If foreigners want to learn Chinese language better, they should first have a better and deeper understanding on the Chinese characters. In China, the in-depth understanding of Chinese characters was established in the contemporary old-style poetry. In the process of creation, the character was activated, thus helping us finish the creation.
Chinese characters are very special in the features. Chinese poetry is a direct product of the Chinese characters. It is very independent on the Chinese characters. Teachers in Mandarin learning courses would tell you that as long as you use it, Chinese characters are dynamic. This shows Chinese language learners should use as much as they can during the process of learning Chinese language.
When foreigners go to school to study Mandarin, they will find that Chinese characters and words can have many different meanings. The ambiguity of Chinese language makes it has the unlimited possibilities of expression even within the scope of the provisions. This is the mysterious point of the Chinese characters as well as the main features to distinguish form others languages.
Poetry is the art of Chinese characters. Through the creation of poetry, we can release tremendous energy of the Chinese characters, thus maintaining spoken and written Chinese language pure and fresh. That is the reason why the beginners who learn Chinese in China feel it is very difficult to understand Chinese ancient poetry. It has enlightening significance in contemporary poetry creation to reconsider this particular feature of the Chinese characters
Chinese character is dynamic, it has infinite possibilities to express even the scope is limited. In China, poetry is a kind of art with strong restriction in characters. Learners who study Chinese in China realize that there are many rules are set to write the poetry. Nowadays, there are at least two general rules to limit the creation of poetry, namely, the numbers of characters and the regularity of the rhythm and tone as well as the traditional poetry works in thousands of years’ culture.
Chinese characters have the function of stimulating the writers’ thoughts, thus helping them completing the works. In the poetry creation, the Chinese characters seem like a kind of character can think by itself. This is an exception because the writers’ thoughts can promote the advancement of characters in general situations. So it is understandable that foreign learners study in China find it difficult to write poem in Chinese, even understand them totally.
Sometimes, you may think over and over again just to find a proper character but still fail. However, Chinese characters are not always in a passive position. They will come for you sometimes. It may just come into your mind suddenly, pushing your thoughts forward. In Chinese language school, you may hear about that the works are completed because of the characters showing up in time even the writers didn’t realize why they choose that characters or words. The results are often unexpectedly good.
The active stimulation of Chinese characters to the writers is the most exciting thing in the poetry creation. It often happens in the writing process. I believe that most of writers have experienced this kind of writing experience and pleasant sensation. It is the same for those who learn Mandarin. They didn’t realize maybe because they didn’t pay attention to it and no one pointed it out and summarized. It turns to be right that Chinese characters really the great creation of human civilization.
Today, when we are given the artistic freedom and self-confidence in Chinese poems writing, we will cherish more about the Chinese characters created by the ancestors, to feel her warmth and maintain her dignity. During the process when teachers teach Mandarin language, they should keep the alert eyes to the Chinese characters writing ways and meanings.
More and more foreigners come to school to study in China. As a member who uses the mother tongue of Chinese nation, we have the responsibility to maintain the characters pure and fresh. We should promote the whole society to care about the present and future of Chinese characters. Only when we maintain the nature of Chinese characters well can we promote the outstanding culture to the whole world
Chinese character is the root of Chinese civilization as well as the long-term basic cultural position of the Chinese nation we should obey. It is our responsibility to build an excellent cultural environment for Chinese characters development.