The individual components of associative compounds represent meaning. In the pictophonetic characters, some components represent the character’s meaning and others represent its pronunciation. For example, “财(cai)”, “帐(zhang)”, “货(huo)” all have the character “贝” (bei) and all have meanings related to money. Actually, “贝” (bei) means “shell”, and in ancient China, people used shells as money. […]
According to the legend, when Cangjie created Chinese characters, he noticed not only everything in the universe, but also the human race itself. Chinese characters, therefore, reflect not only the Chinese people’s understanding of the world but also their understanding of the human body. Many Chinese characters are related to the human body. Study Chinese: 化 […]
In ancient times, when a family got together for a reunion on the Dragon Boat Festival, served on the table were Five Yellows: soy bean sprouts, yellow croakers, rice field eels, cucumbers and realgar wine, which were thought to eradicate diseases and improve health. In some regions, realgar wine were even sprayed inside and outside […]
The Lantern Festival also provided a good chance for lovers to meet each other. In the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1297) dynasties, unmarried girls in th boudoirs were not allowed to go out, but around this time every year they were free to appreciate lanterns outside their boudoirs and took the opportunity to meet their […]
福(fú) Another important part of celebrating the Spring Festival is putting up Spring Festival couplets. These red Spring Festival couplets, on which words are written, are pasted on doors and walls. The Chinese character most commonly found on these couplets is “福(fú)”. Furthermore, it is pasted upside-down. The oracle bone script for “福” looks like […]
Study Chinese with Keats School: Longevity 寿(shòu) The top part of the character of the oracle bone script depicts an elderly person with a humpback, while the lower part consists of a hand(寸) and a mouth(口). As a whole, the character resembles a glass of wine being raised to celebrate the longevity of an elderly person. […]
There are three main types of clothing in China in the latest dozens of years: western-style clothes, traditional Chinese garments and National clothes. All of these exist together. Over the past two years in China, some of the younger generation has promoted wearing Han clothes. These clothes are billowy, with wide sleeves and loose fitting […]
A man was staying at his father-in-law’s house very much beyond his time. one day, the impatient father-in-law finally said to him: “It’s nice of you to have come a long way to visit us. Now that all our fowls have been butchered, there are no more delicacies we cam entertain you with. I hope […]
Even worse than antenatal betrothals was posthumous marriage. It was also called marriage of the dead, or ghost marriage, which meant unmarried but dead young men and women were married in the nether world by the arrangement of their living parents. It is assumed that this custom came into being before the Qin Dynasty (the […]
Matchmakers were supposed to be paid when they succeeded in arranging a marriage. If it happened that the in-laws were on good terms, the couple enjoyed a happy married life and the wife gave birth to a male progeny, the matchmaker would enjoy long-term benefits. When it came to festivals, birthdays or the New Year, […]