Summary

The author reflects on the beauty and creativity of Traditional Chinese characters, emphasizing their appreciation after experiencing a different language environment and the potential impact of bilingual education policies in Taiwan.

Abstract

The article discusses the author's renewed appreciation for Traditional Chinese characters after living abroad in London and being immersed in English. It highlights the concern that ongoing bilingual education reforms in Taiwan might overshadow the importance of Chinese characters. The author illustrates the pictographic origins of Chinese characters using examples like "木" (wood), "樹" (tree), and "森林" (forest), and shares the aesthetic appeal of Chinese calligraphy, contrasting it with Simplified Chinese characters. The author also recounts a personal childhood story about learning to write their complex Chinese name, which their mother poetically justified by likening the character's structure to stability and growth.

Opinions

The author believes that the beauty of Traditional Chinese characters is something that may be overlooked without a change in perspective, such as living in a foreign country.
There is a concern that the push for bilingual education might lead to the neglect of Traditional Chinese characters.
The author values the pictographic nature of Chinese characters, which conveys meaning through imagery.
Calligraphy is seen as a form of art that can evoke a sense of calmness and mindfulness, similar to meditation.
The author expresses a preference for Traditional Chinese characters over Simplified ones, suggesting that simplification may detract from the characters' inherent beauty.
The personal anecdote about the author's name suggests that the complexity of Chinese characters can be seen as a source of strength and identity.

How Beautiful and Creative The Traditional Chinese Characters Are That I Didn’t Know Before

Some beauty takes time to know how to appreciate it

Recently in my country, Taiwan, we’ve been going through a bilingual education renovation discussion, this is just at the very beginning stage of it. Of course, It is undeniable that English is the common language of the world and a key factor in national competitiveness.

But if this policy is the ultimate goal then will our Traditional Chinese Characters be ignored in the future? How to keep up with the world but at the same time keep our language.

If I had never stayed in London for one year, today I wouldn’t have this kind of concern. The other day I shared that due to the inconvenience of the internet on the Tube in London, I started to read books in English, before that, I barely read any books in English.

After immersing in English for a while. One day, I had to read books in Traditional Chinese again, you know what! All of a sudden, I surprisingly felt and sensed the beauty of our language. I was shocked actually.

I immediately sent a message to one of my Taiwanese friends who’s been working in the U.S. about how I felt about our language and the beauty of the characters. And Yes, she can resonate with my feelings !! Oh, my. You know, it’s like there is something always around you, but when you get used to it, you might not see the great part of it, but when you leave for a while and come back again, you might understand how great it is.

Therefore, today I wanna share the beauty of our traditional Chinese characters with the English world.

For some people, you might know the traditional Chinese Character comes from the image of the meaning. Here, let me show you how interesting they are in the picture below.

From the top:

The first word “ 木 “ is a wood. Can you recognize the image of a tree? Yes! Isn’t it?
The second word “樹” is a tree. The tree is created with wood. The “木“ shows on the left of this character.
The third vocabulary “森林” is forest. Well, Because there are plenty of woods, it becomes a forest~~~

How lovely they are!! I love it.

Talking about traditional Chinese characters, we can’t ignore the beauty of calligraphy

Can you guess what the word means below?

Picture from 三支筆工作室 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shXQy1Y9ekw

The word “大雪” means big snow, huge snow. In the picture, you can see the creator playing with the word by adding more dots to the word expressing the feeling of heavy snow. How cute it is.

However, some people sense it more like the “ ZEN” sensation from writing the Chinese character by calligraphy.

Some beauty takes time to appreciate it

I liked calligraphy when I was a kid just because I took it as drawing. However, the more I aged, I started to see the ZEN sensation it could bring us. In the Western world, people talk about meditation and mindfulness, I say calligraphy definitely can bring calmness to us as well. What do you think?

So, what’s the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese characters?

Well, it is just as it shows from the name. It’s simplified. In my eyes, it lost the beauty of the image, to be honest. ^ ____ ^

My Chinese name

Since I showed you a bit of the word in Chinese, I would like to share a little story about my childhood while I was learning to write my name.

That time I was practicing, and then I went to complain to my mom, saying “ Mom, why did you select this name for me, it’s so difficult to write it.”

Check the picture below, the right one is one of the words of my name. I was complaining why not choose the left one which is a bit easier!!!!

If you’re the mother, how do you convince your kid to keep practicing?

Well, as a creative person like my mom, she told me: ”See, in your name, there’s a wood, a tree there, the word on the left has only one leg, but your word which has 2 legs so that you can stand more stable compared to the left one.”

Guys, what do you think of this answer?

Ha ha ha, she convinced me though. ^ _________^

Thank you for reading. I hope I get you to be able to see the beauty of our traditional Chinese words as well. ^ ^