a spouse between couples. Don't forget the "seyo" on the phone!! )
Thank you :Kamsa hamnida 감사합니다 (Kamsa 감사 is from the Chinese characters 感謝.), Gomap sumnida 고맙습니다 (Originated from pure Korean.)
You are welcome : Chonmaneyo 천만에요 (Polite and formal), Aniyeyo 아니에요 (Informal and widely used.)
I'm sorry : Mian hamnida 미안합니다 , Joesong hamnida 죄송합니다 (Used for serious situation than "mian hamnida".)
Excuse me : Shilye hamnida 실례합니다

Taiko-Japanese Drums

Taiko 太鼓 is a percussion instrument and simply means big drum in Japanese. Taiko can be categorized by its construction, shape, or size. In the old days it was used in warfare to encourage soldiers, as a communication method between villages, and in religious music of Buddhism and Shintoism. Ensemble Taiko called Kumi-Taiko 組太鼓 (kumi means class or group) is a modern day invention. Today Taiko is used in traditional performances like Kabuki and Noh, and folk music during festivals etc. The picture is from Portland Taiko performance in Aug 2006.

Taiko is also one of the popular subjects of pop culture. The drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin 太鼓の達人 (its US title is Taiko: Drum Master) was released for PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Chinese Greetings 2 -Good Morning!

Ni(3rd) hao(3) 你好 is the most common greeting in China, and can be used any time of the day. There are also greetings based on the time of day. Good morning is zao(3) an(1) 早安, but the following are also used to say good morning:

Zao(3) 早
Ni(3) zao(3)你早
Zao(3)chen(2) hao(3) 早晨好 : Zao(3)chen(2) 早晨 means early morning.
Zao(3) shang hao(3) 早上好 : Zao(3) shang 早上 means early morning too.

上 means "up". This is commonly used as an example of ideogram Chinese.


上

Common Good afternoon and Good night greetings are:

Good afternoon : wu(3) an(1) 午安 , xia(4) wu(3) hao(3) 下午好
Good night : wan(3) an(1) 晚安 , wan(3)shang hao(3) 晚上好

Mt. Baekdu in North Korea

Mt. Baekdu 백두산 is a volcanic mountain on the border of China and North Korea. Baekdu means "white-headed" since it's covered with snow from mid October through mid June. The first kingdom of Korea, Gojoseon 고조선 (2333BC~108BC), originated on Mt. Baekdu, and it has been a prominent ancestral mountain worshipped by Korean people throughout history. Although there are no written records, the last big eruption is believed to have happened around 1000 years ago, and its volcanic ashes are still found on Mt. Baekdu, and as far away as the southern part of Hokkaido in Japan. Some scholars believe the sudden fall of the Balhae 발해 Kingdom (698~926) was due to the eruption of Mt. Baekdu. Balhae was the last state in Korean history to hold any significant territory in Manchuria. Chinese volcanologists predict another eruption within 100 years as a 10~20 % possibility.

Mt. Baekdu is 2750 m (9,022 feet) high, and has one of the highest lakes in the world, called Cheonji 천지, which lies on the top of the mountain. Mt. Baekdu is 385 km (239 miles) from Pyongyang and takes 20 hours by train and 1 hour by air. Tourists can get to Mt. Baekdu via Yanji 延吉 China by bus, and enjoy falls, ski resorts, and hot springs among other recreations.

Korean Greetings-How are you?

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hi, hello, how are you?
Annyong haseyo
Annyong hashimnikka 안녕하십니까?
(Annyong haseyo is favored by females. Annyong hashimnikka is more polite and favored by males.

Good-bye.(to person leaving)
Annyonghi kaseyo 안녕히 가세요.
(Annyonghi 안녕히 means "well". )

Good-bye.(to person staying)
An nyonghi kyeseyo 안녕히 계세요.
(It's different to say good bye when you are leaving or staying.)

How do you do?
Ch'oum boepget sumnida 처음 뵙겠읍니다.
(Literally means first time to see you.)

Congratulations!
Chukha hamnida 축하합니다.

Japanese Greetings-Good morning to Good bye

Greetings あいさつ





Good morning : ohaiyo おはよう : To friends or someone younger. Sounds like Ohio.
Good morning : ohaiyo gozaimasu おはようございます : Formal and polite way
Good afternoon : gonnichiwa こんにちは
Good night : gonbangwa こんばんは
Good bye : sayonara さようなら
How do you do? : hajime mashite はじめまして :Literally means it's the first time.
I hope for your favor : yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu よろしくお願いします : It may sound weird in English but it's a common greeting when you meet someone for the first time. It can be said between acquaintances as well.

Chinese Greetings 1-Hello!

Let's say hello in Chinese, "ni (3rd tone) hao( 3) " 你好. Depending on the occasion, its meaning can be: hi, hello, how are you, or how do you do. "ni (3) hao( 3)" can be used anytime of the day. You can also say "ni (3) hao( 3)" as an answer in return.
You should feel happy if someone greets you "nin (2) hao( 3)" 您好. Nin 您 is an honorific form of 你. Can you tell the difference between these two characters 你 and 您? The difference is the character “heart” xin (1) 心 added to the bottom to make the honorific word 您.

你+心=您

Hao(3rd) 好 makes easy greetings, just address someone and add hao(3) 好 in. Let's look at the example.
Hello Everyone.: Da (4) jia (1) hao (3) 大家好?
Hello Teacher : Lao(3)shi(1) hao(3)老师好?
Hello Manager Zhang : Zhang(1) jing(1)li hao(3) 张经理好?

*Numbers in () are tones. Please refer to the book 1400 + Chinese Conversational Phrases for pronunciation and tones.

Korean Hangul Alphabet

Consonants Pronunciation
ㄱ k,g

ㄴ n
ㄷ t,d

ㄹ r,l
ㅁ m

ㅂ p,b
ㅅ s,sh
ㅇ ng

ㅈ ch, j
ㅊ ch'
ㅋ k'
ㅌ t'
ㅍ p', f
ㅎ h

Vowels Pronunciation

ㅏ a

ㅑ ya

ㅓ eo

ㅕ yeo

ㅗ o

ㅛ yo

ㅜ u
ㅠ yu

ㅡ eu

ㅣ ee

Japanese Scripts

Japanese writing system has four different scripts:

Hiragana 平仮名- Main alphabet. Pure Japanese words, and prefixes & suffixes of Kanji
Katakana 片仮名- Mainly foreign originated words
Kanji 漢字- Chinese characters which were incorporated into the Japanese language
Romaji ローマ字- Roman characters for numbers, measurement units, or initials.

Hiragana is the first system children learn at school, though Katakana is considered easier because of its simpler form. Kanji 漢字 is a Japanese term for a Chinese character. Japanese adopted Chinese characters as part of their writing system around the fourth century. Despite Kanji characters in the Japanese language, Chinese and Japanese do not belong to the same language families, and are structurally and linguistically NOT related at all. The simplified version of Chinese characters currently used in China is not identical to Japanese Kanji either. The same Kanji characters can be read in multiple ways based on their pronunciation or meanings. This makes it difficult even for Japanese to master Kanji!! Kanji will sometimes has its Hiragana pronunciation on top for proper pronunciation.

How to make Miso soup and Doenjang Jjigae

Miso Soup

2 cups dashi stock
2 Tbs miso paste
1 Tbs wakame seaweed, dehydrated
1 handful tofu cubes
Green onion slices

Add tofu and seaweed into dashi and bring it to full boil. Turn the heat off and gradually add miso paste. Garnish with green onion.

Doenjang Jjigae (Korean soybean paste stew)

5 cups dashi
3 Tbs doenjang paste
Handful of each chopped onion, zuccini, mushroom, tofu cubes
Optional beef chunks , clams, chili pepper or slices

Bring dashi to full boil, add all ingredients in besides tofu. Add tofu after boil and serve.

Dashi stock

6 cup water
1 cup dried anchovies
2 pcs hand size kelp
1 cup dried bonito
Optional Daikon radish chunks

Cook dried anchovies on dry pot, add water, kelp, radish. When boil, take kelp out, cook 5 more minutes. Add bonito in and turn the heat off. Drain the stock and discard solids.

*These are traditional dishes and every household has their own way of making them. Measurements are for information only. Add more or less as you like.

Japanese Miso and Korean Doenjang Paste

Miso is a traditional Japanese paste made with fermented rice, barley and soybeans. It is usually used as soup base, sauces for vegetables, meats and fish. It's nutritionally high in protein, vitamins and minerals. Rice and miso soup is the most traditional Japanese breakfast. After miso is added, most cooks do not let the soup come to full boil in order not to kill the biologically active paste. There are many different kinds of miso depending on its appearance, region, and flavors. Eastern Japan Kanto region prefers lighter shiro miso, while dark and brown miso is popular in western Kansai region.

Same as Miso, Korean Doenjang is made with fermented soybeans, barley and rice. It is rich in flavonoids, vitamins, minerals and is claimed to have anti cancer effects as well. Soybeans are boiled, grounded, and made into blocks and brined. After the fermentation process, the liquid becomes Korean soy sauce (It tastes different than the Japanese style "sweeter" soy sauce we usually see in N. American markets). The solid part is made into Doenjang paste. Doenjang is usually eaten raw as a dipping sauce, or added into vegetables and meat, and cooked in a stew "doenjang jjigae".

In order to make good miso soup or doenjang jjigae, basic soup stock or broth called "dashi" is most important. Broth is usually made with the formula below:

Miso soup broth= kelp + dried bonito
Doenjang jjigae broth=kelp + dried anchovies

Regional Cuisines of China

Because of the large and varied nature of China itself, Chinese cuisine can be broken down into many different regional styles based on their own characteristics. They are mainly divided into 8 cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian and Guangdong (also called Cantonese) cuisine. In North America, the majority of Chinese restaurants serve Sichuan and Guangdong cuisine because many Chinese immigrated from these two provinces, while Guangdong and Fujian cuisines are popular in Britain. Shandong style is a popular Chinese cuisine in S. Korea due to these areas close location. If you are interested in the individual characteristics of each cuisine, please refer to the chapter 4 of the book China, Japan, Korea Culture and Customs.

Characteristics of Korean Language

So learning Korean is not on your New Year's resolution list? You are not the only one!! Around 80 to 90 million people speak Korean, which makes it the 15th most spoken language in the world. So why not give it a try. If you know a little bit of Chinese, you will find Korean words have adopted many words from Chinese. If you know a little bit of Japanese, you will find Korean grammar is very similar to Japanese. Besides, Korean writing systems are far simpler than Chinese and Japanese. If you remember how to say something in Korean you will be able to write anything. Whether for cultural interest or business purposes, learning Korean will be an interesting experience for you.
Korean language is classified in the Altaic linguistic family, which includes Mongolian, Hungarian, and Finnish. Spoken Korean is called Hanguk-mal 한국말, which means Korean speech. Written Korean is called Hangul 한글 invented in 1443 by King Sejong 세종대왕 (he also appears on the 10,000 won bill) and his scholars. The invention of Hangul was published in 1446 in a document entitled Hunmin Jeong’eum 훈민정음, which means “The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People”.

The standard language of Korean is Pyojuneo 표준어, based on the dialect of the area around Seoul. Its alphabet consists of forty letters, twenty one vowels, and nineteen consonants. Korean is phonetic, which means each sign represents a sound, and it is written in syllabic units made up of two, three, or four letters. Up to five letters join to form a syllabic unit. The shapes of the individual Hangul letters were designed to model the physical morphology of the tongue, palate, and teeth.

Let’s look at some characteristics of the Korean language.

• Korean uses SOV (subject + object + verb) structure and has an unmarked phrase order for time + manner + place, the reverse of English order.
• Korean is a topic prominent language. Topics are marked separately from the subject with a special postposition.
• Korean is a pronoun-dropping language. Pronouns, such as he, she, I, you, can be deleted when considered unnecessary by the speaker, not only for subjects, but for practically all grammatical contexts.
• Korean uses extensive classifiers to indicate the word class of a noun, and does not have gender.
• Korean verbs are conjugated to show tenses and moods.
• Korean has many ways to express different levels of politeness, including a different conjugation for verbs, special verbs and pronouns, verbs indicating relative status, or the use of different nouns.
  
  
  

Characteristics of Japanese Language

The Japanese language is made up of phonetic symbols and has no tones, which makes it easier for foreigners to learn. Since Japan is the only country to use Japanese as its official language, the language is heavily tied to Japanese culture. English is adopting more and more Japanese words as well, for example :
Zen
Manga
Anime
Ninja
Karaoke
Sushi
Tofu

Japanese is considered to be a Japonic language, and there are many competing theories about its origin. Some of these theories are:
Extinct languages spoken by Goguryeo (current Korean peninsula) and Manchuria.
A relative of other Asian languages, such as Korean.
A relative of the Altaic language group, which includes Mongolian, Hungarian and Finnish.

The Japanese name for their language is Nihongo 日本語. Official standard Japanese is called hyojungo 標準語.There are dozens of dialects spoken in Japan, and all are mutually intelligible.

Let’s look at some characteristics of the Japanese language.

• Japanese use SOV (subject + object + verb) structure and have an unmarked phrase order for time + manner + place, the reverse of English order.
• Japanese is a topic prominent language. Topics are marked separately from the subject with a special postposition.
• Japanese is a pronoun-dropping language. Pronouns, such as he, she, I, you, can be deleted when considered unnecessary by the speaker, not only for subjects, but for practically all grammatical contexts.
• Japanese use extensive classifiers to indicate the word class of a noun, and does not have gender.
• Japanese verbs are conjugated to show tenses and moods.
• Japanese has many ways to express different levels of politeness, including a different conjugation for verbs, special verbs and pronouns, verbs indicating relative status, or the use of different nouns.

Characteristics of Chinese Language

Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. About one-fifth of the people in the world speak some form of Chinese as their native language. Even though many dialects of Chinese are so different they are mutually unintelligible, they are all classified as one Chinese language. The official language of government and education in the People‘s Republic of China is called Putonghua 普通话 (means the common speech), which is based on Beijing-area Mandarin. Mandarin, the official language in Taiwan, is called Guo'yu 國語. Mandarin is called Hua'yu 华语 in South East Asia. Since there is no alphabet in the Chinese language, the principles of the Hanyu Pinyin (means Chinese spell sound) system is used as an oral representation of Chinese characters. This is the basis for creating the Latin script reading of a character, and represents the spoken sounds of Putonghua. While there are many spoken dialects in Chinese, there is only one written Chinese. The Chinese written language is of an old and conservative type that assigns a single distinctive symbol, or character, to each word in the vocabulary. Each character represents a word or idea rather than a sound. In the mid 1950s, the Chinese government simplified some 2000 of the most frequently used characters in an effort to popularize literacy. Today, China and Singapore use these “Simplified Chinese” characters called Jian Ti Zi 简体字 (literally means simple-style-characters), and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao still use “Traditional Chinese” characters called Fan Ti Zi 繁體字 ( literally means complicated-style-characters).

Let’s look at some characteristics of the Chinese language.

• Chinese is monosyllabic and each individual character represents an idea or thing. Chinese often uses combinations of monosyllables to express different meanings. Today there is a trend of more and more polysyllabic words forming.
• Chinese is a tonal language and the variance in pitch creates a different representation of meaning to the listener. Tone is extremely important in Chinese, as the same pronunciation with different tones can mean totally different things, and when you say Chinese without proper tones, you may not be understood at all.
• Chinese has SVO (subject + verb+ object) word order.
• Chinese is a topic-prominent language, which organizes its syntax to make sentences "topic-comment structured", where the topic is the thing being talked about (predicated), and the comment is what is said about the topic. This structure is independent of the syntactic ordering of SVO (subject + verb+ object), and may be marked by mentioning the topic first in the sentence and then the comment.
• Chinese is an isolating language in which almost every word consists of a single morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). Chinese depends on word order and sentence structure rather than changes in the form of the word through inflection.
• Chinese does not have tenses. There are, however, words to indicate the passage of time, tomorrow, now, and so forth.
• Chinese does not use grammatical gender.
• Chinese has an extensive measure word system.

Quick Facts of Korea

Formal Name: Republic of Korea
Capital: Seoul
Government Type: Republic
Area:35,054 sq miles
Population: 47.6 million
GDP: $ 857.8 Billion (2004 estimated)
Currency: Won (KRW) \
National anthem: Aegukga 애국가
National Flower: Rose of Sharon 무궁화
Climate: Temperate, hot and humid in summer, cold in winter
Religion: Christianity, Catholic, Buddhism

Quick Facts of Japan

Formal Name: Japan
Capital: Tokyo
Government Type: Constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government
Area: 150,000 sq miles
Population: 127 million
GDP: $ 3.6 Trillion (2004 estimated)
Currency: Yen (JPY, ¥)
National Flag: Hinomaru 日の丸 White flag with a large red disc
National anthem: Kimi Ga Yo 君が代
National Flower: Cherry blossom さくら
Climate: Varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north
Religion: Shinto, Buddhism

Quick Facts of China

Formal Name: People’s Republic of China
Capital: Beijing
Government Type: Communist state
Area: 3.7 million sq miles

Population: 1.3 billion
GDP: $ 6.449 Trillion (2004 estimated)
Currency: RMB (RenMinBi)/Yuan
National Flag: Wuxing Hongqi (Red flag with five stars)

National anthem: March of the Volunteers
National Flower: Tree Peony (Not official)
Climate: Extremely diverse
Religion: Officially Atheist (Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Christianity)