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🇨🇳 Mandarin Chinese · Intermediate Level 1

PART 3 · LESSON 23 OF 30 · 30 MINUTES

When Old Su Was Young

Drink the night's tea with Old Su at dawn and hear how it used to be: ask whether he shook leaves as a child, hear that back then there were no machines, that it was all rolled with the feet, that a jin was only a few mao, and that people today don't understand.

Audio instruction: English

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THE STORY

Dawn in the yard of Old Su's farmhouse above Anxi, a pot of the night's tea on a low table and the hills coming out of the mist.

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Words and phrases

The lesson is for your ears. Open this afterwards, to see what you learned.
小时候。xiǎoshíhouwhen I was small, in my childhood, word for word small time
您 小时候 也 摇青 吗？nín xiǎoshíhou yě yáoqīng maWhen you were small, did you shake leaves too? Politely.
那 时候。nà shíhouback then, word for word that time
摇。 那 时候 没有 机器。yáo, nà shíhou méiyǒu jīqìI did. Back then there were no machines.
您 几 岁 开始 做 茶？nín jǐ suì kāishǐ zuò cháHow old were you when you started making tea? Politely.
没有 机器， 怎么 揉？méiyǒu jīqì, zěnme róuNo machines, how did you roll them?
用 脚。yòng jiǎowith the feet
都 是 用 脚 揉 的。dōu shì yòng jiǎo róu deIt was all rolled with the feet.
脚 不 疼 吗？jiǎo bù téng maDidn't your feet hurt?
用 脚？ 真 的 吗？yòng jiǎo? zhēn de maWith the feet? Really?

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