The Chinese Sayings Podcast
1) S9E10 | Finished behind the last place guy
Firstly, hats off to Emma and her 团队 at the CYZ for all their hard work, all season-long. We close out the season 9 with an amusing story from a source, as yet never featured on this long-running educ...Show More
2) S9E09 | First Strike
Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān ...Show More
3) S9E08 | Owned!
For our eighth CSP offering this season, we open up the Book of Han once again and hear the story behind Jiāo Bīng Bì Bài 骄兵必败. It doesn't always happen this way but the timeline of history is filled ...Show More
4) S9E07 | You Can Get it if You Really Want (But you must try)
Here's another well-worn favorite from the long list of great chengyu's: 磨杵成针 Mó Chǔ Chéng Zhén. The story behind this Chinese Saying stars none other than (one of China's greatest poets) Li Bai. As a...Show More
5) S9E06 | The First Cut is the Deepest
This one may be a bit of a departure from the average CSP episode. The Chinese Saying for this time is Jiǎn Bú Duàn, Lǐ Hái Luàn-剪不断 理还乱. Many Chinese poetry lovers and aficionados may already be fam...Show More
6) S9E05 | Had enough yet?
Here's a good one from the Three Kingdoms Era in which we feature the famous story of Meng Huo, Zhuge Liang, and Qī Qín Mèng Huò 七擒孟获. Some people just can't accept defeat but in the end, they bow to ...Show More
7) S9E04 | Be like Kong Rong
This Chinese Saying, or at least the story, is rather well-known. The story of young Kong Rong and the bowl of pears. Kǒng Róng Ràng Lí 孔融让梨. This perennial children's favorite has a nice moral lesson...Show More
8) S9E03 | Please allow me to introduce myself
Sima Qian strikes again. This time around we look at the well-known saying, Máo Suì Zì Jiàn 毛遂自荐. I tend to favor those 成语's from the Warring States Period. This one concerns the particularly volatile...Show More
9) S9E02 | R-E-S-P-E-C-T-Chéng Mén Lì Xuě-程门立雪
This week's Chinese Saying is another good and respectable one that comes to us compliments of the Book of Song. It concerns the Northern Song official and literatus Yang Shi. His two main teachers we...Show More
10) S9E01 | The Truth Always Gets Out
For the Season 9 opener, we bring you a good one that takes place in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. Qin Hui, the reviled chancellor of Emperor Gaozong is back again, starring in another...Show More