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Piao Liang - Daily Mandarin Lesson

Beautiful

By Qiu Gui Su, About.com

Piao Liang

The appreciation of beauty is a universal trait, and provides an engaging topic of conversation. The Mandarin Chinese phrase for “beautiful” or “pretty” is ►piào liàng, and can be used to describe people, places, or objects.

Piào liàng consists of two characters: 漂亮. The first character, 漂 (piào) means “elegant” or “polished.” The second character, 亮 (liàng) means “light,” or “bright.”

The literal translation of piào liàng, then, is “elegant and bright.”

Examples of Piao Liang

Click on the links to hear the audio.

Nǐ de yī fu hěn piào liàng.
你的衣服很漂亮。
你的衣服很漂亮。
Your clothes are very pretty.

Táiwān de tài lǔ gé fēng jǐng hěn piào liàng.
台灣的太魯閣風景很漂亮。
台湾的太鲁阁风景很漂亮。
Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge is a beautiful place.

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