With 3 years of experience teaching Mandarin to adult learners, I guide students from Pinyin to Chinese characters while helping them discover the beauty of Chinese language and culture.

Find out more about Lifang

• 1) Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I speak Mandarin Chinese fluently because it is my mother tongue and part of my cultural roots. However, becoming aware of Chinese as a language to teach, not just to speak, has been a new learning journey for me. When I started teaching Chinese in English, I began to understand the language from a much broader perspective.

• 2) Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language& culture?

  I would choose Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, as a representative of Chinese language and culture. He was a poet, writer, scholar-official and cultural figure in the Song dynasty. For me, he represents Chinese very well because his language can be simple, warm and close to everyday life, but also extremely sophisticated, poetic and philosophical. His works connect food, nature, geography, emotion, humour and
  life wisdom. So he shows that Chinese culture is not only about grand philosophy, but also about how people live, eat, travel, suffer, adapt and find meaning in ordinary life.

• 3) Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  If I had to choose something that represents Chinese culture, I might choose food, or a figure like Confucius connected to traditional values. In Chinese culture, food is closely linked to care, family, geography and identity. The saying “民以食为天” means that food is fundamental to people’s lives. Also, greetings like “你吃过了吗？” show how food is embedded in daily communication. At a deeper level, Chinese food
  culture is shaped by geography: different regions produce different cuisines, lifestyles and mindsets. As the saying goes, “一方水土养一方人” — the local land and water nurture the local people.

• 4) Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  Chinese is my mother tongue, but it is also much more than that. It represents my roots, my cultural background, and my connection with my home country. It is the language through which I can express my feelings most accurately and naturally. It also helps me build a sense of resonance with people who share the same language and cultural memories.
  
  Since English is my second language, I enjoy comparing Chinese and English, not only in terms of vocabulary and grammar, but also in terms of the cultural values behind them. Some people say that when you speak a different language, your personality changes. I think this is partly true. When I teach Mandarin, I often become more outgoing and humorous, and my students have noticed this as well.
  
  For me, teaching Chinese is not only about teaching a language, but also about sharing a way of thinking, feeling and seeing the world.

• 5) What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  I think the most difficult part of learning Chinese is the gap between speaking and writing. Pinyin is very helpful at the beginning because it gives learners a way to pronounce Chinese words. But when you go deeper, Chinese characters become a much bigger challenge. They are not just sounds; they also carry meanings, history and cultural associations.
  
  Also, Chinese people use a lot of idioms, traditional sayings, everyday slang and internet slang. So to really understand Chinese, learners need to understand the culture behind the language as well.

• 6) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  When I started using English to teach Mandarin, it was the first time I had looked at Chinese from a more complete and analytical perspective.
  Before studying abroad, speaking Chinese felt as natural as breathing. I never had to think deeply about why certain words were formed in a particular way. However, when I prepared class slides and answered my students’ questions, I began to rediscover my own language. Sometimes they asked questions I had never thought about before. For example, one student asked why the radical that looks like “月”
  appears in many body-related characters, such as “肺” (fèi, lungs) and “腿” (tuǐ, leg). This made me realise that teaching a language is also a process of learning it again.
  
  I discovered that Chinese characters are not just symbols for pronunciation; they often carry history, meaning and cultural logic. In this case, the “月” radical in many body-related characters actually comes from “肉”, meaning flesh or body, rather than the moon. This experience changed how I see Chinese. It is no longer just my mother tongue; it is also a system full of hidden structure, history and cultural meaning.
  
  Teaching Mandarin in English has helped me understand both languages more deeply.

• 7) How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Studying and living in the UK has helped me understand Chinese more deeply. Being outside China made me more aware of the differences between Chinese and English, not only in grammar and vocabulary, but also in culture, politeness, humour and ways of expressing emotion. Explaining Chinese to non-native speakers has helped me become more precise, patient and reflective as a language teacher.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I believe what makes me a good language tutor is that I understand both the language itself and the learner’s perspective. As someone who has studied abroad and used English as a second language, I know how challenging it can feel to learn a new language. I try to make Chinese clear, practical and culturally meaningful. I can explain pronunciation, vocabulary, characters and cultural context in a way that is friendly and structured, especially for beginner