—— FUN WITH == CHINESE CHARACTERS The Straits’ Times Collection (1) nist: Tan Huay Peng @ FEDERAL PUBLICATIONS ‘Singapore + Kuala Lumpur + Hong KongPublished for The Straits Times by Federal Publications (S) Pte Lid © 1980 Federal Publications (S) Pte Ltd Times Jurong 2 Jurong Port Road Singapore 2261 First published 1980 Reprinted ~——_1982(twice), 1983(twice), 1985(twice), 1986 All tights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, ‘mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. ISBN 9971 4.60726 ted in Singapore by Chong Moh Offset Printing Pte LtdINTRODUCTION ‘The genesis of the Chinese script is lengthy and remote. Very little of its history and origin is known to us as there is a lack of documentary evidence. Of the various legends concerning the creation of the Chinese script, the comparatively acceptable legend says that it was Cang Ji 2 2, a minister of the Emperor Hudng Di 7%, , who first invented the script. It was the outcome of an extraordinary occasion on which Cang Ji observed the footprints of birds and beasts whose lines and shapes were distinct and discernible. Deeply inspired by the sight of this, he then drew the pictures of the objects in accordance with their shapes and forms. These pictures of the primitive age were further reduced to the essentials, conventionalized and in time highly stylized. In other words, they were reduced for the sake of simplicity to a few lines. These picture characters were often, especially in their archaic forms, very expressive and were called xiang xing 48, literally ‘image shapes” by the Han lexicographer Xii Shen 74 t& (30A-D.—124A.D,); or “pictography” by many a contemporary paleographer. In some cases, however, the so called “picture characters” were distorted beyond recognition. It is understandable that concrete objects such as phenomena of nature, man and his attributes, animals and plants, tools and implements and so forth are easily drawn and admirably adapted to represent language. Here are some examples: For representation of phenomena of nature, there were such pictographs as “sun” @ @ @, ye “moon” ) ) AL, the older the forms of the characters, the closer the resemblance between the characters and the objects. The characters shui “water” \ 7 (also abbreviated as three drops of water} when it functions as a determinative) and chuan “stream, river” "| were drawn as flowing water in a stream or river. The character shan “mountain” waa 4 dy is a clear, faithful picture of a string of hills, and the same may be said of the character yi “rain” 1 5 which is expressed by drops of water falling from heaven. A great number of pictographs relate to man and his attributes. The character rén “man” 4 4 2 AA was represented by a simple linear picture depicting a variety of manners in which aman might appear. For ni “woman” 2, de and mi “mother” 4, there were picture characters depicting the humble, kneeling and gentle manners of the fait sex. The two dots on the body of the latter symbolized the breasts of a mother. There were picture characters which symbolized the eye “mi” <> @ 8, ear (é) © Hf, hand (shot) } Y ¥ (also abbreviated as J when functioning as a determinative) and mouth (koll) tJ @ ete. (iii)The world of animals was also widely represented. We have such quadrupeds as hii “tiger” a B BRA, ying “snes” FOL Faxing “ceptane” FP 3 BR. wi “iorse® RB and chian “dog” 3 A (also abbreviated as 4 when functioning as a deter rminative). As for birds, the script distinguishes between nigo (ordinary bird) Wy 1s he and zhuf Ghort-taled bird) Qe fB ff In addition, there was yet another pieture, wa “crow” QR & , with the omission of a dot from the head of an ordinary bird. There were pictographs that denote plants and fruits. For instance, mi (tree) X oh A highlighted the branches and roots of a tree; cad (grass) YY Yt pf F depicted the upward shooting of buds, while zhii (bamboo) 44 Ab T$ described the dangling leaves of a bamboo tree; gud (fruit) 2 Zz ‘was a picture of the tree that bore fruit, So was the picture character mi(rice) ++ % X depicting grains of rice on top of a plant. There were numerous. pictures which bore witness to the growth of civilization in ancient China. Take a look at the characters for tools and implements; for instance, dao (knife) 5 J), che (cart, chariot) ae¥B# , zhoi (broom) . ming (bowl) 2< az , hii (wine vessel) £8 BE, yo Girt vesser) B GF, c& (document, book) MP M #t, yii (brush) 8 F and wing (net) 6a (abbreviated as wx ) and so on. The pictographs, which were to a certain extent comparable with the hieroglyphic characters, later evolved into the kind of characters which Xii Shén called “zhi shi” 48 , literally “pointing to matters”. In the West it was variously called “indirect symbols” or “indicative symbols”. Whatever term philologists might call them, these characters were ingeniously adapted by early inventors to render abstract ideas. As a result, the scope of Chinese script was further widened. The methods of creating such ideographs were many: the drawing of a meaningful symbol, the addition of a sign to a pictograph, making parts stand for wholes, attributes for things, effects for causes, instruments for activities, gestures for actions, to mention just a few. In a nutshell, the abstract ideas were rendered in a metaphorical or symbolic way. For example, by drawing one line: — , two lines: = , three lines: == or four lines: == (this ideograph is no longer in use now) the early inventors meant yI (one), &r (two), san (three) or si (four) respectively. By adding a dot or a line onto the horizontal line: — = L (now .) or below it: = = T (now F ), he meant shang (up, above) or xia (down, below) respectively. Similarly, by adding a stroke to the top of the pictograph “ A” tree( — +X ¥ A =H K A ), or to the lower part of it ( — +% RA = &K A A), he meant md (top branches, end of a branch) or bén (root, trunk) respectively. (wyWhile a horizontal stroke stood for yr(one), a vertical stroke | was then taken to mean shi (ten). It was later corrupted into +. A vertical line down the centre of a circle signified hGng (centre, the middle) ® ¥ . A hand drawing a bow and arrow, needless to illuminate, meant shé (to shoot with a bow) dy 4 AY, similarly, to thrust at a person with a spear could but mean fé (to attack) wR AE 1% Aman with crossed legs symbolized the notion of jifo (to cross, connection) 2 ; so did the picture of standing man unmistakably represent the idea of (to stand) ® A S.. As civilization advanced, rapid social changes took place. Things became so complicated that the hieroglyphic characters or the ideographs could no longer suffice for the expression of massive abstract notions. Just as the proverb said, “Necessity is the mother of invention”, a kind of phonetic script, called “xing shéng” #5 2 by Xi Shén, or better known as “determinative-phonetic characters”, was invented. The method of inventing determinative-phonetic characters was quite simple and yet most ingenious that the Chinese scribes could and still can invent new characters in unlimited numbers. Because of this, the growth of Chinese script had never been so rapid and before long the determinative-phonetic characters excelled the pictographs and the ideographs in rendering the language and thereafter they became the dominant class of characters in the Chinese script. The evolution of the Chinese script to this stage could be regarded as complete, and almost all the existing Chinese characters, except for five per cent or 50, are of this sort. This new method of creation might be viewed as a kind of phonetic writing which must, however, not be taken for an alphabetic script. It was simply the combination of a determinative indicating or suggesting the sense of the word and a phonetic indicating or suggesting the pronunciation of the word. The following examples will serve to explain how this simple, convenient and progressive method works: Determinative Phonetic ‘Compound ZK shui (water; + & af (his, her, its, qf (the River Qi) abbrev. y ) this, that; originally winnowing basket, now & ) % yi (jade; abbrev. 5) +H af = 34 ai (a valuable white stone or gem) AA mia (tree; wood) +h of = AHA ai (Chinese chess) w& shi (stone) +H of = K af (another variant of 4H which was made of stone) mi (horse) + Kai =Bplaf( a piebald horse) Ji Ws (deer) + af =/RM af ( fabulous, auspicious animal) & niad (bird) + shal =RE; qi @kind of wild goose) + Kai =A af (a period of time; a fixed date; AL yur (moon; time) ‘expect to) +H ie = HAGE i (a fl year; anniversary) RR ian (owe; deficient) + ai = BZ qi(to cheat; to oppress) A “AG «82 xin (heart) + ii =F ii (to poison; to hate) ti (earth; land; ground) + Kit =X i (foundation; base) TS zhi (bamboo; abbrev. *) + ir = FL ix (@winnowing basket) Hy cio (grass; abbrev. + ie air E ir (@ kind of grass) now %) + Hai = ZF A the stem of bean) Te shi (an omen; to manifest; + Hai = #§ af (fortunate; lucky) abbrev. 4 ) 4 = mi (the archaic form +4a = & i (dark grey; superlative) of & silk) $k ching (worm; abbrev. &) + Hg’ = Sb Gi (part of the word #8 HE which is a kind of crab) + & gijrorfi= The examples cited above were a series of words with the same (or approximately the same) pronunciation that could be written down with no possibility of confusion or misunderstanding at all. Thus $ af or ji or ji is always a phonetic, never a determinative in a compound word, though it is also the character representing such words as his, her, its, their, this, that, etc., in its own right, We may cite another series of examples in which the character #. mii (wood) is nearly always a determinative of a compound word showing that almost all the words, which amount to 1,585 included in the largest Chinese dictionary, have something to do with wood: wi)Determinative Phonetic + 4 bo (final particle) A mii (wood) + K -bo (final particle) + + bii(to divine; to foretell) mi (wood) + & ti (earth; land; ground) + A fin (to turn over; to rebel; to turn bback) + A mil (wood) A mi (wood) A mii (wood) 4} mi (wood) + 2 gGng (public; open to all) A mi (wood) +] téng (together; same; alike; and; with) A mi(wood) 4+ mai (each; every) A mu (wood) + % pido (warrant; bill; ticket) A mi(wood) + huang (yellow) A mi(wood) + [Fav (cupboard; wardrobe) . A mu (wood) + AR lén (door-screen) 2% miu (wood) + i guan (heron; small cup) + e Tan (look; inspect) + % deng (to rise; to mount) 4 mb (wood) A mi (wood) (vid Compound Af pd (a kind of oak Quercus dentata; also the simplified form of #£ ) 4% po (an old knife-shaped weapon) #é¥)pii (simple and plain) 44 di (the russet pear; to shut out; to stop; to prevent) 4K bin (board; blocks for printing) lin (forest; grove; copse) song (the pine tree; loose) t6ng (a name applied to various trees e.g. sterculia platanifolia) méi (plums; prunes) bio (mark; beacon; signal; flag; notice) ;_héng (crosswise; horizontal; side way) gui (cupboard; wardrobe; shop-counter) - #8 lin (railing; animals’ pen) qun (weight; power; authority) = 4& tan (the Chinese olive) = #© chéng (orange)A further 1,550 such examples may be added to the list, if we wish, of which the character A. mit is always a determinative though it is the pictograph for wood itself, Furthermore, & mi can also function as a phonetic in the compound $4 mii (to wash; to bathe; to cleanse; to enrich’by kindness; to receive favours;etc.). Hence, apart from the fact that every pictograph and ideograph can be used as a phonetic, certain such pictures and symbols can be determinative as well. Since the number of determinatives was comparatively small, a radical system was devised to use the deter- minatives as a convenient means of classifying the characters in dictionaries, The first great dictionary Shito Wen Sie Zi VW VLSPE sho jiin dvd things appear youngster ai strange to the Dt sho ni young girl unfamiliar ve shéo shi minority DERIK shiéo shi min 23 ethnic minority DF shéo xi little; few ay dui shao how many; how DR stiéo you Tare; scarce; ba Example: RMP. ‘The wei sho ond chen mai I It means, “This young lady is beautiful indeed.” 20jian pointed; sharp [38 | By placing small (J*) on top of big (A) man ‘came up with an ideograph to describe anything that tapers rom big to small. Hence: meaning pointed or siarp or, figuratively, sharp-witted. But not all objects which are small at the top and big at the bottom are sharp or sharp-witted, as the examples on the right prove. as as FF RE iin ting vanguard A jin ke trenchant (of AD jin 60 sharp knife words; speech) RM jin din peak; apex RA jin ti sharp oie jan duan highest point Seb jan ru sharp; pointed AS jan 8 spire Example: RR-BAR MTD. Te shi yt 0 jit mui de do It means, “This is a sharp knife.” 2tidn From dawn to dusk man toiled in the field, taking to heart the proverbial saving: ‘Never leave your field in spring or your house in winter."" The character he shaped for “field” was a pictograph of a ploughed field with furrows and cross-paths: EH . By the sweat of his brow he reaped the fruits of his labour. But ail that toil has rice field; left its mark of furrows and cross-paths, not only on the field, but grain field also indelibly on his brow. Hy St tian di field or situation A tién yuan fields and gardens (of something) THRE tin jing sai athletic HAS ian jt frog competition He tian jing track and field géng tidn plough AEF tian ye open country Example: —-f#-EWH BRR HK TS Yi nid yr di de tid jing sai you jiang 161 ine It means, “The annual athletic competition is round the corner again.” 22strength; force, power 7] ‘The modern version ( 77 ) is a powerful graphic impression of the forearm with muscles in tension symbol of ‘tre! present here muscles an demonstrated by e really strong character, one who is i In the original form ( jf ) the long middle line (S}_), curved at the top to take less room, represents the sinew that binds muscle to bone. The other line (7) pictures the fibrous sheath of the sinew. 7 Vi Niang physical strength; force na tigi effort; strength TR Viaid strive; make every effort nt i ating endeavour; fight for Example: i i hh 2m. Tad jié itd sth ang It means, "Unity is strength.” DAR TREY He Lite MW 11 bi céng xin Vi gid jin bd Hi ahieng shing you rén fi ability falling short of one’s wishes struggle for improvement aim high labour force; ‘manpoweroA A field ( EB ), where strength ( 22 ) is exerted, is the symbol for i “masculine” man 99, the male of the human species. This is probably fa because the home ia’ where the female of the same species exerts her an, strength. Our picture shows strength being exerted — by the male male; (¥ ) in field-work, the female (Z2-) in housework, and their offepring masculine (#) in promotional work. Pel [si8] | TTT TTT | A nan hai boy BF nin 2 man; male Br én nid men and women | AHA nan péng you boy friend BA én rén man BFR nn zi hin man; hero By rn sting male voice BBA oinninoinj men and women Bite nan xing male SAE nin ni ping déng equality of men BR ‘nan zhuang male attire and women Example: RS oO MB eB ES Win Gus héo chi stv du shi én xing It means, “Many good chefs are males.” 24. ri sun; day ‘The sun was first dey circle with mark the “day” man, the sun's shi the wicked as well a demonstrates that it sees ‘whole world with one eye. ig upon the good Gon [Jajale? [TT LT} 7 Aik i bao daily newspaper ag nxn daily wages AA Ri Bin Japan AR riy’ day and night ae i chang daily; usual at ng day: life Aik ict sunrise HEY ri guang yi sun bath Bx 1 guang sunshine BANE Ri NGI Wa Geneva Hic aji diary Bah 11 ying pin daily necessities a at calendar Hw AEiG rl chang sting — daily life AG ag date Serres tenes Ath ri shi (shi) eclipse of the sun | A LLHRAC nt yiiji ye day and night; non-stop Example: RWHREELWUMBAH. WE ming tizn yéo_shing san ding kan rh ch It means, “I'm going to the hilltop tomorrow to watch sunrise.” 25yue A moon; month ‘To form the character for moon (or lunar month) man chose the crescent "D. The riginal pictograph sigigested two phases of a was moon 3). Tilting it: then directing it earth tion — with striking conse- quences. Pictured here is a beaming moon casting i spell on some beaming moon- struck earthlings. AF yue bing mooncake Af ue se Air ue fen month Ath yu shi (shi) AX yyu® guang moonlight Ag ye jing menstruation AR yue xin AF yu Kan monthly AX yur ye publication FABEA ye xia bo rén ye liang moon 2A shéng yue AR yue pigo monthly ticket AIR yub gid the moon Example: Rii—- MAA, We AO. Ws mn yi midn shing yu, yr midn chi yud ing It means, “We ate mooncakes while enjoying the moonlight.” 26 moonlight eclipse of the moon monthly salary moonlit night matchmaker enjoy the moonlightAA ming brilliant; bright; enlightened ‘Man combined the sun ( € ) and the produce ai bright, moon ( J] ) to n ideograph for brilliant 9 enlightened. He called it “ming” ( Bf) ) and used for the bri t Dynasty of China whi in the wake of the Dark Ages of Europe. Today science and technology has ushered in the dazzling Space Age — with man very much enlightened and the future very much bedarkened. me wR 8 at a cr wae HS wa Example: RHA wm eB Wa ning It means,” ming bai understand; clear | BA BEALS ming bidn shi ‘ming liang shining; bright fei ‘ming ling bright and clear BA SKA nina md ztiang ming mai bright and ym beautiful BAS} ming ang an fae div ming nian next year fe as wings obvious A SRLBCAL ing at gh fan ining zhi eae 8 SAAECLE] ming zhi gi wen ting huing twing glaring; shining ning xin pidn postcard mde yl understand what you mean.” 21 distinguish right from wrong, openly; blatantly struggle overtly and covertly commit mistakes deliberately question knowingly‘As the sun (8 ) peeps above the horizon, its very first ray ( ” ) begins to dispel the shadowy haze of night. Hence, €] _, the symbol for clear, ite oF lain. Man easily understands anything that is bright ( @Al ) and clear (9 fo “bright and Cent” means to'undestand CORED). Appaseatin ths ieack always easily understood as our picture shows. LT 1) Vi jalafey | TT TE] Ax bai cai Chinese cabbage | ETE bai mang mang Att bai fi in vain; waste AB Bai Gong The White House | 4H _ bairi meng (official residence | A.M ER bai wud gid of the president | (4 F823% bai shu gi jis of America) AM bai hou diphtheria A& bai sé white colour HA tn bai Abe bai tang white sugar FERAA rhen xing 8 HK tai td white rabbit i Example: tht Rk Rw A, TE dui ws hin tind It means, “He is very frank to me.” 28 an endless whiteness daydream white corpuscle start from scratch; build up from nothing frank matter that is finally made cleardan dawn; daybreak ‘The daily appearance of the sun () above the horizon (_) gave man his concept of dawn ©. From the ly rising rose the proverbial : To get up is equal to preached ‘of the sun to ing — but it never dawned on him to practise it. ‘Teyefey2| TT Td Be dan mi, morning and TER evening ay dan x in a short while 7H HY Zia) din Tir jin within a single day Example: GTHREAK RM. Yeon din shi ging ging iid It means, "New Year's Day is a public holiday.” 29 hua dan yuan dan yi din prima dona in an opera New Year's Day once; as soon asjing BB | ones, sparkling To reflect his brilliance, man arranged three suns (2 Sinton symmetrical, geometric pattern and crystallized thie. into a sparkling ideograph and graphic symbol foreystal: el. For gene- rations man has been gazing into his crystal ball but, crystakclear though it was, he couldn't see much ofa future init. He Jing ti crystal emh dh liang jing:jing shining ae Jing ying lustrous; brilliant | 7Kiih shui jing crystalline Be jing ti guén transistor Shite ii@ jing result; product; crystallization Example: RAPK WS SHAW AR. Dre bin sh shi tH Ou nidn yén idee It means, “This book is the result of his many years of research.” 30id ‘The guiding mark | (meaning first) is the first of the “‘ten stems” — the decimal cycle of time reckoning. Originally written: “+ it was later en- first; cased ina square: (2) . To differentiate it from EH (field) the vertical line armour or Wasextended downwards: Ef! . A subsgquent modification came to suggest TMOUr OF Mhelmet” because of Gp. By extension; the modern form protective — &H covers a whole range of hard protective coverings like armour, shell: Covering scales and nails used not only for protection, but also for aggres HR ji ban deck of a ship fl fa ii yo soft-shelled turtle FA ji8 chong beetle FIC ik gh wen inscriptions on He ji dng first class or first oracle bones grade FARR ji8 zhuang xian thyroid gland - Be, iia ke jacket SEFFER huang ji8 bing armoured corps % ji8 gigo crust Example: Hip e Ae PR b fe HEB. You xi duo rin zai jidn ‘bin shing 20d ci ung yi It means, “There are many people sunbathing on the deck.” 312Ko fA early; morning ® (meaning early or morning) is the time of the day when the sun (2) ) has risen to the height of a man's helmet (+H). pis the old form of, originally ing helmet. Since ther meaning of EB (-+ ) se Fig first (-F) sun ( & ), that is, moraing: (a | Be 0 an good morning ALE zo nian ELBE zéo ban morning shift LM) zo qT ALE wo can breakfast Ba zo ri nA tio co morning exercise | io shang ad 70 chén early morning LR zo wan ue zo chin early spring Ait wo tion marrying too early Example: wae em, Ging zo ri gH. It means, “Please reply as soon as possible.” 32 one’s early life early stage at an early date (early) morning morning and eveningAA | i @ refreshing character for any person ( A’) working near a shady tree (A ), It Meraly means “rest (4K) pd pictures e person (A. or “fo J ieuning. against & tree (JR). OF the tree the Chinese proverb laments: “One wenera: Hon‘ plants the trees’ under thos shade another generation Taken its case. Exemphitving this, we show a character leisurely basking in the sunshine and leaning himself against a. tree planted by an older generation. [et te the xi hui adjourn (meeting) | (K3® xid yang recuperate or TRA xi0 ji on leave convalesce 1K xi0 xi rest or relax troll. xid ye wind up (business) AKA xiv xién lie fallow (land) RAR vxig han ceasefire KAR id xing don’t expect KE xi zhiéng rest and reorganize thee xi xué suspend one’s Rak xiv 2h cease or stop schooling without losing one’s status as a student Example: th eR be BK FR. Te wi yt yun i xi ying It means, "He is recuperating in the hospital.” 33the sun rise every day. He ceeded one morning when he observed the sun ( &) ) through the trees (AE ). So sun ( G1.) behind tree (7) beca ). For tunately, success did “not turn man’s head, otherwise he would have been left facing the wrong direction. *]F [4 ]&] — — ing Fang the East dong feng east wind ARPSG IE Ong Jing Tokyo AR FS ing du Eastern Europe dong xt things; East Aa BAL and West ADR — ong bin gid eastern RG hemisphere AeA A Oiing Fang Rén Orientals Example: KBAR HH ER, Tai yang yu ong fang sheng shang (di It means, ‘The sun rises in the east.” 34 ong Nan Ya ing bén x zbu dong shan zai qi ong Xr Nan Béi ing zing xT «ang Southeast Asia busy oneself with stage a come-back East, West, South, North gaze (or peer) soundhatehing up a new form: character for west: @. (#9), the combination ‘which ‘As the sun settles in the west birds roost in their nests; so a crogs-hatched bird's nest provided the cradle for ‘‘west”, and nest became west, imagination conceived a new ideograph Man's fertile fa nest with a brooding bird: 25 inally developed into g full-fledged east ( $) and west Wak xi bian west side ae x can Western-style food a7 7 fang the West Pa XI a watermelon vais) XT HO West Lake in Hangzhou wae southwest Fa Western Europe Example: AA tS HT. Xr qe yu dud ahiing 2 It means, "A watermelon has many seeds.” 35 X7 Yang ay Xi Zing a ahuang x7 ban gid Xi Ban Ya XT B6 Li Ya the West a doctor trained in Western medicine Tibet Western dress western hemisphere Spain Siberiashang Since up and down, above and below are relative and abstract terms, man conveyed the ideas graphically by relating a simple stroke to up: horizontal foundation line (—). This stroke above the base Tine was above; originally a dot extended to propped upright: ascend embellished:_2 and finally sta LHE ‘shang ban go to work HR shang former generations LE shang bei one’s elders 4 shang ding cheated be shang bin distinguished guest; | _/3F shang déng first-class guest of honour | “Fp shang dt God LE shang cing Heaven; God LR shang higher authority EK shiang cb the best plan ik shang Ke attend class LE shang céng upper strata bes shang Kong in the sky; “by shang ching appear on the ‘overhead . stage bie shiing yéu upper stream, EK shang chung go to bed Example: ee ate cee Ts shing ban gi le It means, “She’s gone to work.” 36The concept of down and below is clarified in relation to a horizontal line. The stroke below the fundamental line was originally a dot: which was extended to a line: = for ease in writing. The modified forms: "T and “F eventually led to the final ideo- graph: “F . The characters below, although literally under water, are figuratively above water. THE xia ban be off duty PR xia jf lower level PE xia bai the younger ala xia jian mean; degrading ation of a FB xia jidng descend ae ae TE xia kB class is over Fi xb bad plan PK xi Ll come down Te xid cing lower level Fe x8 tng instruct; order TA i ching end; fate Fie xia lid despicable LS sink FR xb whereabouts Ve xia déng low grade Example: th F FRE AM, Ta xis wo do gh Kin xt It means, “He is going for a show in the afternoon.” 37zhong middle;neutral By shooting an arrow: | right into the centre of a square target: a bull's-eye Imark for contre”: FH. added & decoration of four Stripes, 2, rearranged them: ripped them off: €B, and finally hit his mark for’simplicity: CB. The sym- bol also means standing in th middle oF neutrality ( Unfortunately, in the appiic tion of neutrality, man has completely missed his mark. | 1 Pap ang bis central section HAE ‘Thong Hu China hag zing can Chinese meal "Pe ztrang jfan middle thee ‘hing céng middle-level Aa zhang Hi neutral pee chong céng intermediate range | 4 thong nién middle-aged he ztiang ding middle-class aie ating 16 midway AR Thing Ding the Middle East HI ‘hong wen Chinese language HB hong din break off pay ‘ong xué secondary school +e ‘Thong Gué China Example: fh th pe a Ta chi shénzhing dng jit ting He comes from a middle-class family.” 38nd Awoman Xf under the hand X of a master signifies slave XR. The Rand put together literally mean “handmaid” — a fe with her hands. 23 includes slaves of both sexes who serve th slave; Salhi, Mant BSL inclaes staves of on servant [Ty fe ex] | | [TTTT ue nd oT female slave WE ni xing servile RA 16 cai flunkey; lackey 7 a disposition Wie iy hus enslave WE nd yi slavery wt nd i slave WSC nd i ati gd slave system Uh 6 pt male slave Example: oR HR CR RR. Ni hi ob yi Ha It means, "Slavery has already been abolished.” 39you ‘The character for “friend” originated with two right hands. acting co-operatively zx in the same direction SL ‘and later reaching out to clasp cach other in 7 friendship “St. By placing the hands, one upon the other: ind, with a littl friend straightening out, man derived the modern reinforced form: 3C IAG WE @ TAR RE you ai friendly affection | KA you rén friend BB vyou bang friendly nation RE you shan friendly Bat you hao friendly Bik you yi friendship At you ging friendship AAETRRE — ybu ho xié ding friendship pact Example: fh KR 1 RK, Te shi ws te No ping yiv It means, "He is my good friend.” 40‘THE earllest pictograph for hand placed undue emphasis on the "B. Practical experience, however, put man on thé fingers ¥. Finally, straight lines the character assumed ihe modern form 4 with fingers of lnequal length. For, as the proverb goes, “Of the ten fingers, some radical for fare long and some are short.” $ proved handy as numerous characters with its variants { and +. ML a Pez2aLL TTT TTT Tt Pe shou bi arm Sb shi jin towel FE shi ti somebody's own Fe shu kao handcuffs Martel or | Fe shbu ging pistol . bt FAR shi shi surgical operation ER sti biéo wrist-waten ee sfibu shi handwritten letter Fit shibu cé handbook $e shiv tio gloves ao shou duan means; measure Sry shiv didn ting torch Fi shu 18 skill; tricks 43 ‘i shiv lig dn —-hhand-grenade $I shi gong handwork ee a etd Example: fe Ae ea We yu yT shag sh It means, “I have a pair of hands.” 41=)" spear; lance i Is & pletographic represen- tation of an ancient weapon of war = & speariike lance equlD- Ped with ‘hook and crossbar, Although this and other ancient ‘wespons are now obsolete, man has not even begun to beat his ‘swords into ploughshares or his spears into pruning hooks. [=[ePg)3a SORE Gabi the Gobi Desert FR gan g@ weapons; war SPLAT dio ge xidng betray one’s own xiang party Example: 1b F&A Ao Hui an 98 wéi yi 66 It means, “Stop war and make peace.” 42THE earliest forms show two spears against each other in direct confrontation: 4 , Ing a 54 when,man wields in his hand $ a spear %& his ego, the “1, emerges. Hence 4%, (AF eae | | LI) Fan wo men we RE woah I love you FRAN wh men de our; ours FRATILH — wo xing wo si persist in one’s ‘old ways Example: KEKER RK RK RWB ILE eT. Di jig af bang WS, wi lng a in mudi jd “BH NaS er gn win ido It means, “With each one giving the other a helping hand, they soon got the job done.” 43THE classical character tor “you”, an equal, was 75, 2 pictograph: of Balance if Toad eventually contracted to ‘jt. By adding A (person)to 7, man Intreduced the human element and came up with 47 - a Son who carries the same ih eee “1 TT TTT TT | Phy nit ho how do you do FE BORE nV zhi wo gin try to overtake ft i cach other in ttt ni men you (plural) friendly ni men de your; yours (plural) emulation 1 iw bud life and death struggle Example: fy HF Mp NC tio ma? It means, “How do you do?”, “how are you?”."hello” 44yé +8 ORIGINALLY the character & was stato also; in addition to a sel, To this day It has remained =a pletograph the ye ba let it be HLT yé ho may as well {htt ve xing all right {hit ye xi perhaps wea yé you also have Example: fh hit BR. Te ye oxi lai It means, “Perhaps he may come.” 45