Chinese character Shou4 is very far-reaching.

Today, we would like to bring a new Chinese character in Chinese learning lesson online that is rarely used in people’s daily conversations. In spite of that, it is also meaningful and important for both Chinese and foreigners to know what today’s key word is and how to use it, because it is full of deep root of culture. Let us look at this character 寿（shou4）. It is equal to longevity in English.

As you can see, how did it evolve? As a matter of fact, judging from the Shou4 in oracle bone scripts, its strokes were very complicated. According to our online Chinese lessons’ contents, the original pattern of it was 畴（chou2）, which means lots of fields. Basically, the meaning of Shou4 is the old or the aged, because those who living long must have been aged. Shou4 (longevity) first found in bronze script is an old photogram. It was written in various ways in bronze script. The complicated pattern of original Shou4 was fixed in clerical script in the Han Dynasty and has been used so far. So the simplified Shou4 (longevity) has a very long history.

In modern Chinese, the word of learning Chinese Shou4 mainly refers to longevity. In other word, it has a long lifespan. Then its meaning is extended to Yan2 Nian2 Yi4 Shou4 (prolong life) and the expectation of a kind of long and wonderful life. For this reason, Chinese people usually use this character to express a pretty good wish. As it known to all, China is a country in which people respect the aged and care about children. In Chinese daily life, Shou4 is represented in various forms. We can find it on people’s cloth and containers such as bowls, but it has different forms. Actually, the Shou4 can be changed into different patterns found on clothes, bowls, and dishes. They are patterns with blessing.

Let us introduce a kind of fruit, peach. It is as a gift that Chinese people would like to send it an aged person’s birthday. Chinese people believe that peach is rather good for health. Chinese people often link lots of food with a traditional Chinese medicine concept namely Yin-Yang. It actually corresponds to cold and heat. Peach is mild property. The appropriate amount of peach can offer us nutrition. And its character is Tao2 (peach) represents a very special image in Chinese culture. The shape of peach is like a heart, plus its mild property, so Chinese people like to place it at birthday party. Besides, there was a person called God of Longevity. It is called 寿星 (Shou4 Xing1). The person’s image is that an old man holding a big peach was considered as the God of Longevity.

Chinese people usually celebrate their 60^th birthday. That is, people will treat the birthday solemnly and importantly since they turn sixty years old. Chinese people think that a person living to sixty years old will become real persons of longevity.

So today’s Chinese online lesson in our Happy Chinese study center will come to an end. We hope that you can master this key word and use it correctly.

Source: 

http://chinesetool.bloggets.net/chinese-character-shou4-is-very-farreaching/

A very important Chinese character Xi3

Hi, this is Happy Chinese study center. We have always been bringing the Chinese culture, especially its language to you for a long time. Welcome to join us in today’s new article to learn Mandarin online. In accordance with our practice, today’s key word is 喜(Xi3). I believe that most of foreigners may see the double Xi3 when there is a wedding in someone’s family. You can easily understand that this word can transmit a kind of happiness in Chinese culture.

This character has changed dramatically in the long way to learn Chinese online or offline. The top is a part of Gu3 (drum) and the bottom is a part of Kou3 (mouth). Gu3 means hitting the drum, which represents cheerfulness, while the bottom Kou3 means happy expression must be transmitted through speaking. This character did not change greatly in the development from the period of Oracle bone script to modern times. But has this character always meant happiness from ancient time to present? It’s true. This word in Oracle Bone Script was an associative compound. It was stabilized in the Han Dynasty. The best way to learn Chinese language development is to combine the primitive Chinese characters and modern Chinese words.

According to Chinese culture, it was considered as a kind of culture of delight. Chinese nationality is a optimistic people in which people solve their problems from the attitude of perspective rather than the tool, because there were so many difficulties in the process of production. All Chinese people solve problems in a happy way, so happiness serves a basic state of the Chinese people.

Let us talk about the double 喜喜Xi3 (happiness) that appears in marriage only. So it just implies the meaning that a man and a woman are combined into family. They become a family. For example, in western culture, two persons become a spouse and get married, but they are still independent individuals. So we can see that western girls can boast her husband with abilities and success. However, Chinese women do not do that. When someone praises your husband, you may say: “na3 li3, na3 li3 (thank you)”, because of you and your husband as a whole. The character Xi3 expresses happiness that two persons combined into one. So the pattern of 喜喜 looks like as if two people are holding hands and stand together.

Now let us tell you what kind of things making the ancient Chinese happy? In ancient times, there are four happiest things in someone’s life. The most important two things for adult men were the Imperial Examination and marriage. It was said that Wang Anshi passed the Imperial Examination in the capital, just before encountering a beauty and got married with her. Faced with success in career and love, Wang Anshi wrote a big character Xi3 (happiness) by wielding a brush, meaning passing the Imperial Examination and getting married. Two happy events came at the same time. Later on, someone added another two things, which is a sweet rain falling after a long drought and encountering an old friend in a distant place. These four things were considered as the happiest thing in one’s life, being passed down to nowadays.  

That is end of today’s class of mandarin Chinese for children online. Have you mastered how to use today’s key word?

Source: 

http://chinesehelper.kinja.com/a-very-important-chinese-character-xi3-1690208962

You will go in for this Chinese phrase qie1 cuo1

Once upon a time, a foreign friend of mine asked me to play ping-pong ball with him. I agreed and said: “I would like to accept your challenge and let us have a great game today!” On the way to the sports ground, we chatted about Chinese learning culture of sports and something like that with full ease and freely, because I am a native speaker who has been living in China for several years. During our conversation, I used a phrase qie1 cuo1, and then he was puzzled by its meaning. Noticing that he was truly interested in learning Chinese language as well as profound and far reaching culture online or offline, I was planning to give him some advice on how to choose a Chinese textbook or online learning Chinese language website for further study.

And then, according to my learning contents in online Chinese lessons that I have known for so long, I began to explain to him regarding the meaning and usage of the Chinese phrase qie1 cuo1. I used a stick writing the strokes of the phrase as 切磋 on the earth, and began to taught him to read after me qie1 cuo1. He got comprehensible soon the moment I was going to tell him about its old stories.

It is said that the word qie1 means that using an instrument to making and producing some animal’s bones. And cuo1 means that using an item to produce the teeth of the elephants. For some reasons, you have to know another two words like zhuo2 and mo1. For one thing, the word 琢 zhuo2 means that the movement of making some jewels and other worthy furniture. For another thing, the word磨 mo2 was the production of stones. Due to poor technology and tools, it was rather difficult to transform from the bones, teeth, stone into a whole and mature wares or tools in ancient time. To process different materials entailed different procedures and methods. So the four words above are the names of four totally distinct way of procession.

As time went by, people used the four words in total to signify a discussion and research two people in terms of skills and knowledge. In order to be brief for expression, people used the just two former words like qie1 and cuo1 to indicate this whole meaning.

After hearing a series of narrations of the strange and interesting original story, my friend became crazy about leaning Chinese language. The Chinese online lesson will give him a big favor in mastering the Chinese language words or phrases as many as possible. A moment later, he learned how to speak the phrase qie1 cuo1, and we really had a great time!

Source: 

http://oldchinese.jigsy.com/entries/general/you-will-go-in-for-this-chinese-phrase-qie1-cuo1