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Pen pals in China
Curious about China? Ask the people who live there.
Right now in China
๐ฐ 04:00 ยท โ๏ธ 1ยฐC
About China
China is roughly as wide as the continental United States, yet the whole country officially runs on a single clock, Beijing Time. In the far west, that means the sun can rise and set hours "later" than it does in Shanghai, and in Xinjiang many people also use an unofficial local time two hours behind. If your pen pal mentions a time, it is worth asking which clock they mean. It is a small detail, but it says a lot about the scale of the place you are writing to.
That scale runs through everything. A pen pal in Harbin may describe winters far below freezing and an ice festival; one in Guangzhou may barely need a coat. The north traditionally eats more wheat (noodles, dumplings, steamed buns), the south more rice, and regional cooking from Sichuan to Shandong varies enormously. One common misconception is that "Chinese food" is a single cuisine, usually the version served in takeaways abroad. Ask your pen pal what their family actually cooks and you will get a far better answer.
Two calendars at once
Daily life follows the familiar Gregorian calendar, but several of the biggest festivals follow the traditional lunisolar one, so their dates move each year.
- Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) falls between late January and mid-February. It is the year's big family reunion, and a vast number of people travel home for it. Schools take their winter break around it.
- Qingming, in early April, is when many families tend the graves of relatives.
- Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, usually in September or early October, and is associated with the full moon and mooncakes.
- National Day, 1 October, begins a week-long holiday often called Golden Week, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The school year starts in September. For older teenagers, school can be long and intense, building towards the gaokao, the national university entrance exam held each year from 7 June. If your pen pal is in their final years of secondary school, they may have less time to write in spring, so be generous about gaps.
Writing, typing and talking
Standard Mandarin, called Putonghua, is taught in schools and used nationwide, and mainland China writes in simplified characters. Many people also grow up speaking a regional language such as Cantonese, Shanghainese or Hokkien at home, and minority languages including Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang are used in their own regions. Asking "what do you speak with your grandparents?" often opens a fascinating conversation.
If you are learning Mandarin, a pen pal is ideal for practice: you can try writing a few lines in characters, see how a native speaker types them using pinyin, and learn the casual phrasing that textbooks skip. Starting with a simple ไฝ ๅฅฝ (nว hวo, "hello") will be appreciated, even if the rest of your letter is in English. Most Chinese students study English at school, so many pen pals are keen to practise in return.
Questions for a first letter
- Which city or province are you in, and what is the weather doing this week?
- What does your family eat at Spring Festival?
- What time does your school or work day start and finish?
- Is there a dish or snack from your hometown that you miss when you are away?
International post can be slow and unpredictable, so many pen pals stay digital and save postcards for special occasions. For more ideas, see our letter prompts.
Ask the locals
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Members in China
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 42
Active 4 minutes ago
I'm from CN, I teach control of electric machines at a university, researching biomagnetic field detection to explore the origin of consciousness. A childhood story brought me here: I loved foreign cartoons and dreamed of making foreign friends in castles, but I had no English, internet, and computer. i ask help to my father, my father suddenly point to the bare wintersweet tree around by blooming trees to ask me why,i shaked the head, he said it's not its season. Months passed, then one winter morning, heavy snow fell. after I open the gate, i see the wintersweet was covered in golden blossoms, each tiny flower like translucent wax, holding the snow as if winter had lit small suns on every branch. Father said, "You see?its season has come." I have kept that fable in my heart. Every flower has its own season. Now, when I logged onto this website and created my account. I realize That flower, hidden in my heart for so many years, can finally bloom now.
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 18
Active 4 hours ago
Hello everyone! My name is Lia, and I am a 17-year-old girl who study in senior school in Xi'an,China.As ENFJ, I am a very outgoing and open-minded person, which seems to be far from my love for philosophy and architecture. I always want to study abroad to explore how other people live and think of their lives, and the iead of sharing different cultures is really appealing to me. I have many hobbies: cooking, baking, drawing, reading and writing my own novel etc. My favourate musicians are David Bowie and Troye Sivan. And I like to think about everything about LOVE as a kind of research topic, because I think it is the most beautiful magic in the world.(sounds like Dumbledore lol BTW I really like sharing my life, so if any of my questions overstep your boundaries, please tell me and I will give you my most sincere apology. That's it. Don't hesitate to talk to me!I'm sure I will be your biggest fan.
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 21
Active 4 days ago
I enjoy experiencing different cultures, just like I am in Myanmar right now.
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 21
Active 1 week ago
Hello from China! ๐ I'm a university student who loves collecting postcards and stamps from around the world, especially those with unique postmarks or from remote places. I'm curious about different cultures, local traditions, and everyday life in other countries. I enjoy traditional mail because every postcard tells a story and connects people across borders. I'd love to exchange postcards and handwritten letters with people worldwide, share stories about our hometowns, and learn about life from different perspectives. I'm always looking toward distant horizons. โ๏ธ
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 42
Active 1 week ago
Hello from Shanghai! I'm David, 42, happiest on a hiking trail - my favorite is Sheshan, just outside the city. I'm into healthy eating and simple cooking (my go-to is tomato-potato-egg soup), I grow rosemary on my balcony, and I'm currently reading European history. I've visited the US and Australia and loved both. I'm a Christian and go to church on Sundays. I'd love to make genuine friends with native English speakers in the US, UK, Canada or Australia. I'm on UTC+8. What's your favorite place to be outdoors?
๐จ๐ณ China ยท 28
Active 3 weeks ago
Hi! I'm born and raised in China, currently living in United States (She/They). I'd like to know more about global cultures, especially Slavic and North European. I really love Russian literature and global poetry, tho I haven't read too much -- always wanna read more! Queer, Buddhist-leaning, and anti-oppression. I studied psychology and work in mental health. Flow the water of your soul with me and we can be each other's cozy harbor.