The ancient Chinese incorporated their observations and awareness of nature into the shapes of Chinese characters. Learn Chinese: 月(yue: “the moon”) The shape of this character is just like the meniscus. There is an ancient..

The ancient Chinese incorporated their observations and awareness of nature into the shapes of Chinese characters. Learn Chinese: 星 (xing, “the star”) The ancient Chinese people referred to all celestial bodies other than the sun..

The ancient Chinese incorporated their observations and awareness of nature into the shapes of Chinese characters. Learn Chinese: 雨(yu, rain) The character for “雨” offers a clear depiction of rainfall. The horizontal line on top..

 The word “liaozhai” first came from the book “liaozhai zhiyi” (1766; “Strange Stories from Liaozhai Studio”: “liaozhai” is the name of a place), which is a book of Pu Songling(1640-1715)—a famous Chinese fiction writer. It..

Study Chinese: 木(mu, wood/tree)，林(lin, many trees)，森(sen, forest) The Chinese character of the oracle bone scrip for “木” resembles a tree with roots and branches. In the old days, the character “木” meant “tree”. It is..

Study Chinese: 竹 (zhu, bamboo) As you can see, the Chinese character “竹” looks just like a bamboo stem and leaves. The Chinese people are very fond of bamboo. This is because they believe that..

瓜 (gua, “melon”) The ancient Chinese character for “瓜” looks like a growing melon. There are many different kinds of melons in China. In Chinese, watermelons are known as “西瓜” (xi gua: literally means “western..

In China, when people write or speak, they frequently make use of such idioms such as “the cold falls on the third nine-day period in winter” or “the coldest days of the year in the..

There were customs of “counting the nine-day periods” and “drawing the nine-day periods” among the ancient people. That is, people noted down the passage of the nine-day periods and the relevant weather changes with interesting..

The custom of “Writing the Nine-Day Periods” appeared in the early reign of Emperor Daoguan in the early 19th century. He drew a picture of the nine-day periods by himself with a line on it,..