Chinese Characters

Introduction

Chinese characters, also known as Hanzi, are a maze of lines and dots that make up the written language of China. They are so complex that it’s a wonder the Chinese can actually read and write them!

History

No one really knows where Chinese characters came from. Some say they were created by a stroke of lightning that struck a scroll of paper; others claim they were invented by a group of monkeys who got bored and decided to start scratching lines in the dirt.

The Anatomy of a Chinese Character

Each Chinese character is made up of a series of strokes, dots, and lines that combine to create a whole. To the untrained eye, they may all look the same, but to the Chinese, each character tells a unique story.

For example, the character for “mountain” looks like three little mountains stacked on top of each other. The character for “rain” looks like a series of drops falling from the sky. And the character for “toilet” looks like… well, let’s just say it’s not something you’d want to print on your t-shirt.

Fun Facts

• There are over 50,000 Chinese characters in existence, but you only need to know about 3,500 to read a newspaper.
• The longest Chinese character is over 1,000 strokes long. Good luck writing that on a post-it note!
• Chinese characters have been used for over 3,000 years. That’s longer than the lifespan of your great-great-great-grandmother’s pet turtle.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Chinese characters are a fascinating and complex part of Chinese culture. If you’re ever feeling down about the difficulties of learning them, just remember that at least you don’t have to write out that 1,000-stroke character every day!