The Chinese characters 聪 meaning is intelligent; clever.

This simplified character 聪 ingeniously combines 耳 (ear) with 总 (general, comprehensive) to convey the idea of cleverness at hearing and comprehending things generally.

The Chinese characters 匆 meaning is haste; hurry; alarm.

The original ideogram depicted a restless heart (心) prompting one to peep anxiously through the window. Hence the meaning: haste, excitement or alarm. The haste shown even in the evolution of this exciting Chinese character - from the seal form to the final simplified character form: 匆 - gives cause for alarm.

The Chinese characters 忘 meaning is forget.

The old form of the phonetic: 亡 represents someone entering a place of concealment, and means to disappear or perish. The addition of the heart radical: 心, enforces the idea of “lost mind” or a mind that ceases to act; hence, to forget: 忘. Minds should not be lost when it comes to the memorable proverb: “Forget favors given: remember favors received!’

The Chinese characters 忆 meaning is recall; remember; reflect.

The phonetic: 意 denotes sound (音) in the heart or mind (心), i.e. intention or thought. The addition of another heart (the radical, 忄) to thought (意) suggests to think again - to reflect or remember. As a mnemonic aid, the simplified character form combines heart (忄) with second (乙) producing 忆.

The Chinese characters 想 meaning is think; hope.

This Chinese character is composed of 相 (inspect) and 心 (heart). The phonetic: 相 represents an eye (目) on behind a tree (木) on the lookout for possible danger, and signifies to examine or inspect. Combination with the radical: 心 (heart, mind) produces 想, meaning to examine or inspect in the heart or mind, i.e., to think, ponder or hope.

The Chinese characters 爱 meaning is love.

The simplified character: 爱 highlights the role of friendship: 友 - a more realistic love. But whatever form love may take, excel the selfless and unselfish love based on the principle extolled in the proverb: “Those who love others will themselves be loved.”

Wang Han (689 - 726)was a frontier poet though as secretary of Premier Zhang Yue he had never been to the frontier, This quatrain begins with the wine of grapes which was believed to have been imported from Greece during the reign of King Mu of the Zhou dynasty or Emperor Wu of the Han, and with the cup of jade glowing at flight which was also the product of Western countries, so the very first line creates a frontier atmosphere and tells us there was intercultural communication as early as the Zhou or the Han dynasty in Chinese history. The second line is subject to three different Interpretations; (1) the Pipa, a musical instrument which Giles replaced by bugle and Bynner by guitar, summoned the warriors to the battleground while they were drinking! (2) the warriors were playing music on horseback or (3) they were summoned while drinking to the Pipa songs. I prefer the last to the first and think the second is a misinterpretation. As to lines 3-4, most commentators agree that they express the warriors’ feeling of sorrow; some think that soldiers should make merry while they might since few could come back alive; only a few say that this shows the dauntless spirit of warriors in face of death. In either of the last two cases, this quatrain may be compared with the following verse in Jolly Mortals, Fill Your Glasses of Robert Burns:

What is title, what is treasure,
What is reputation’s care?
If we lead a life of pleasure,
This no matter how or where!

The English song has eight stanzas or Quatrains but the Chinese poem has only one which expresses as much as eight, so we may well say that never has so much been said in so short a poem as a Tang Quatrain.

STARTING FOR THE FRONT
Wang Han
The cup of jade would glow with wine of grapes at night.
Drinking to Pipa songs, we are summoned to fight.
Don’t laugh if we lay drunken on the battle ground!
How many warriors ever come back safe and sound?

Note: Pipa is a kind of musical instrument of China.

凉州词

唐 王翰

葡萄美酒夜光杯，

欲饮琵琶马上催。

醉卧沙场君莫笑，

古来征战几人回?

The Chinese characters 姐 meaning is elder sister.

女 is the radical for girl or woman. 且, the phonetic, is a picture of a stool with two rungs, standing on the ground, now borrowed for the conjunction: 且 “moreover”. In our picture, the stool is not the only thing that distinguishes older sister from younger sister.

The Chinese characters 妹 meaning is younger sister.

未, the phonetic, is a tree in full leaf and branch, but not fully mature and means: “not”. With the addition of the radical for girl (女), the Chinese character for “younger sister” is formed. Hence 妹: a girl (女) who has not yet (未) reached maturity.

The Chinese characters 未 meaning is not; not yet.

This Chinese character is to be distinguished from 末 in that the horizontal stroke across the top is much shorter: 未. In 末 the top line is emphasized; in 未 it is subdued, not fully grown. Hence 未: not yet. Those who have “not yet” attained their end should exercise patience and take heart from the proverb: “A giant tree grows from a tiny bud.”