As part of our CLE (Chinese language ecosystem), my girls watch quite a few entertaining YouTube videos, many of which have cultural references, either historical or current.
The following is a stand-up routine from Taiwan back in the late 1980s, with references to historical and cultural events in Taiwan and mainland China from ~ 1940s to 1980s. My girls and I watched this a couple of years ago and we are re-watching it tonight. It’s really funny. They should learn something different every time they watch it.
Along with explanation, educational programs such as China: A Century of Revolution, and movies such as 末代皇帝 The Last Emperor and 霸王別姬 Farewell To My Concubine, I hope to give my daughters some idea of the events of those era, some of which were intimately tied to how they came to this world in the first place.
Below, I also list a few of the YouTube videos, movies, and TV series we had enjoyed over the past 5 years. These really help them solidify their interest in the Chinese language.
Avalon of Idaho:
Jesus of Spain:
老外看中國
The PG version of You Are The Apple of My Eye (那些年，我們一起追的女孩). The link below is a PG-13 version instead.
Secret (不能說的秘密）
神雕俠侶 cartoon! The first kungfu cartoon series they watched about 5 years ago. This is the first time I find it on YouTube!
倚天屠龍記
笑傲江湖
Of course, I try not to miss out on American culture as well. Here is one excellent series of the Civil War era featuring Patrick Swayze: North and South. It gets agonizing to watch toward the end since more and more misery pile on. My wife and I could not finish watching it a decade ago and neither can my elder daughter and I a year to two ago.
Raising bilingual and biliterate children in Chinese and English 