Red Chinese lantern and suspended greeting for Chinese New Year. Photo by Angela Lansury.
I stook looking at the sign hung over every doorway all around a large estate in Singapore. i thought I recognized the first sign of the two. The sign said big.
Big is pretty easy to remember and recognize. It looks like a person with their legs apart and arms outstretched.
I've been wondering for days, all through Chinese New Year, about how to recognize the Chinese words for happy new year. the signs will come up year after year. I also want to be sure that any signs I re-use say happy new year or the equivalent and not year of the - and last year's animal. that would be like saying happy 2019 for years afterwards.
I finally struck lucky, in Singapore, standing near a lantern which suspended a New Year greeting, standing near a neighbour who was not in a hurry.
I asked her, "Can you read Chinese?"
Chinese Flag
Mandarin is taught in schools in Singapore where the Chinese attend.
Singapore flag.
"Yes."
"Can you tell me what that sign under the lantern means?"
I recognized big, on the left, like a man with arms outstretched.
The sign on the right is a compound word, made up of two signs which are squashed thin to keep their height but reduce their width so they both fit inside an imaginary square for a word or idea.
The sign in the middle, left of the right hand sign, means day. The sign far right means king. I recognized that from the name of the MRT train station King Albert Park. Three horizontals with a line down the middle vertically is king. Big Day-king means (wishing you) much prosperity.
Wikipedia gives these common signs.
| Character | Semantic part | Phonetic part | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 也 | (originally a pictograph of a vagina)[36] | (none) | yě | grammatical particle; also |
| 池 | 水（氵）water | 也 | chí | pool |
| 驰 / 馳 | 马 / 馬 horse | 也 | chí | gallop |
| 弛 | 弓 bow (bend) | 也 | chí | relaxation |
| 施 | 㫃 flag | 也 | shī | application |
| 地 | 土 earth | 也 | dì (de) | ground |
| 他 | 人 （亻）person | 也 | tā | he |
| 她 | 女 female | 也 | tā | she |
| 拖 / 扡 (archaic form) | 手 （扌）hand | 也 | tuō | drag |
| Chinese | Japanese | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional | Simplified | |||
| Simplified in mainland China only, not Japan (Some radicals were simplified) | 電 | 电 | 電 | electricity |
| 買 | 买 | 買 | buy | |
| 車 | 车 | 車 | car, vehicle | |
| 紅 | 红 | 紅 | red | |
| 無 | 无 | 無 | nothing | |
| 東 | 东 | 東 | east | |
| 馬 | 马 | 馬 | horse | |
| 風 | 风 | 風 | wind | |
| 愛 | 爱 | 愛 | love | |
| 時 | 时 | 時 | time | |
| 鳥 | 鸟 | 鳥 | bird | |
| 島 | 岛 | 島 | island | |
| 語 | 语 | 語 | language, word | |
| 頭 | 头 | 頭 | head | |
| 魚 | 鱼 | 魚 | fish | |
| 園 | 园 | 園 | garden | |
| 長 | 长 | 長 | long, grow | |
| 紙 | 纸 | 紙 | paper | |
| 書 | 书 | 書 | book, document | |
| 見 | 见 | 見 | watch, see | |
| Simplified in Japan, not Mainland China (In some cases this represents the adoption of different variants as standard) | 假 | 假 | 仮 | false, day off, borrow |
| 佛 | 佛 | 仏 | Buddha | |
| 德 | 德 | 徳 | moral, virtue | |
| 拜 | 拜 | 拝 | kowtow, pray to, worship | |
| 黑 | 黑 | 黒 | black | |
| 冰 | 冰 | 氷 | ice | |
| 兔 | 兔 | 兎 | rabbit | |
| 妒 | 妒 | 妬 | jealousy | |
| 每 | 每 | 毎 | every | |
| 壤 | 壤 | 壌 | soil | |
| 步 | 步 | 歩 | step | |
| 巢 | 巢 | 巣 | nest | |
| 惠 | 惠 | 恵 | grace | |
| 莓 | 莓 | 苺 | strawberry | |
| Simplified differently in Mainland China and Japan | 圓 | 圆 | 円 | circle |
| 聽 | 听 | 聴 | listen | |
| 實 | 实 | 実 | real | |
| 證 | 证 | 証 | certificate, proof | |
| 龍 | 龙 | 竜 | dragon | |
| 賣 | 卖 | 売 | sell | |
| 龜 | 龟 | 亀 | turtle, tortoise | |
| 藝 | 艺 | 芸 | art, arts | |
| 戰 | 战 | 戦 | fight, war | |
| 繩 | 绳 | 縄 | rope, criterion | |
| 繪 | 绘 | 絵 | picture, painting | |
| 鐵 | 铁 | 鉄 | iron, metal | |
| 圖 | 图 | 図 | picture, diagram | |
| 團 | 团 | 団 | group, regiment | |
| 轉 | 转 | 転 | turn | |
| 廣 | 广 | 広 | wide, broad | |
| 惡 | 恶 | 悪 | bad, evil, hate | |
| 豐 | 丰 | 豊 | abundant | |
| 腦 | 脑 | 脳 | brain | |
| 雜 | 杂 | 雑 | miscellaneous | |
| 壓 | 压 | 圧 | pressure, compression | |
| 雞 鷄 | 鸡 | 鶏 | chicken | |
| 總 | 总 | 総 | overall | |
| 價 | 价 | 価 | price | |
| 樂 | 乐 | 楽 | fun, music | |
| 歸 | 归 | 帰 | return, revert | |
| 氣 | 气 | 気 | air | |
| 廳 | 厅 | 庁 | hall, office | |
| 發 | 发 | 発 | emit, send | |
| 勞 | 劳 | 労 | labor | |
| 劍 | 剑 | 剣 | sword | |
| 歲 | 岁 | 歳 | age, years | |
| 權 | 权 | 権 | authority, right | |
| 燒 | 烧 | 焼 | burn | |
| 贊 | 赞 | 賛 | praise | |
| 兩 | 两 | 両 | two, both | |
| 譯 | 译 | 訳 | translate | |
| 觀 | 观 | 観 | look, watch | |
| 營 | 营 | 営 | camp, battalion | |
| 處 | 处 | 処 | processing | |
| 齒 | 齿 | 歯 | teeth | |
| 驛 | 驿 | 駅 | station | |
| 櫻 | 樱 | 桜 | cherry | |
| 產 | 产 | 産 | production | |
| 藥 | 药 | 薬 | medicine | |
| 讀 | 读 | 読 | read | |
| 顏 | 颜 | 顔 | face | |
| Simplified (almost) identically in Mainland China and Japan | 畫 | 画 | 画 | picture |
| 聲 | 声 | 声 | sound, voice | |
| 學 | 学 | 学 | learn | |
| 體 | 体 | 体 | body | |
| 點 | 点 | 点 | dot, point | |
| 麥 | 麦 | 麦 | wheat | |
| 蟲 | 虫 | 虫 | insect | |
| 舊 | 旧 | 旧 | old, bygone, past | |
| 會 | 会 | 会 | be able to, meeting | |
| 萬 | 万 | 万 | ten-thousand | |
| 盜 | 盗 | 盗 | thief, steal | |
| 寶 | 宝 | 宝 | treasure | |
| 國 | 国 | 国 | country | |
Chineasy, picture from Wikipedia. You can identify the moon, second from left in the top row.
The sun is in the middle in the bottom row.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chineasy
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chineasy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters
Duolingo.com
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite websites.
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