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.”

The Chinese characters 末 meaning is tip; end.

Just as the root (本) of a tree (木) is emphasized by a horizontal stroke at its base, so the top of the tree (木) is indicated by a long horizontal line at the top: 末, suggesting the tip or end — its limit. In growing upright like the tree, man also has his limit for, as the proverb puts it, “There are more trees upright than upright men!”

The Chinese characters 课 meaning is lesson.

课, meaning “lesson”, is based on words (言) and fruit (果). A lesson involves the use of words of instruction to produce results, i.e., bear fruit. But, for words to be fruitful, take a lesson from the proverb: “Bitter words are medicine; sweet words bring illness.”

The Chinese characters 果 meaning is fruit.

The earliest form was a stylized tree sporting a showy display of fruit. As it grew mighty, it boasted of more fruit, but these are not easily discernible in the modern form: 果. The proverb provides a clue to the missing fruit: “Though a tree grows to a thousand feet, its fruits will fall to earth again.”

The Chinese characters 体 meaning is The body.

The traditional Chinese characters: 體combines bone (骨) with plenty (豊). The simplified characters gets to the root (本) of man (亻), reducing him to a skeleton character: 体.