先下手為強(xian1 xia4 shou3 wei2 qiang2) this is the Chinese equivalent of the common English expression first come , first served. For more interesting expressions like this one go and check out one a dayfor one Chinese expression daily in both traditional and simplified characters with pin yin readings and English translation. Very simple site!

Although Mandarin Chinese is the largest dialect of the Chinese languages and most widely spoken, it is interesting to note that there are still linguistic differences between Taiwan mandarin and Mainland Chinese mandarin. For example the word for taxi on the Mainland is commonly known as chu zu (出租), which translates literately into English as a for hire or rent and familiarly known as da di I am not sure what is the Chinese character for da di is but it would be interesting to know. In Taiwan; however, it is known as hwang che (黄車), which translates in English literately as yellow car because all the taxis are yellow in Taiwan.