echineselearning & Sina.com online launch co-branded effort

BEIJING, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- eChineseLearning, an online Chinese language school specializing in one-to-one live video instruction and supplemental education programs, today announced its marketing partnership with SINA.com Online, located in San Mateo, California. "Due to the increased impact of the Chinese marketplace - an output of $2.7 trillion in 2006 - we at eChineseLearning have seen a tremendous demand for Chinese education across all professional fields, ages, geographies, and cultures. There are in fact over 30 million people throughout the world studying Chinese," explained Fred Rao, founder & CEO of eChineseLearning. "There is also a strong desire to learn within Chinese communities. In the United States alone there are currently over 700,000 children of Chinese descent whose native language is English or another first language. Many children of native Chinese parents - and by that, SINA.com Online readers - are using eChineseLearning to help them communicate better with their families. As a SINA.com Online partner, our services can be used by over one million of these individuals."
eChineseLearning students come from over 25 countries in the world and include business owners, students, actors, professors, and professionals from corporations such as HP, Nike, and Motorola. The company provides students with customized programs to gain a competitive edge; professionals seeking advancement and positions overseas; and families planning a trip in China. The eChineseLearning courses include Standard Chinese for all levels, Business Chinese, Travel Chinese, Business Etiquette, and Culture Training.
To view more at: http://www.echineselearning.com/media/forbes/eChineseLearning%20&%20SINA-Forbes.htm

The Lantern Festival of China

The 15^th January of lunar Chinese month is the Lantern Festival of China. Why is it called Lantern Festival? Because on this day, Chinese people go out to watch lanterns, guess the riddles written on the lanterns. On this day, Chinese people also play big drum, with the rhythm of which, mid-aged women dance yangko (a kind of dance featured as Chinese, which is popular with mid-aged women). The most important program of Chinese people on the Lantern Festival is to eat 元宵（yuánxiāo）,the traditional food of China.

元宵（yuánxiāo）, the sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour, wrapping different ingredient in it, such as niger seed( 黑芝麻 hēizhīma), ormosia(红豆 hóngdòu), peanut, and many kinds of fruit flavor like apple, strawberry and orange. It seems delicious, but it is not ok to eat yet. You can cook it in pure boiled water, when all the元宵（yuánxiāo）float off, it is ok, you can enjoy it now. Also you can steam and fry it. It is completely depending on your own taste how to cook元宵（yuánxiāo）.

To learn more traditional festivals of China with professional and live Chinese teachers from echineselearning.com, Please enter:http://www.echineselearning.com/?a_aid=post and Free Trial Now!

How do chinese people celebrate the Lantern Festival

On the Lantern Festival, we set off catharine at night, which is beautiful and lightening the whole sky, attracting many people to going out to watch,especially children, who are scampering and clapping all the time.And on this day, all the streets are decorated by lanterns with virious colors,which also strike many people. Now guessing riddles written on the lanterns has not been popular with people,instead, it has been a kind of tradition in their concept.

Of course, on this day, 元宵（yuánxiāo）is very popular.In the past,chinese people made 元宵（yuánxiāo）by themselves.But the process is quite complicated. Now there are many kinds of 元宵（yuánxiāo）in supermarket, and their prices are all affordable. so chinese people buy 元宵（yuánxiāo）in supermarket on the Lantern Festival now.The most simply method of cook is to stew in pure water. when all the 元宵（yuánxiāo）has floated off, it is ok to enjoy!

Forwarded by http://www.echineselearning.com/?a_aid=post

There are over 2650 languages in the world with 7000 dialects. Out of this, the Chinese language is ranked as one of the four most time-demanding and difficult languages to learn. But this challenge doesn't seem to be preventing people all over the world from taking on the task. According to The Economist magazine, there are currently some 30 million foreigners studying the language.
This is good news for Fred Rao, the founder and CEO of eChineseLearning.com, a video-based online Chinese teaching website. With around 30 qualified Chinese teachers based in Beijing, the company can provide one-on-one lessons to anyone in the world with access to a computer and the internet. Rao started eChineseLearning in 2006, after getting his MBA from Stanford University and co-founding a Chinese social networking site.
I caught up with Fred Rao at his office earlier this week to talk about the growing global trend of learning Chinese and the business behind eChineseLearning.
More at：http://www.echineselearning.com/media/cri/2008-01-31-eChineseLearning.htm

The origin of Chinese lunar New Year.

It is said that there was a monster called 年（nian 2）in the ancient time of china. The年（nian 2） monster was huge in size and with antenna in his head. Usually, it lived in the deep bottom of ocean, but in the New Year Eve, it will come out into villages to devour livestock and lives. However, people found that the年（nian 2）monster was afraid of red color, bright light and slam-bang after they were hurt many years. So in the New Year Eve (which is called 除（chu 2）夕(xi 1)in china), Chinese people put up couplets written on red paper on their gate, hung red lantern on gate beam, set off fireworks and stay up all night , which was called 守（shou 2）岁(sui 4) in china and people still stick to this tradition now. 守（shou 2）岁(sui 4) tradition tells the deep lingering about the passing old year and the nice longing for the coming new year. If you are living china now or going to spend the new year 2008 together with your Chinese friends, you can experience守（shou 2）岁(sui 4) by yourself.