Moving on up: 9 Must-know Mandarin Chinese Grammar Patterns for the Intermediate Learner

These nine patterns fall into three different categories, the first of which involves temporal order.

Temporal Order: Telling a Story

A typical sentence pattern is the narration of a story. One reason people say that Chinese grammar is easy is because you can sometimes get by without sentence connectives. When the context is clear, you can list the phrases in order of what happened without any sentence connectives.

But this can only get you so far.

To tell a good story, you want to be as clear as possible. These following two sentence patterns come in handy to clarify the temporal order and avoid any confusion for your listeners and readers.

Baca Juga: Cara Cepat Belajar Bahasa Inggris

1. + 一 + V (+ yī + V)

You have no doubt learned the character 一 (one, a) when you began your Chinese lessons, but you may not realize the extent to which you can use it.

一 can indicate an action that occurred just once or something that lasts for a short time. It also can be paired with 就 jiù (then) or a more formal 便 biàn (then) to indicate something happened immediately after the first action. Think of it as a way to really emphasize what you are about to say in your story.

For example:

他喝一口水才开始讲话. – Tā hè yī kǒu shuǐ cái kāi shǐ jiǎng huà.
(He drank a sip of water before he began to talk.)

学生们一来, 老师就走了. – Xué shēng men yī lái, lǎo shī jiù zǒu liǎo.
(Once the students came, the teacher left.)

2. 便 (biàn)

As mentioned above, 便 biàn (then) is simply a more formal way to say 就 jiù (then). It is often used in written language, but can be a great trick to sound more advanced when you use it in spoken Chinese. 便 biàn (then) shows how one action leads to another, and indicates an outcome of a particular condition.

Start replacing 就 jiù (then) with 便 biàn (then) and see if any of your Chinese friends comment on your advanced vocabulary! Here are some examples of how to use it:

他昨天晚上没睡觉, 今天便看起来很累. – Tā zuó tiān wǎn shàng méi shuì jiào, jīn tiān biàn kàn qǐ lái hěn lèi.
(He did not sleep last night, so today he appears tired.)

她回家便忙着洗碗. – Tā huí jiā biàn máng zhe xǐ wǎn.
(Once she goes home, she starts washing the dishes.)

Contrast: A Direct Turn in the Story

Another common type of sentence pattern involves making a contrast. Sometimes you’ll want to make an abrupt turn in your story and say the exact opposite to further emphasize your point. There are many ways to do this in Chinese, as seen in the following three structures.

3.  …, 又 (yòu)

You may have learned this character in other contexts, but this is an excellent way to use it when placing a contradiction in your sentences. You will usually start off these sentences with one action, and follow it with a contrasting action. Hopefully, the last example sentence will not apply to you!

我相出去吃饭, 又怕花钱. – Wǒ xiāng chū qù chī fàn, yòu pà huā qián.
(I want to go out to eat, but do not want to spend the money.)

她出去了, 又回来了. - Tā chū qù le, yòu huí lái le.
(She went out, then came back.)

他们学了一年中文, 又放弃了. – Tā men xué le yī nián zhōng wén, yòu fàng qì le.
(They learned Chinese for one year, then gave up.)

4. 还是 (hái shì)

Much like 又 yòu (then), 还是 hái shì (nevertheless) is usually used when you are describing one particular thing, but then you change your mind to an alternative. What comes before will usually be different from what happens after. It can be seen in English as “but…still.”

我在中国住了两年, 最后还是回到了美国. – Wǒ zài zhōng guó zhù le liǎng nián, zuì hòu hái shì huí dào le měi guó.
(I lived in China for two years, but in the end I still moved back to the United States.)

她身体有些瘦弱, 但她还是很漂亮. – Tā shēn tǐ yǒu xiē shòu ruò, dàn tā hái shì hěn piào liang.
(Her body is small and weak, but she is still very beautiful.)

5. 却 (què)

却 què (but) is used in front of the verb and in situations that contrast what has been previously said. Instead of using the simpler 可是 kě shì (but) as part of your vocabulary, try substituting 却 què (but) in your sentences to add a formal touch.

大家都出去玩, 我却在家里一个人睡着. – Dà jiā dōu chū qù wán, wǒ què zài jiā lǐ yī gè rén shuì zhe.
(Everyone is outside playing, but I am at home alone sleeping.)

Emphasis: Adding Importance to the Conditions

The third common sentence pattern takes place when you are emphasizing the current conditions. These sentence patterns are meant to bring importance to certain parts of your conversation or story.

6. 随着 (suí zhe)

You will usually use this phrase as a way to imply the cause of the main verb and can be translated in English to “as.”

For example:

随着节日的到来, 商店又忙起来了. – Suí zhe jié rì de dào lái, shāng diàn yòu máng qǐ lái le.
(As the holidays are here, stores have become busy.)

很多树叶随着秋天的到来掉落到地上. – Hěn duō shù yè suí zhe qiū tiān de dào lái diào luò dào dì shàng.
(As autumn is here, many leaves are falling to the ground.)

 7. 连 N 都 V (lián N doū V)

This structure is similar to the English “even,” and describes when something does or does not happen. It’s used where N is the actual subject or object of V.

Example:

他很爱锻炼, 连生病时都会跑步. - Tā hěn ài duàn liàn, lián shēng bìng shí doū huì pǎo bù.
(He loves to exercise; even when he is sick, he will run.)

她弹琴弹得不好, 连小孩都笑她. – Tā tán qín dàn dé bù hǎo, lián xiǎo hái dōu xiào tā.
(She does not play the piano very well; even little children laugh at her.)

8. 不知为什么 (bù zhī wèi shén me)

This is an easy phrase to incorporate into your conversations, and it simply emphasizes that you are unsure of why something did or did not happen. You should place it at the beginning of the sentence that you’re planning to describe. It can be loosely translated to “I don’t know why” or “for some reason.”

For example:

不知为什么, 她们很早就睡觉了. – Bù zhī wèi shén me, tā men hěn zǎo jiù shuì jiào le.
(For some reason, they decided to sleep early.)

不知为什么, 他今天心情不好. – Bù zhī wèi shén me, tā jīn tiān xīn qíng bù hǎo.
(I don’t know why, but he was in a bad mood today.)

9. 怎么 (zěn me)

怎么 (how, why) is slightly different from 不知为什么 – bù zhī wèi shén me (I don’t know why) but are more or less interchangeable. 不知为什么 – bù zhī wèi shén me expresses doubt through the statement, whereas 怎么 zěn me expresses the same idea but in a question form. Many times it will act as a rhetorical question.

For example, you could take the above sentence “不知为什么, 他今天心情不好,” bù zhī wèi shén me, tā jīn tiān xīn qíng bù hǎo. (I don’t know why, but he was in a bad mood today.) and express it in a similar way:

他今天怎么心情不好? – Tā jīn tiān zěn me xīn qíng bù hǎo?
(Why was he in a bad mood today?)

Here’s another example:

你中文怎么讲的这么好? Nǐ zhōng wén zěn me jiǎng de zhè me hǎo?
(How do you speak Chinese so well?)

As you can see, once you learn the framework it’s easy to add in existing vocabulary. Put in the initial time investment to learn these specific patterns, and start practicing by filling in the sentences. This way you aren’t completely overwhelmed with trying to learn new vocabulary and grammar.

Soon people will ask you “你中文怎么讲的这么好?” Nǐ zhōng wén zěn me jiǎng de zhè me hǎo? (How do you speak Chinese so well?) and you will move up to even more advanced phrases!

4 Smart Tips to Improve Your Advanced Mandarin Chinese Conversation

1. Spice Up Your Vocabulary Through Chengyu (Four-character Expressions)

The first tip to raising your Chinese conversation level is to keep improving your vocabulary. Make sure you are learning words in categories that you plan to speak about in conversation. Dropping a few four-character Chinese expressions, or 成语 – chengyu, into your conversations will show your knowledge of Chinese culture and history.

Do not overuse them though, as you don’t want to come off as having just memorized fifty chengyu to impress others. Not every chengyu will be appropriate for conversation either, as some are more frequent than others.

Instead, subtly weave them into appropriate circumstances. Since chengyu usually reference a well-known story, you want to make sure you are using them in the correct scenario.

Baca Juga: Videos — Artikel Belajar Mandarin Jakarta

When learning chengyu, make sure you not only remember the chengyu itself, but that you also understand the story and context of how you can use it in a sentence. Knowing the background and sample sentences will make it far easier to memorize and incorporate into your daily conversation than simply repeating four characters together.

Below are just a few chengyu that you may find useful in your advanced Chinese conversation:

一丝不苟 yī sī bù gǒu:

The literal translation for this means “every thread is accounted for”, in other words, someone who is meticulous.

Example: 我做每件事都是一丝不苟. wǒ zuò měi jiàn shì dōu shì yī sī bù gǒu. (I am meticulous in every task I do.)

不可思议 bù kě sī yì:

The literal translation for this is “cannot be conceived,” and it means something that is unbelievable. You can use this to talk about anything from an action, event, or person.

Example: 他对我那么没礼貌, 真是不可思议! tā duì wǒ nà me méi lǐ mào, zhēn shì bù kě sī yì. (It is unimaginable how rude he was to me!)

2. Learn How to Use Different Words for the Same Meaning

This is true for any language, but the more you advance, the more vocab options you’ll have for expressing a single idea. You could probably get the same meaning across while sounding like an elementary school student and while using a more vivid way to describe the same thing.

You will want to be careful, because other times there will be small nuances, and different expressions may slightly alter the effect of the sentence.

Here is an example of this:

我的朋友很漂亮. wǒ de péng yǒu hěn piào liàng. (My friend is very beautiful.)

我的朋友漂亮极了. wǒ de péng yǒu piào liàng jí le. (My friend is extremely beautiful.)

我的朋友真漂亮! wǒ de péng yǒu zhēn piào liàng! (My friend is really beautiful!)

我的朋友太漂亮了! wǒ de péng yǒu tài piào liàng le! (My friend is too beautiful!)

我的朋友多漂亮啊! wǒ de péng yǒu duō piào liàng a! (My friend is so beautiful!)

我的朋友怎么这么漂亮! wǒ de péng yǒu zěn me zhè me piào liàng! (How is my friend this beautiful!)

As you can see, all the above sentences will translate to the rough idea of “My friend is beautiful.”

However, variations of meaning will slightly alter the effect. It is similar to comparing in English the difference in “My friend is pretty,” “My friend is gorgeous” and “My friend is drop-dead gorgeous!”

An awesome resource to use is Chinese Tools, where you can find a variety of synonyms for any expression. Use words you already know as a basis to learn other synonyms.

You will want to combine learning the synonyms with extra research (whether this is posting your question online or asking your language partner) to ensure you understand the context and slight differences of each word.

3. Connect Sentences to Tell a Story

Sentence connectives in Chinese are important to know, as they will not only improve your overall cohesiveness, but will also help your storytelling skills. Connecting sentences the right way also helps provide an explanation of why things happened, making you better understood.

You probably already use 又 yòu or  然后 rán hòu in conversations, similar to the English “and then” to describe sequential events. Try mixing things up by using the following alternative sentence connectors instead:

以后 yǐ hòu (after), 后来 hòu lái (later)
终于 zhōng yú (finally)
然而 rán’ér, 却 què (however)
于是 yú shì, 如此 rú cǐ (so)
接着  jiē zhe, 便 biàn (then)

4. Shorten Sentences for Clarity

Short sentences in Chinese are characterized by their simple grammatical structure and few words. There are two main types of short sentences. The first are short independent sentences that end with a period, and the other are grammatically self-contained segments that are separated by commas.

Short sentences are sometimes seen in written Chinese language, but are a primary characteristic of the spoken language.

Take these sentences as an example. They have the same meaning, but by slightly changing the grammar and adding breaks in between, the second sentence is easier to understand.

周围静静的山林里连鸟的叫声都听不见, 从林间透过的早晨的阳光在草地上酒下了斑斓的色彩.

Zhōu wéi jìng jìng de shān lín lǐ lián niǎo de jiào shēng dōu tīng bù jiàn, cóng lín jiàn tòu guò de zǎo chén de yáng guāng zài cǎo dì shàng jiǔ xià le bān lán de sè cǎi.

Below is a much clearer way to organize the sentence to provide the same meaning:

周围的山林静静的, 连鸟的叫声都听不见; 早晨的阳光从林间透过的, 在草地上酒下了斑斓的色彩.

Zhōu wéi de shān lín jìng jìng de, lián niǎo de jiào shēng dōu tīng bù jiàn; zǎo chén de yáng guāng cóng lín jiàn tòu guò de, zài cǎo dì shàng jiǔ xià le bān lán de sè cǎi.

(The surrounding mountains are peaceful, you cannot even hear the birds chirping; the morning sun is shining through the forest, leaving behind gorgeous colors on the grass.)

A good practice is to say the sentence in your head and break it up into smaller phrases. Shortening your sentences for clarity is key because it offers the speaker a way to efficiently organize a sentence. It also allows your listener to easily understand the sentence.

When trying to form longer sentences in Chinese, the grammatical relations will often become too complicated. Short sentences bring a sense of rhythm and directness to the phrases and reduces a rambling feel.

It can be challenging to move from an intermediate level to advanced Chinese speaking. However, integrating these four tips into your Chinese conversation will help get you one step closer to your ultimate goal of speaking advanced Chinese like a pro!

Belajar mandarin dengan mudah dan menyenangkan di JagoMandarin.com!

Nasihat orang terkaya China kepada putranya tentang pendidikan

Tidak keliru kiranya Jack Ma didapuk sebagai pengusaha paling ngetop di daratan China (Tiongkok) saat ini. Tahun lalu dia dinyatakan sebagai orang terkaya di negara Republik Rakyat China.

Kesuksesan pendiri sekaligus CEO Alibaba ini bahkan disejajarkan dengan sejumlah tokoh pengusaha teknologi dunia seperti mendiang Steve Jobs yang berhasil membangkitkan Apple dari jurang kebangkrutan.

Akhir bulan lalu, Red Flag Publishing merilis buku berjudul Jack Ma’s Internal Speeches: Trust in Tomorrow. Ada banyak hal yang dapat dipetik dalam buku itu dari pidato miliarder China ini yang tidak tersorot media sebelumnya.

Baca Juga: Cara Belajar Bahasa Inggris Percakapan

Dikutip Hidayatullah.com dari laman Tech In Asia, Sabtu (16/05/2015), ada kutipan pesan Jack Ma untuk putranya dalam buku tersebut terkait edukasi dan hal yang menarik diperhatikan untuk menjadi pengusaha sukses.

“Saya pernah berpesan kepada putra saya: kamu tidak harus berada di peringkat tiga besar di kelas, menjadi siswa berkemampuan menengah tidak masalah, selama nilai-nilaimu tidak terlalu buruk. Hanya orang-orang di kategori ini [di peringkat menengah] yang memiliki waktu untuk mempelajari bakat lainnya. Saya pikir jika ekonomi di China ingin berkembang, perlu banyak UKM dan wiraswasta, serta membutuhkan banyak entrepreneur dengan kemampuan mumpuni dan motivasi”.

Meskipun nasihat Jack Ma untuk putranya di atas tidak memiliki fokus yang jelas, pendapatnya tentang sistem pendidikan di China sangat menarik karena bertentangan dengan prinsip konvensional di negara tersebut: bahwa setiap siswa di China harus menjadi yang terbaik dan menyingkirkan semua yang dapat menyebabkan kegagalan di kelas.

Sikap seperti itu terbentuk karena sistem pendidikan di China yang dipertahankan sekeras itu. Siapapun yang ingin mengenyam pendidikan di kampus ternama harus belajar keras dan mendapat nilai tinggi pada ujian nasional (gaokao) di China.

Bakat apapun yang mungkin dikembangkan di luar sekolah tidak bisa dijadikan acuan untuk bisa diterima di universitas. Anggapan seperti itu membuat siswa berpikir bahwa kegiatan di luar sekolah hanya membuang waktu jika tujuan yang ingin dicapai adalah masuk kuliah ternama seperti Universitas Tsinghua.

Namun Jack Ma berpendapat bahwa jika ekonomi di China bertumbuh, yang menjadi kunci utama adalah kemampuan perorangan dan semangat wirausaha.

Seperti yang telah ia kemukakan, Alibaba berhasil menjadi salah satu perusahaan tersukses di dunia meskipun ia bukan menjadi salah satu murid terpandai di kelas – faktanya ia gagal memasuki universitas hingga tiga kali. Dan dengan pengecualian petinggi Baidu Robin Li, banyak pengusaha internet terkemuka mencapai sukses meski tidak menjadi siswa terpandai di kelas.

Pesan Jack Ma adalah: ikuti jadwal sekolah dengan baik namun jangan sampai hal ini merenggut seluruh waktu Anda. Asah kemampuan lainnya dan ikuti passion Anda di waktu luang.

Hal ini mungkin sangat jelas bagi beberapa orang, namun bagi kebanyakan murid di China, pesan ini merupakan gebrakan terhadap sistem yang selama ini ada.

Survei: Standar Sistem Pendidikan di China Kalahkan Amerika Serikat

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), baru-baru ini, merilis hasil survei standar pendidikan terhadap 34 negara di dunia. Pelajar Shanghai, China, menduduki di peringkat pertama yang memiliki sistem pendidikan terbaik. Mereka berada di posisi teratas pada tes standar internasional yang meliputi pelajaran matematika, membaca, dan sains. Skor yang diraih China melampaui pesaingnya, Amerika Serikat. Sementara Indonesia menempati urutan ke 33. Nomor paling buncit ditempati Peru.

PISA adalah sebuah lembaga Organisasi Ekonomi dan Kerja Sama Eropa, (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development alias OECD). Peserta survei ialah pelajar usia 15 tahun, menyoroti performa akademis antara negara-negara Timur dan Barat.

Baca Juga: Bagaimana Agar Tak Salah Pilih Tempat Kursus Bahasa Inggris

Peringkat berdasarkan survei PISA merupakan yang paling berpengaruh di dunia karena didasarkan pada 500 ribu lebih siswa sekolah menengah untuk mengukur standar pendidikan di Eropa, Amerika Selatan dan Utara, Australia, Timur Tengah, dan Asia.

Pelajar-pelajar dari Shanghai, Singapura, dan Hongkong nangkring di posisi tiga besar, di atas rata-rata standar OECD. Standarnya antara lain skor 494 untuk matematika, 496 untuk membaca, dan 501 untuk sains.

Sekjen OECD, Angel Gurria, merilis hasil tersebut di Washington, AS. Ia mengungkapkan, anak muda sekarang harus mempelajari keahlian-keahlian jika mereka ingin sukses.

“Pada era ekonomi global, daya saing dan prospek-prospek pekerjaan di masa mendatang akan bergantung pada apa yang manusia bisa lakukan, serta apa yang mereka tahu. Anak muda adalah masa depan, maka setiap negara harus melakukan apapun yang mampu meningkatkan sistem pendidikan dan peluang generasi mendatang,” terangnya.

Nilai matematika yang dicapai Shanghai dalam survei PISA lebih tinggi dengan selisih tiga tahun sekolah dibanding rata-rata di OECD yang terdiri 34 negara. Sementara Singapura, Taiwan, Korea Selatan, dan Jepang masuk dalam golongan atas secara menyeluruh. Negara yang paling rendah dalam peringkat berdasarkan hasil survei PISA  ini adalah Peru dan Indonesia.

Selain mengukur kemampuan pada tiga bidang pelajaran, survei PISA memperlihatkan hasil lain. Hasil survei PISA menunjukkan bahwa arah pandang, motivasi, dan rasa percaya diri pada diri seseorang sangat penting bagi siswa yang ingin memenuhi potensinya. Kerja keras dan latihan sejalan dengan pengembangan potensi siswa, tetapi siswa masing-masing hanya mampu meraih level tertinggi jika mereka percaya bahwa merekalah yang menentukan kesuksesan mereka.

Di China, misalnya, para siswa tak hanya percaya bahwa mereka yang menentukan keberhasilannya. Namun juga mempersiapkan apa yang akan dilakukan untuk mendapatkannya. Sebanyak 73 persen siswa responden setuju bahwa mereka tetap tertarik pada tugas yang mereka kerjakan.

Ini berarti, para siswa di beberapa negara yang konsisten mempercayai bahwa pencapaian adalah hasil dari kerja keras daripada sekadar kecerdasan bawaan, bisa lebih sukses. Pendidikan dan konteks sosial dapat membuat perbedaan dalam membantu pengembangan kesuksesan di bidang pendidikan.

Cepat kuasai mandarin dengan kursus unggulan dari JagoMandarin.com!

China's Educational Success Is Taking a Toll on Students

Compare Amy Chua, the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, to Liu Weihua and Zhang Xinwu and she comes out looking like a pussy cat. Well before Amy was making her daughters practice their instruments four hours a day, Liu and Zhang were credited with turning their daughter Yiting into an overnight celebrity in their native China, the very crucible of tiger parenting.

Not for singing or dancing on a TV talent show, which is the way most British children find overnight fame. Instead Yiting became famous for being the paragon of everything a Chinese child should be: She brought honor to her family by winning a full scholarship to Harvard. The resulting book, Harvard Girl Liu Yiting: a character training record, became the must-read manual for other Chinese families also seeking the holy grail of a place at an Ivy League college or Oxbridge. It went on to sell two million copies and spawned 70 copycat versions, including Yale Girl and Ivy League’s Not a Dream. All were based on the premise that with a strict upbringing and intense hard work any Chinese family could win the dream ticket.

Yiting’s parents started early. While still a baby, they placed toys just out of her reach to make her try harder to get them. At primary school, they timed her work to prepare for exams and encouraged her to hold ice in her hands for endurance. At the same time as Harvard Girl became a best-seller, there was one more development which increased the temperature still further in the global hothouse. In 2000, the first results of the Programme for International Student Assessment were published to compare education systems around the world. Across the globe, 26 countries put forward a representative sample of their 15-year-olds to be compared in tests on maths, science, and reading.

In the early days, China did not take part. But as the number of participants grew, in 2009 it dipped its toe in the water. It entered the children of Shanghai, the country’s most affluent petri dish of achievement, where 80 percent of children go to university. It was an impressive debut. Immediately Shanghai, with a population the size of Ghana, entered the chart at number one. The result triggered an unprecedented wave of panic among Western countries whose economies had also been slipping down the league. From starting out in the top ten in the first table, the U.K. had now dropped to twenty-fifth for reading, twenty-eighth for maths and sixteen for science. American and French pupils also scored poorly.

Baca Juga: Mata Kuliah Sastra Cina UI

Western politicians rushed to condemn children for not working hard enough. The UK’s then-education secretary, Michael Gove, called it a “Sputnik moment”—after the moment the Americans realised they were falling behind the Russians in the space race.

“We are in a global race,” he warned. “Our children are competing against children in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, and we need to make sure our national curriculum—the standards we set—are as rigorous, as tough, as those on the other side of the world.”

“If that's what they are doing in China… and some of the countries with the best educational standards in the world, we have got to do that here.”

But while Gove may be gone, there is still no sign that his knee-jerk “for God’s sake, knuckle down and get on with some work for once approach” to education is being reversed by his successor. Regiment the national curriculum. Test children at every opportunity was apparently the answer. But also remember that you are dealing with children and you have to be careful what you wish for—let alone how you want to achieve it.

Contrasting Western and Eastern education has never been a comparison of like with like. A closer look at the classrooms which produce these results shows that China’s success comes at a high cost. And it’s the Chinese themselves who are the first to admit it. In China, children spend more than a month longer in school a year than our children, and the school day lasts nine hours—with breaks for eye massages to reduce eye strain and physical activity to keep concentration levels high. One study found that up to 90 percent of Asian schoolchildren, including those living in China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, are nearsighted. This has been put down to them spending too much time indoors studying and not enough time outside in the sunlight. By comparison, the overall rate of myopia in the U.K. is between 20 and 30 percent.

Furthermore, the school bell in many countries in the far east is just the end of the first shift. Children then move on to cram schools. These are taken so seriously that in neighbouring South Korea, and across the far east, inspectors launch lightning raids to enforce curfews to prevent them teaching pupils past 10 p.m. Nor are children thriving under the pressure. A  survey of nine- to twelve-year-olds in the eastern province of Zhejiang by University College London found that more than 80 percent worried “a lot” about exams, while two-thirds feared punishment by their teachers. Look on YouTube and you will find examples of explosive violence by teachers against pupils. When questioned, three-quarters of the Chinese children surveyed say they are also scared of being physically punished by their parents.

Some see no way out. A 2009 study found that 24 percent of 2,500 students in Shanghai there have thought about killing themselves, mostly in response to exam stress. Last March, a boy apparently threw himself out of his classroom window rather than deal with the shame of not excelling in his university entrance exams. But of course the supreme irony is that despite being the envy of every country, the Chinese are calling their education system a failure.

At the same time as Western governments strive to make their schools more Asian, Asian governments are trying to make their schools more European and creative. The phrase gaofen dinen has now passed into general useage, meaning students who get high scores but have low ability and never learn to take initiative.

And while we fret here about poor maths scores, the Chinese also point to another test, which did not grab the headlines, which found that in tests of creativity and imagination, their children came fifth from bottom. “The results are shocking,” China Daily warned. “Children had almost no chance to use their imagination. From the first day of school they are pushed into a culture of exams, exams, and more exams.”

Changes under discussion at the Chinese Ministry of Education include stopping written homework for primary school pupils and encouraging kids in non-academic extracurricular activities to produce more well-rounded children.

More and more Chinese parents are also seeking to educate their children at home. There has even been a boom in alternative education such as  Waldorf  Steiner schools in China, with the movement now being described as a powerful counter-cultural force. One such school, the Chengdu Waldorf school in the South West of the country has a five year waiting list.

At the very heart of this system is Peking University High School deputy principal Jiang Xueqin, who is damning in his assessment of Chinese methods.

“It’s a test-oriented education system, which means that students are taught from a very early age how to beat tests. The failings of a rote-memorisation system are well known: lack of social and practical skills, absence of self-discipline and imagination, loss of curiosity and passion for learning.

“One way we’ll know we’re succeeding in changing China’s schools is when those scores come down.”

Les mandarin yang efektif dan terjangkau? Hanya di JagoMandarin.com!