Chinese words are made up of characters. These
characters have evolved from ancient pictographs.
This
character means field. Can you see the plots of the
farmer's field?
This one stands for mountain.
It is easy to see the mountain peaks.
The
character for woman is harder to see. The rectangle
represents a baby bundled in a mother's lap.
Can you
guess this one? This picture represents the heart.
Each stroke shows the outline of a chamber of the heart.
When you
combine two or more characters, you create a new 'meaning'.
If you take the character for field and
draw it on top of the character for heart, you create the a
new character that means to think. Farming was very
important in China, and to know what to plant required a lot of thought and planning.
The
first symbol means fire. The second means mountain.
Add them together and what do you get? Volcano!
You
recognize the character for woman. The woman is under a roof.
These characters together mean peace. The Chinese
people thought one woman in a house, not two, represented peace.
You can also change meanings by drawing more than
one of the same character.
Fire
Flame, Blaze
Tree Woods Forest, Jungle
| Combine two characters to make a new word. |  Roof |
Mountain |
 Child |
 Fire |
 Disaster |
 Volcano |
|
 Woman |
 Peace |
|
 Good |
| Combine two characters to make a new word. |
Field |
Small |
| Heart |
 To Think |
 Careful |
 Large |
|
 Size |
Numbers
China's number system is based on tens. By placing a
number after the number ten, hundred, or thousand, you add. For instance,
take the character for seven
and put it after the character for ten
like this and it means 10 + 7, or 17. By placing a number before
the ten, hundred, or thousand, you multiply. means
7 x 10, or 70.
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 |
 |
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|
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|
| One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten |
The characters for hundred is 
, and for thousand is 
.
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