The Words of the Day for today is 老虎，lǎo hǔ (tiger). The pinyin lǎo hǔ goes by the same rule as nǐ hǎo (hello), where the first word sounds like the second tone, but is written as the third tone.

This year is the year of the tiger. Tigers are greatly feared and respected in the Chinese culture. In ancient China, wild tigers abound. Lots of classic Chinese novels contain stories of heroes fighting wild tigers. Wu Song (武松）from the famous Chinese novel 'Outlaws of the Marsh" killed a tiger with his bare hands.