The coolest thing I saw in nature this week was the full bloom of the cherry blossoms in Xuanwuhu Park. I managed to go see the cherry blossoms near the end of their blooming season.
The spring season in Nanjing is relatively short. Just a couple weeks ago the weather was still nice and cool, and the flowers were blooming. Now, flowers are already starting to fall from the trees and the weather is becoming hot and humid. From what I am told, Nanjing summers are some of the hottest in all of China, with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees. It's no surprise the city is considered one of the three "Furnace Cities" of China.
The language that is spoken in most major regions in China is Mandarin Chinese. Chinese dialects are also spoken in every Chinese city/town. For example, the dialect of Nanjing is called Nanjing Guan Hua whereas the dialect of Shanghai is Shanghainese. In Southern China, many people speak the popular dialect of Cantonese.
The money used in China is called the Chinese yuan or 人民币 (ren min bi). When buying things in a store, people just call money 块 (kuai). For example, saying 10 kuai is similar to saying "10 dollars."
