Monday 30 July 2018

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 象

today we move to a new pictograph character 象. it is also an animal. Could you guess which species it is?

Modern form 象 has been transformed a lot from its ancient scripts along the long history. If we look at its Oracle script and Bronze script , we will immediately know what it is: elephant, as shown below:
elephant

 As usual, below is its evolution history: (image taken from: http://vividict.com)
evolution history of 象

When it came to Seal script , it started to lose its photographic presentation, and became more abstract.

象 is a huge creature that impressed Chinese ancestors so much that they believed 象 could contains everything inside. thus 象 is extended to mean anything or everything. Since elephant does not really be able to put everything physical into its stomach, 象 usually refers to abstract things, like the form or looks of nature, human and physical materials,  for example 包罗万象 or 意象.

We have done our study today, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 象 inside:
大象无形

Monday 16 July 2018

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 莽

today we examine another character created with 犬 - 莽. Recall what we have learnt before: 莫 and 暮, we will see that 莫 and 莽 was created in the same way: the only difference is the middle part - 日 VS 犬.

Following the same reasoning we given to 莫 / 暮, 莽 represents: a (hunting) dog disappeared into high grasses, as shown below:


before continuing to examine its extended meanings, let us check the evolution history of 莽: (image taken from http://vividict.com/)
Evolution history of 莽

we can see that in Oracle script () era, 莽 is created with "hunting dog inside woods". 
When it came to Bronze script () and Seal script () era, Chinese ancestors obviously thought that drawing of hunting dog inside grasses can present the idea of 莽 better.

bearing in mind of the evolution from Oracle script, to Bronze script and then to Seal script, based on the scene described, Chinese ancestors used 莽 to mean lush woods full of high grasses. for example 草莽.

Woods with high grasses is usually the place with few human activities, 莽 is thus used to mean desolated or uninhabited. for example 莽莽苍苍.

Normally only agitated and careless hunters would took their dogs to hunt preys inside lush woods with high grasses, this is why 莽 is also used to mean agitated and careless. for example 莽汉.

That is all for 莽, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 莽 inside:
河西忆昔少年游,莽莽平沙石窟留。
我信春风能化雨,三危叠翠映高楼。


Monday 2 July 2018

Learn one chinese character a day - 龟 | 龜

After learnt 鱼, 鸟, 犬, today we move on to a new character for another animal, which is 龟. Its Traditional Chinese character is 龜. Let me zoom it out so that you can see it clearly: .

From 龟 or 龜 you might not have any idea what kind of animal it is. Once you see its Oracle script , or its Bronze script , you immediately know what it is. They are just drawings of the animal below:


乌龟


Yes 龟 means turtle or tortoise.

Its evolution history demonstrates how it has evolved into current form - 龟: (image taken from http://www.vividict.com)
Evolution history of 龟 | 龜

龟 | 龜 is treated as a very special species in China. It symbols long live and prosperity. Ancient Chinese wizards engraved words onto shells of 龟, then burned them in fire to reveal the will of gods based on the pattern of the cracks. That is why we have luckily recovered what characters ancient Chinese uses - the Oracle scripts.
甲骨文
Below is a Chinese calligraphy with 龟 inside:
龟寿鹤年