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SHI: Family. The pictograph resembles a plant bobbing up and down on the water: one that grows and multiplies like the countless water lilies found in China. These start with a floating seed and grow surprisingly fast once they have found somewhere to put down roots. They bring to mind those nomadic groups that wander across the land trying to find a suitable place in which to settle, thus giving rise to the clan or family. In modern usage this character has lost its original meaning and acquired the role of a patronymic, as has happened with many other radicals. In classical language it was also used in the sense of development or multiplication.

RI: Sun. The ancient Chinese believed that the sun had a diameter of 1,000 li (500km/300miles), a circumference of 3,000 li (1,500 km/930 miles) and was suspended under the arch of the firmament at a height of 7,000 li (3,500 km/ 2,173 miles). It was round, whereas the earth was square, as can be seen in the pictograph; only later did it become square, for practical reasons, and then rectangular. This radical also means ”day.” The character, together with the one for ”chronicle” or ”account,” forms ”daily newspaper”: an account of the days events. Next to the character for ”moon” it means ”life” everything that happens during the day and night. Placing the character for ”sun” below the one for ”tree” creates the verb ”to disappear”: it once meant ”sunset,” the time when the sun disappeared behind the trees. By joining the character for ”sun” with the one for ”to eat,” we obtain the word for the solar eclipse that happens when the three-legged toad tries to eat it. ”The dogs of Sechuan bark at the sun,” refers to a person marvelling at something out of ignorance or inexperience.

Strokes that form the character: The strokes are in the left hand column; in the right hand column they are shown as a component of a complete character. The relevant numbers (1-24) are given in red on each page from p. 24 to p. 247, to denote the strokes employed in writing the radical (from Elementary Chinese Readers Book One Chinese Character Exercise Book, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1980).

LI: Village. A small group of houses, each of which-- in accordance with ancient law--occupied an eighth of the land, as it indicated in the upper part of the radical, albeit in reduced form. At the center was the common land occupied by the well. Apart from the meaning ”village,” this radical also signifies a measure of length, the li, equivalent to about 500 meters (c. 540 yards). The Great Wall in Chinese is the ”Long Wall of the 10,000 li.” Today it means ”internal.” In this sense of ”internal,” this character, joined to the one for ”sea,” means ”Caspian Sea,” the lake bounded by Russia and Iran. It also forms part of the Chinese word for the Italian unit of currency, the lira, but only as a phonetic transliteration, with no logical significance. A more precise and inspired derivation occurs in the word formed by this radical, in its sense of ”internal,” joined to the one for ”spine”: ”fillet,” the cut of meat that lies within the lumbar muscles next to the spine. Written next to the character for ”hand,” it indicates the part of the road to the left of a person driving a left-hand-drive vehicle: i.e. the middle of the road.

HEI: Black. In huts, when a fire was lit, the smoke normally escaped through an opening above the hearth. The pictograph shows a small window blackened by the soot in the smoke: by extension it indicates the colour black. India ink is also made of soot, blended with other substances, hardened and then cut into sticks or blocks. The latter, when rubbed against special ”ink stones,” produces a fine powder that is then mixed with water to form the black ink used in painting and calligraphy. The character for ink is formed from this radical placed above the one for ”earth”: black powder. The character for ”black” next to the one for table forms ”blackboard.” ”Black heart,” composed of the radical plus the one for ”heart,” means an evil, insensitive, black-hearted person. The character for ”inn” with this radical creates the word ”tavern”: a hostelry of the lowest order, frequented by people of ill fame in the China of days gone by, run by brigands.

Chinese Calligraphy
From Pictograph to Ideogram: The History of 214 Essential Chinese/Japanese Characters

By Edoardo Fazzioli
Size: 6 3/8 x 9 1/4" 252 pages
Nearly 600 two-color line drawings
Published
ISBN: 978-0-89659-774-7
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Cloth $37.50
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An illuminating history of 214 Chinese/Japanese calligraphic characters.

Chinese is based on 214 symbols, or radicals. Centuries ago these symbols were adopted by the Japanese as well. Each symbol—which means the same thing to the Japanese even though it is called by different names—is delightfully explored in this unique book, providing an unusual way to penetrate a rich, mysterious world and learn how a written language can reflect the philosophy of an entire culture.

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