Dragon Boat Festival: Asking about ingredients inside a zongzi

💬 Here 很 mostly just completes the sentence, so 很香 means "it smells good" rather than "very fragrant". For real emphasis say 非常香 (fēi cháng xiāng) "really fragrant".

💬 Put 的 after a describing word and it means "the ___ one(s)": 甜的 "sweet ones", 咸的 (xián de) "salty ones". You don't need to repeat the noun.

🇨🇳 红枣 are jujubes, not true dates. They're a very common sweet zongzi filling, especially in northern China.

💬 The pattern is number + 个 + filling + 的, meaning "two of the red bean kind". Swap the filling to order anything: 三个肉的 "three meat ones".

💬 一 changes tone before 个: say (yí gè), not (yī gè).

💬 When counting items, use 两 (liǎng) for "two", not 二 (èr): 两个, never 二个.

💬 块 (kuài) is the spoken word for yuan, which is used far more often than 元 in everyday shopping. 一共 (yí gòng) "altogether" is what sellers say when giving the total.

💬 Adding 吧 to the end of a statement softens it into a friendly suggestion, like "I'll just...". Without it, 我扫码 sounds more blunt.

🇨🇳 Paying by scanning the stall's QR code with WeChat or Alipay is the normal way to pay in China, even at tiny street stalls. Many vendors rarely handle cash at all.

🇨🇳 Vendors say this once the payment notification arrives, and their phone often announces the amount out loud. It signals that you're free to take your food and go.

🇨🇳 Some people feel the festival's origin story, a poet's death, makes 安康 "well-being" a better wish: 端午安康. Still, 端午节快乐 is widely used and perfectly fine.