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Intriguing Chinese Characters (2)

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In language development, culture has often played an important part, which holds especially true for Chinese language. Knowing the cultural context would make learning Chinese language easier and more fun. Intriguing Chinese Characters presents some common Chinese characters and their cultural context through cartoons and photos. The series includes 4 books with Chinese character subjects arranged in English alphabetic order.

Editor's Recommendation

Intriguing series will take you to an enjoyable journey of learning “strange” things about China!

About Author

Y H Mew, MA (History), has spent over 30 years publishing language-related books for young and adult learners. He is constantly seeking creative ways to present content so that readers may find learning more enjoyable.

Table of Contents
Contents
Preface 3
1 目 mù (5 strokes) 6
2 鸟 niâo (5 strokes) 8
3 牛 niú (4 strokes) 10
4 女 n£ (3 strokes) 12
5 片 piàn (4 strokes) 14
6 气 qì (4 strokes) 16
7 欠 qiàn (4 strokes) 18
8 犬 quân (4 strokes) 20
9 人 rén (2 strokes) 22
10 彳 (3 strokes) 24
11 日 rì (4 strokes) 25
12 肉 ròu (6 strokes) 28
13 入 rù (2 strokes) 30
14 山 shän (3 strokes) 32
15 彡 (3 strokes) 35
16 殳 (4 strokes) 36
17 舌 shé (6 strokes) 37
18 身 shën (7 strokes) 39
19 生 shëng (5 strokes) 42
20 尸 shï (3 strokes) 44
21 石 shí (5 strokes) 46
22 食 shí (9 strokes) 48
23 矢 shî (5 strokes) 50
24 豕 shî (7 strokes) 52
25 士 shì (3 strokes) 54
26 示 shì (5 strokes) 56
27 手 shôu (4 strokes) 58
28 首 shôu (9 strokes) 60
29 糸 (6 strokes) 62
30 水 shuî (4 strokes) 63
31 冫 (2 strokes) 66
32 罒 (5 strokes) 67
33 田 tián (5 strokes) 68
34 土 tû (3 strokes) 70
35 瓦 wâ (4 strokes) 72
36 王 wáng (4 strokes) 74
37 夕 xï (3 strokes) 76
38 西 xï (6 strokes) 78
39 小 xiâo (3 strokes) 80
40 心 xïn (4 strokes) 82
41 辛 xïn (7 strokes) 84
42 穴 xué (5 strokes) 86
43 牙 yá (4 strokes) 88
44 言 yán (7 strokes) 90
45 羊 yáng (6 strokes) 92
46 衣 yï (6 strokes) 94
47 酉 yôu (7 strokes) 96
48 又 yòu (2 strokes) 97
49 鱼 yú (8 strokes) 98
50 雨 yû (8 strokes) 100
51 羽 yû (6 strokes) 102
52 玉 yù (5 strokes) 104
53 月 yuè (4 strokes) 106
54 爪 zhâo / zhuâ (4 strokes) 108
55 支 zhï (4 strokes) 110
56 止 zhî (4 strokes) 112
57 舟 zhöu (6 strokes) 114
58 竹 zhú (6 strokes) 116
59 隹 zhuï (8 strokes) 118
60 子 zî (3 strokes) 119
61 自 zì (6 strokes) 122
62 走 zôu (7 strokes) 124
63 辶 (辵) (3 strokes) 126
64 足 zú (7 strokes) 127
Sample Pages Preview

子 zî (3 strokes)
甲 金 篆 隶 楷
The word 子 means ‘child’ or ‘son’. The pictogram of the word shows a baby wrapped in a blanket, leaving its head and outstretched arms uncovered.
子 can be used in phrases to mean ˉsonˇ or ˉchildˇ, ˉmanˇ or ˉwomanˇ, for example 孩子 (hai zi, ˉchildˇ), 男子 (nan zi, ˉmanˇ) and 女子(nv zi, ˉwomanˇ). It can be used with some nouns, for example 椅子 (yi zi, ˉchairˇ), .车子(che zi, ˉcarˇ) and 瓶子 (ping zi, ˉbottleˇ).
子 is sometimes added to adjectives to turn them into nouns, for example 胖字 (pang zi, ˉsomeone who is plumpˇ), 矮子 (ai zi, ˉsomeone who is shortˇ) and 小子 (xiao zi, ˉlittle fellowˇ).
In ancient China, the word  was used as a respectful term for learned people and meant ˉmasterˇ, as in 老子 (Lao-zi), 孔子 (Kong-zi, Confucius) and 孟子 (Meng-zi, Mencius).
子 can be used as a component in word formation. It may appear at the bottom of a word or on the left. Words with this component are often related to ‘child’ or ‘child-bearing’. Examples are 孩(hái, ‘child’), 孙(sËn, ‘grandchild’), 孝(xiào, ‘fi lial piety’), 孕(yùn, ‘pregnant’) and 学(xué, ‘learn’).



Preface

The objective of this series is to provide a link between Chinese language and culture, so that learners will not only know the meanings of the characters, or the common phrases in which they appear, but also the cultural context of the characters. It is hoped that the series will motivate learners to take a keen interest in this language.

This series contains the most common 128 Chinese characters that will help both interested students and foreign learners to understand the Chinese language and mind. Although they are all ‘radicals’ 部首, the term has been deliberately avoided because it is rather technical. Instead, the term ‘component’ 偏旁 has been chosen in its place.

Most of the 128 characters can be used on their own to form phrases. A small number of them can only be used in word formation and almost never on their own.

The ancient characters are largely pictograms 象形, or picturewords, and are listed according to their simplified form 简体 in this series. The evolution of these characters can be seen through their different scripts over more than 3,000 years, namely 甲 (骨文) (oracle-bone script, the earliest known Chinese writing), 金 (文) (bronze script), 篆 (体) (seal script), 隶 (书) (official script in the Han dynasty), and modern-day regular script 楷 (书). The oracle-bone and bronze scripts invariably explain the original meanings of the Chinese characters concerned. Occasionally, it is necessary to mention the conventional characters 繁体 for elaboration.

The panels in each unit explain the word origin, the phrases in which the character appears, its use as a component in word formation and, where applicable, its cultural significance.

Intriguing Chinese Characters (2)
$13.91