Online Chinese Course: La4 Tiao2

Recently, a Chinese food has been one of the most popular words on the internet, which arouses many people’s attention. In this online Chinese course, let us have a detailed discussion of this phrase——“辣条(la4 tiao2)”.

There appears a interesting sentence on the internet that is “有钱吃辣条，就是辣么任性(you3 qian2 chi1 la4 tiao2, jiu4 shi4 la4 me5 ren4 xing4)”. From the perspective of Chinese language, “辣么(la4 me5)” should be replaced by “那么(na4 me5), which means so”. And this sentence means “I am available to eat La4 Tiao2, and I am self-willed”. Maybe you will ask why the “辣条” is connected with someone’s personality? Actually it should be started from the origin of Chinese “辣条(la4 tiao2)”.

In China, “辣条” is a common snack with a quite low price. Almost all the Chinese kids have tasted such a snack. If you come to the gate of a primary school, you will find many students eating “辣条”. Generally, it is sold at the price of “五角(wu3 jiao3)” or “一元(yi4 yuan2)” at most.

However, a recent news pointed that the “辣条(la4 tiao2)” has been sold to America, and the price of it is increased to 12 dollars, which shocked many Chinese people. People never know that such a common food should be so expensive in foreign countries. And many web citizens joke and say, “我要去美国卖辣条(wo3 yao4 qu4 mei3 guo2 mai4 la4 tiao2)”. Figuring out the implied meaning of some internet words is an important part in your Chinese language learning. This joke indicates that the price of “辣条”is really high beyond people’s expectation.

In the following Chinese courses, I will tell you how to make Chinese “辣条”. And you will get to know why Chinese people feel astonished by the price of it in America. 

source: http://smile1xia.tumblr.com/post/103847637049/online-chinese-course-la4-tiao2