Written Chinese can call upon about 40,000 characters, many of which originated some 6,000 years ago as little pictures of everyday objects used by the ancients to communicate with one another. To convey more abstract ideas or concepts, the Chinese stylized and combined their pictographs. For instance, the character for GC manGCYGCoa straight back above two strong legsGCobecomes, with the addition of a head and shoulders and arms held sternly akimbo, the character for GC official.GCY This book, modeled after a classic compilation of the Chinese language done in the 18th century, introduces...
Written Chinese can call upon about 40,000 characters, many of which originated some 6,000 years ago as little pictures of everyday objects used by th...