The Chinese characters 鲜 meaning is fresh.

This Chinese character combines two types of flesh: fish (鱼) and sheep (羊). Although meat was usually preserved by salting, drying or smoking, ancient man preferred to eat the flesh of fish and sheep fresh. Hence, fish and sheep put together means “fresh”.

The Chinese characters 羊 meaning is sheep; goat.

Because of its mild and gentle nature, the sheep (羊) is a fitting symbol for meekness. Its pictographic representations take on well-balanced forms. Early versions show frontal views of the head; later modifications fill in the horns, ears, legs and tail. When combined with other components, the tail is often left out.

The Chinese characters 鲁 meaning is stupid; simple.

In his eagerness to acquire an ideograph for simple or stupid, man literally acted the part. He appended to fish (鱼) a representation of a nose which was later corrupted to 曰 (speak). The tragic result: a “dumb” fish unable to speak and a “nosey” one, without scent or sense. Simple man, like stupid fish, sees the bait, not the hook.

The Chinese characters 鱼 meaning is fish.

鱼 is a pictograph of the fish, whose predatory habits prompt man to snap at his own fishy wily of life: “Big fish eat small fish; small fish eat water insects; water insects eat weeds and mud.” The tail of the fish proves to be its fiery end, being a form of fire (火), presumably kindled as man prepares to eat big fish.

The Chinese characters 扇 meaning is fan.

In this ideograph, a wing (羽) is likened to the leaf of a door (户) in that its attachment is at the end, and both are capable of vibrating and spreading out like a fan: 扇. The combination of these two related components enforces the idea of “fan”, a useful and decorative device often made of feathers.

The Chinese characters 习 meaning is practice.

This ideogram combines wings (羽) with self (自), contraction of (自), suggesting a young bird learning to fly by itself. Copying the bird, man also tries to fly by speeding up the simplification of the original intricate Chinese character, using only one wing for “practice”: 习. Woe betides the bird that copies man!

The Chinese characters 羽 meaning is feathers; wings.

Feathers - the showy plumage of birds - are represented by a pair of wings. Like human nature, feathers have changed little in character through the ages. From the original to finally 羽, all look alike at a glance. To confirm this, our illustration takes a closer look at some birds of a feather.

The Chinese characters 飞 meaning is fly.

This Chinese character draws its inspiration from the migratory flight of the crane - with the long neck of the bird folded on itself. The flight is speeded up by simplifying the regular form, lightening its load of strokes from nine to three: 飞.

Write in the South Village of the Capital is a lyric. Its author is poet Cui Hu (崔护) of the Tang Dynasty. He traveled to South Village of outskirts of Chang An (capital of Tang Dynasty) on the Qing Ming Festival (a traditional festival of China). He felt thirsty, and then knocked at a peasant courtyard’s door. A beautiful girl opened the door. The peach blossom in the full courtyard and the beautiful girl made up a fascinating picture. He came to this household again on the Qing Ming Festival of the second year. The courtyard door was locked. However, didn’t know where the beautiful girl had gone. Only the peach blossoms were still in full bloom in the spring breeze. I enjoy this poem very much, so I introduce it to everyone.

The English translation of this Chinese poetry:

Write in the South Village of the Capital
In this door last year,
The beauty’s face and peach blossoms set each other off beautifully.
Don’t know where has the beauty gone,
The peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze.

The original Chinese text:

题都城南庄

去年今日此门中，

人面桃花相映红。

人面不知何处去，

桃花依旧笑春风。

The Chinese characters 乌 meaning is crow.

The saying: “The crow does not roost with the phoenix” sums up man’s attitude towards the lowly carrion crow, regarded as a bird of ill omen. The character for crow: 乌 is similar to that for bird: 鸟, with the stroke for the eyes omitted, probably because black eyes are not readily visible against black feathers. Even the unflattering simplified character: 乌 cannot blacken the image of this miserable bird, for crows are already black all over the world.