Window to an Ancient Culture

To begin our exploration of Chinese characters, it is useful to recognize that Chinese characters present a window to the culture of ancient China. It is also true that English words present a window to the ancient culture in which English arose.

Most students of English, including children in English-speaking schools, do not approach the study of English words in this way. Most students of Chinese, including children in Chinese schools, do not approach the study of Chinese words in this way either.

Unlike the English writing system, the Chinese writing system provides for us pictures, which provide us with a very powerful way to look through this window into the ancient culture that gave rise to it.

Most people do not learn that Chinese characters arose from pictures. Anyway, in most modern characters, the pictures are not easy to interpret due to the stylizing and standardization that has changed them over the past few thousand years. However, if we can learn to recognize the pictures within the pictographs, the insights that are exposed to us are incredible. The pictures on which the characters are based lie just below the surface for thousands of characters. These insights enable greater understanding of the characters, and simplified learning and recall. It also makes learning Chinese and Chinese characters much more fun and meaningful.