The Chinese Character, an Interpretable Chinese Culture

This is a pictograph. The head faces upward, the tail points downward, and the scales are in the middle ring. Some hold that the bottom of the character is a fire, which displays the way ancient Chinese eating fish. Later, the body of the character was stretched as strokes, while the tail was replaced by a horizontal stroke.

The character is an auspicious sign in traditional Chinese culture. At the dinner of the Spring Festival Eve, fish is a must-dish for the Chinese, suggesting an abundance of wealth in the coming year. More often than not, we can find the painting of fish with distinctive Chinese characteristics in New Year paintings or ink paintings.