Music
Celebrations
Giving Gifts
Special Dishes
Educational Choices
100

This popular Western musical instrument is made more in China than anywhere else in the world.

What is the piano?

100

The first day of the Chinese New Year is marked by this important festival.

What is 春节 (Chūnjié), or Chinese New Year/Spring Festival?

100

These red items, traditionally filled with money, are commonly given during Spring Festival and weddings.

What are hóngbāo (red envelopes)?

100

This type of Chinese food is eaten during Spring Festival because it resembles ancient gold ingots, symbolizing wealth.

What are dumplings (jiǎozi)?

100

In China, students attend this many years of mandatory schooling before high school.

What is nine years?

200

Unlike the seven-note scale used in Western music, traditional Chinese instruments are often tuned to this kind of scale.

What is a five-note scale?

200

In Chinese culture, this holiday, marks the 15th day of the Chinese New Year.

What is the Lantern Festival?

200

When giving or receiving a gift, including a hóngbāo, it’s customary in China to do this with the gift.

What is hold it with both hands?

200

The Chinese word for this animal sounds like the word for “abundance,” making it a popular dish during New Year celebrations.

What is fish (yú)?

200

This subject is the most commonly taught foreign language in Chinese public schools.

What is English?

300

In Kunming’s Cuihu Park, you might hear live music played on this two-stringed instrument.

What is the erhu (二胡)?

300

At a one-year-old’s birthday party, Chinese parents may observe a 抓周 (zhuāzhōu) to predict this.

What is the child’s future career?

300

This type of product, often unique to a specific region in China, is a popular gift. Examples include Dragonwell tea from Hangzhou and rose cakes from Yunnan.

What is tèchǎn (特产), or a local specialty product?

300

Long noodles, or 长寿面 (chángshòumiàn), are eaten on birthdays to symbolize this.

What is a long life?

300

Unlike Martin and Isabella, most students in Chinese public schools do not attend this type of school.

What is an international school?

400

This traditional Chinese instrument, often recommended for beginners, has a long wooden body and strings that are plucked.

What is the guzheng?

400

The Spring Festival is such a major event in China that this mode of transportation often sells out quickly.

What are train tickets?

400

In Chinese culture, giving a gift, like this red envelope, symbolizes this positive emotion.

What is good luck and happiness?

400

In southern China, people might eat this dish on Spring Festival morning to “start the year sweet.” It’s a sticky rice cake whose name sounds like “higher every year.”

What is niángāo (年糕)?

400

The results of this exam at the end of middle school decide whether students go to an academic high school or this other kind.

What is a vocational school?

500

These types of TV programs are popular in China and may feature professional musicians, new songwriters, or young aspiring pop stars.

What are music competition shows?

500

The traditional Chinese calendar is often called this because it is partially based on the phases of the moon.

What is the lunar calendar?

500

During just six days of the 2019 Spring Festival, over 823 million of these digital versions of traditional gifts were exchanged on WeChat.

What are digital red envelopes?

500

If you were planning a Spring Festival dinner in Harbin, you might serve this popular northeastern food made with fermented vegetables.

What is Chinese sauerkraut or suan cai (酸菜)?

500

In China, this famously intense and life-defining test determines college admissions and is taken at the end of high school.

What is the Gaokao?