re: #162 sagehen

That particular rule, which I found quoted on BBC a few years back, smacked me in the head like a 2x4. I’ve had students get the adjective order wrong (“a Chinese beautiful woman”), but till I saw that in print, I had no basis to correct them. Chinese students (and their teachers) always want to know how English grammar works, because their exams stress it so much. From what I gather, the order is a function of permanence and/or opinion. A woman will always be Chinese (in origin) but her beauty depends on the beholder. Likewise, in “a beautiful, young Chinese woman” the young part is less permanent than the Chinese part.

But don’t quote me on that.