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What direction does the sun rises every day? Of course, it's from the east. In order to illustrate this, Chinese people invented a very vivid character: “東 (dōng) the east,” which is composed of two parts -- “木 (mù) wood” and “日 (rì) the sun,” representing how the sun appears to rise from a forest in the east. Later on, it developed into a simplified version “东.”

Chinese people regard the east as the most important of the four cardinal directions. When entertaining guests, we save the seats that face east for the most honored or most important guests. Moreover, “东 (dōng)” stands for “the host” in Chinese culture. Phrases including "东" become common expressions to express the meaning of "host." Here we will show three of them.

房东 (fángdōng) landlord

The person who rents houses out to others is called “房东 (fángdōng) landlord.” And its counterpart is “房客 (fángkè) tenants.”

东道主 (dōngdàozhǔ) the host

If you like to watch sports games, you probably often hear people say the host country, the host team, or the host. In Chinese, we say “东道主 国 (dōngdàozhǔ guó) the host country," "东道主 队 (dōngdàozhǔ duì) the host team" and "东道主 (dōngdàozhǔ) the host” separately.

做东 (zuòdōng) to treat sb. to dinner

“AA 制 (zhì) go Dutch” custom is popular in the south of China. However, in northern China, people like to “轮流 做东 (lúnliú zuòdōng) take turns paying the bill.” “做东 (zuòdōng)” means “to treat sb. to dinner.”

Learn other new words in this Chinese lesson for beginners:

发明 (fāmíng): v. to invent    

Example:

Àidíshēng fāmíng le diàndēng.
  爱迪生     发明    了    电灯。    
Edison invented the light bulb.

请客 (qǐngkè): v. to entertain guests/to invite sb. for dinner
    

Example:

Jīntiān wǒ qǐngkè.
 今天   我   请客。  
I would like to buy you dinner tonight.