| Foreign travel is most romantic in its little surprises—surprises that lead to insights in the way people live and love. I found my own romantic gems in the pictograph characters of China. Five thousand years in the making, and fifty thousand characters strong, Chinese characters look more like pick-up sticks than real letters. During a visit to China, a book entitled I Can READ That! A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters (by Julie Mazel Sussman, China Books & Periodicals, Inc. San Francisco) helped me bring order to the visual clutter of Chinese characters. The first big secret to understanding Chinese characters is that they are written as a series of quick brush strokes drawn from top to bottom and left to right. It is the intent of the strokes that matters, not their final shapes. The strokes are limited in their variety, which is what makes Chinese writing manageable. Second, ancient Chinese characters, unlike today's Chinese characters, looked like what they represented. Modem Chinese characters, stylized for easier drawing, today bear little resemblance to the objects that they represent. Take, for instance, the evolving series of Chinese characters (and attitudes) for "Woman." An ancient pictograph depicts a woman bowing towards the reader, showing deference and respect. The character was reduced over time to a kneeling woman. This made it easier to draw, but it didn't go over well with the "gentler" sex! Finally, the modem character shows a woman strutting down the street, demonstrating her newfound freedoms. The final character is drawn with only three deft strokes. Likewise, the pictograph for "Man" reveals another ancient Chinese secret. Unlike the single character for woman, the pictograph for man is composed of two separate Chinese sub-characters, each with their own meaning. The first sub-character is the symbol for field. Underneath is the Chinese symbol for strength. Combining them into one character shows another Chinese outlook, this time involving men: The strength in the field is a man." Chinese characters for man and woman play an important role for the modern traveler to China—they show the way to public toilets. Therefore, I stopped cold when I spotted the Chinese character for "Ladies' Room" prominently displayed on a police car door in China. I had no idea that these police cars were so well equipped. I was baffled. The first clue to solving this mystery came from the Chinese character for "Pig." Over thousands of years it's been reduced to a quick series of strokes that are easily recognized by the Chinese reader. At the same time, pig and man became so interdependent in everyday life that the Chinese pictograph for "Home" is the character for "roof placed over a pig. It shows the importance of food in the Chinese mind and lifestyle. The Chinese greet each other, not with "How are you?" but "Have you eaten?" So in China, a pig in a house is a home worth having. As I looked at the police car door, I noticed the same character for "roof was placed above the one for woman. I was on to something! I'd thought the roof was a bit of artwork, so I'd ignored it. Wrong. It is part of a composite Chinese character, but a character for what? Again, my guide came to the rescue. The pictograph of a woman under a roof means "Peace. Life giving Peace." I blinked. I looked back at the police car, and there it was, in plain sight, the Chinese character for peace—a peace officer. The Chinese vision of peace is a woman under a roof, a roof that's part of a home filled with food. Perfect. Another ancient Chinese secret revealed. With just 49,993 characters left to go, I can't wait for my next romantic Chinese "encounter".... Back to TheTraveler.
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