In recent years, “感恩(gǎn ēn)—showing gratitude and repaying back”. Both if the two characters have the radical “心” at the bottom which means “heart” in Chinese. And so you can see that “感恩” means that you show gratitude from your heart.

In China, there are many different items for you to feel gratitude, such as showing gratitude to your parents for they raise you up, and the teachers for teaching and guiding you, the people who have saved your life and the people who help you a lot in your career etc. There is a Tang Dynasty poem which tells about the returning the loving care of a mother: “The short grass can’t repay the kindness of the warm sun.” Some of the sayings from the “Zeng Guan Xian Wen” include, “The lamb kneels to drink milk. The small crow can regurgitate food for the old cow.”

Each saying has the same meaning in expressing one’s gratitude by returning for the gift of life. The model for expressing one’s gratitude goes back two thousand years when two people met. Yu Boya was an expert at playing the Chinese instrument Qin and, Zhong Ziqi, was an expert at listening to Qin. They understood one another and appreciated each other. They made an agreement to get together the following year and discuss the Qin. Unfortunately, Zhong Ziqi fell very ill and died. As a way of expressing his appreciation for Zhong Ziqi, Yu smashed his Qin, and never played again. It is the so-called “shì wéi zhī jǐ zhě sǐ”, which means died for your confidant.