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Granny Han’s School – the Peng Cheng School in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province

Happy Passover in Chinese

And I finally found it – how to say Happy Passover in Chinese.  Passover, the top three characters, are written yu yue jie using the romanized form. The bottom two characters mean “happy.”   And a Zizzen Pesach to all my Jewish friends!  

Happy Easter in Chinese

I was asked how to write “Happy Easter” in Chinese, so here it is!  The first two characters together mean “resurrection.”  The third in the top line is the character that marks a holiday.  The two down below together mean happy.  And so – a Happy Easter to you!    

The Chinese character for Generosity

is a two character combination word, spelled Kang Kai pronounced “Kahng Kii”   Both parts of this character mean “generousity.”  That often happens in Chinese, that the two characters will each mean the same thing with a slightly different flavor. The first character:  Kang means generousity Left side: Heart/Mind, in the vertical form of script…

On the Chinese Character for “message”

Today’s reflection is on the character “Xin” – pronounced “shin” You are now part of the Character Reflections subscribers list.  It’s nice to be in touch.  If you are interested in knowing more about the structure and arcitecture of Chinese characters, you can find more information at www.characterreflections.com.  If you are interested in the book…

Re Cheng — Hospitality

A character is made of bits and pieces… Today we are taking a look at the character pair, Re Cheng, which signifies “hospitality.” The bits… First character: Re means warm or hot, and is pronounced ruh Top – a phonetic piece Bottom – flames of a fire Second character: Cheng means sincere, and is pronounced…

Mi-lu — To get lost, also used to describe an enthusiast

This is the character pair that means “to get lost” in Chinese: A character is made of bits and pieces… Today we are taking a look at the first character of the pair, mi, which means “to be lost,” and also is used to describe a person who is an enthusiast or a fan. A…

Character reflection 2 – to see through, to reveal

I woke up this morning in the soft morning light of early spring in Xuzhou, where Granny Han has her school.  The birds are singing their morning greetings, and pattering around on the air conditioner outside my window.  I appreciate their company.  Although the air has a nip that keeps me in bed with my…

Beginning of Lent Reflection

The first Lent reading is about the Chinese character for transform, to change, to turn, spelled zhuan in the romanized form. When you say to the taxi driver – wang you zhuan, that means “turn right.”  It is that zhuan you are using.  It is also used to talk about things that have changed for…

The Nines of Winter: Nine sets of nine days until spring arrives

In China they talk about winter coming in nine sets of nine days beginning with the winter solstice.  This poem describing the change in weather sounds really nice when spoken aloud in Chinese. I wish this page could talk! 一九二九 不出手 1st nine, 2nd nine, don’t take hands out of your pockets; 三九四九 冰上走 3rd…