This is the first poem in the Book of Poetry (诗经) probably compiled in the sixth century B. C. It describes the life and love of Chinese people living about three thousand years ago. In the first stanza the method of association is used. That is to say, on hearing a pair of water-birds, the young man thinks of the lair maiden he loves, in other words, he associates his own love with the love between two birds. In the second stanza, the method of association is again used; that is to say, on seeing water flow left and right of the cress, the thoughts of the young man wandered left and right of the cress-gathering maiden. In the third stanza we find narration instead of association, and repetition is used within one line while in the second stanza the third line simply repeats that of the first.

This poem shows first there was some freedom of love in those days for ordinary people. Secondly, there was more equality between man and woman in primitive society than in feudal society. Thirdly, the Chinese people lived a simple, happy rural life and loved labor, for example, plant-gathering. Fourthly, the culture of that time was rather highly developed for on the one hand, they had such musical instruments as lutes, bells ,drums and on the other, the methods of narration, comparison and association were used in their songs. Read Shelley’s Love’s Philosophy and you would marvel at the similarity between the poetic minds severed by three thousand years.

A FAIR MAIDEN

By riverside are cooing,
A pair of turtledoves;
A good young man is wooing,
A maiden fair he loves.

Water flows left and right,
Of cresses here and there;
The youth yearns day and night;
For the good maiden fair.

His yearning grows so strong,
He cannot fall asleep;
He tosses all night long,
So deep in love, so deep!

Now gather left and right,
The cresses sweet and tender;
O lute, play music bright,
For the bride sweet and slender!

Feast friends at left and right,
On cresses cooked tender;
O bells and drums, delight,
The bride so sweet and slender!

关雎

关关雎鸠，在河之洲。

窈窕淑女，君子好逑。

参差荇菜，左右流之。

窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。

求之不得，寤寐思服。

悠哉悠哉，辗转反侧。

参差荇菜，左右采之。

窈窕淑女，琴瑟友之。

参差荇菜，左右芼之。

窈窕淑女，钟鼓乐之。

The Chinese characters 笑 meaning is laugh; smile.

笑 has an amusing origin. The phonetic element: 夭 depicts a man inclining his head to laugh more easily, suggesting rocking or shaking. The radical component is the metamorphosis of 竹 (bamboo). Likens such laughter to the swaying of bamboo in the breeze. But laughing or smiling is serious business, as implied in the proverb: “A man without a smiling face should not open a shop.

The Chinese characters 算 meaning is calculate; plan.

算, the Chinese character for calculate or plan, is cleverly conceived: two hands manipulating an abacus made of bamboo. Although 算 emphasizes doing with the hands, it also means to contrive, as exemplified by the character shown here who is planning more and doing less.

The Chinese characters 笔 meaning is pen.

A hand holding a stylus, scratching lines on a tablet, symbolizes a writing stylus. Bamboo (竹) added to stylus produces pen. Bamboo combined with hair (毛) also makes “pen”: 笔. Although both the traditional character 筆 and simplified character 笔 can be used to write “pen”, the saying goes: “A pen cannot write two words at the same time!’

The Chinese characters 竹 meaning is bamboo.

The Chinese character 竹 for bamboo is a pictograph of two whorls of bamboo leaves. Unlike a wayward man, the bamboo grows straight and upright into a useful and decorative plant. “The bamboo stick makes a good child,” so says the proverb. Our picture demonstrates how starting right from the bottom.

The Chinese characters 花 meaning is flower.

Originally, 化 pictured a man tumbling heels over head, indicating a complete change - a metamorphosis. With the plant radical (艹) grafted on, 化 assumed a different character and blossomed into a flower: 花 - that part of a plant (艹) which is strikingly transformed (化) or changed from the other parts.

The Chinese characters 叶 meaning is leaves.

The original seal form graphically portrays the luxuriant foliage of a tree. The regular form: 葉, signifying the generations (世) of a treelike (木) plant (艹), suggests the seasonal sprouting of leaves. The simplified character, however, simply borrows the character: 叶 (originally “harmony”) and leaves the harmonizing to the imagination.

The Chinese characters 苗 meaning is sprouts; shoots.

The concept of “sprout” (苗) germinates from grain stalks sprouting in a cultivated field (苗). By extension, 苗 includes man’s offspring, his progeny. As illustration, we picture here a productive farmer with his “sprouts”- the fruit of much labor of love and toil.

The Chinese characters 草 meaning is grass; weeds.

A pictograph of grass, commonly written: 草. Despised as weed that sways with the wind, the lowly grass nevertheless provides the root for a host of “plant” characters. And, unlike the grassroots of human society, it can draw comfort from the proverb: “Every blade of grass has its own share of dew.”

The Chinese characters 点 meaning is point; spot; dot.

The phonetic component: 占 means to divine, to ask about or interpret orally the cracks of a heated tortoise shell - to point out the unknown. Adding the radical component: 黑 (black) emphasizes the point with black. Hence: 點, a black point, a spot or dot. The simplified character comes even more to the point: 点 by setting divination (占) on fire (four dots).