Studying Chinese and especially Chinese characters means you learn an awful lot about Chinese culture and ancient history. You can understand how things were seen and perceived in the old days, also because the Chinese characters constitute the oldest writing system of writing in the world. Many characters were originally pictograms, which depicted the objects denoted. It is a quite insightful experience to learn how Chinese characters developed. Knowing the origin can also make it a lot easier for you to recognize the characters. What a revelation it was for me when I found out what some of the characters actually mean. So I want to share my experience and tell you my three most favorite characters so far. Luckily, they are also among the most commonly used characters:

 一:In the Shanghai metro I regularly saw a sign that included the character for small, xiǎo:  小 and the character for heart, xīn:  心. I had learned those characters already and wondered what the secret was behind this funny sign that I encountered so often. I got to thinking… a small heart… it cannot be meant literally, so let’s think about a more general meaning… a heart can also stand for bravery, so a small heart… ah yes… a small heart stands for: “don’t be brave” and this actually means “be cautious!”

 二:Probably the best known character is the one for good or well, namely hǎo, 好. It is actually the character for woman, nǚ: 女 written next to the character for child, zi: 子, implying that it was considered a good thing when the woman had a child.

三: Another one of my favorite characters is the pig under the roof - jiā - meaning home, family, and household:  家. Having a pig under roof meant that you would have enough to eat and could provide for a whole family.

I think all of these characters are charming, because they are simultaneously simple and complex:  simple, because it simply combines those characters that belong together; complex, because you have to understand the whole worldview in order to grasp the concept of the characters.

Serena from YCC Shanghai Mandarin School