The Chinese Character, an Interpretable Chinese Culture
- 卜 (Divination)
The formation of the character was inspired by the tiny cracks of the tortoise shell. The word, pronounced “bu”, sounds similar to the cracking sound of tortoise shell. The tools for divination were mainly the plastron and tergum of the tortoise as well as the bladebone of the cattle. Usually, before the divination, the oracle bone back would be dug or drilled some small holes, which are...
What’s New
伞 (umbrella)
It is a pictographic character shaped like an open umbrella, with the cover on top, frames in the middle and the handle (the vertical line) at the bottom. The traditional and simplified versions of the character are the same in both meaning and structure. +more
手 (hand)
The character “shou”, (meaning “a hand”) is like a hand with fingers spreading in the oracle bone inscription. In the remote past, there was no difference between the character “shou” and the character “quan” (meaning “a fist”) in terms of meaning, both referring to the part below the wrist. That’s why these two characters were interchangeable in the small seal script. +more
Other Topics
-
- “Zhou” (州) is an ideographic character. In the oracle bone inscriptions, it is written as...
州 (islet, state)
-
- "Gong" (宫) is a pictographic character that looks like a house in the oracle bone inscriptions,...
宫 (palace)
-
- "She" (舌) is a pictographic character originally written like ... in the oracle bone...
舌 (tongue)
-
- “Chuang” (“床”) is a pictographic character that is in the form of a vertical bed in the...
床 (bed)
-
- “Chuang” (“窗”) was originally a pictographic character written like this ... in...
窗 (window)
-
- “Yi” (衣, clothing) is a pictographic character. In the oracle bone inscriptions, the upper...
衣 (clothing)
- With bamboo umbrella stand and silk face, the West Lake...
- The hand shadow illusion is an age-old traditional game....
The Culture Implied in Chinese Characters
Random Talks
- Chinese character is one of the world's oldest writings....
