Overview

The Chinese written language is today the only language in the world which is non-phonetic, using pictures to convey meaning. The history of the characters goes back over 3,000 years, and their impact extends over most of East Asia. This book celebrates the breadth and depth of the thousands of characters that make up the script, starting with the most simple and commonly-used, presenting one word per page from a variety of different perspectives. It looks at the many different ways in which characters are pronounced, including in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese, as well as Chinese languages and dialects, but also shows the breadth of meaning and the many different ways in which they can be written. The characters are capsules of history and culture, and this book provides a hint of the richness that attaches to each one.

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9789888552825

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Reviews

One of the difficulties of fully understanding the Chinese script has always been the sheer amount of information embedded in each character. The Genius of Chinese Characters does a truly remarkable job of distilling and displaying this information into a clear and authoritative format. It is a much-needed new reference source that will be invaluable to sinologists and lay readers alike. - David Moser, author of A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language

"""One of the difficulties of fully understanding the Chinese script has always been the sheer amount of information embedded in each character. The Genius of Chinese Characters does a truly remarkable job of distilling and displaying this information into a clear and authoritative format. It is a much-needed new reference source that will be invaluable to sinologists and lay readers alike.""- David Moser, author of A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language"

Author Information

Graham Earnshaw is a writer and publisher who has long lived in the China world. He has written and published a number of books, including On Your Own in China (1984), Tales of Old Shanghai (2008) and an account of his continuing walk across China, The Great Walk of China (2010). His translation of the Jin Yong kung fu novel The Book and The Sword was published by Oxford University Press in 2004.

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