By Qianyi Gao, Confucius Institute at Saint Mary’s University & Donghua University
作者：加拿大圣玛丽大学孔子学院、中国东华大学高倩艺

你去过中国吗？你觉得在中国或西方的唐人街，什么令你印象最深刻？“人很多”，“人们喜欢红色” “很多汉字”……在众多回答中，“汉字”，一定名列前茅。

是的，你在中国（或日本）或唐人街随处可见到汉字：商店招牌上，公共场所内，各种仪式上……，我们将分四期探讨汉字（或曰kanji）这个神秘的文化传承。本期介绍汉字的概况，重点说说汉字的独特属性及其发展成书法文化的缘由。

先说说汉字的独特属性。西方人最先被吸引的可能是汉字的外形。大多数西方人都熟悉表音的拉丁字母，而每个中国字似乎又不像只是一个字母，它们看上去要比一个一个字母复杂。没错，是这样！

如果说只是为了表音，那么汉字被当作表音符号也是可能的。历史上，汉字传入日本后有一段时间，曾经做为记录日语语音的工具。另外，汉字的字音也会被借来表达外国人名、地名，或者日常生活的声音。例如，麦克（maike），是音译的Mike; 巴黎（bali），指Paris; 汪汪（wangwang），模仿狗叫的声音。

所以，汉字是一个个表音符号，却不仅仅只是表音符号。当中国人或熟悉汉字的人看到一个汉字，那个字的意义信息会同时传递过来。与听觉获得信息的拉丁文不同，除了听觉，中国字的意义信息还通过字形识别，也就是视觉，来获得。前面提到的麦（mai），意思是“麦子”，但另一个（mai）可能是“出售”（卖）。二者虽然有相同的声音，但字符不同。不同的字符，通常表达的是完全不同的含义。因此，一个字符同时携带它的声音和它的意义。这是汉字与拉丁文字最显著的区别。

下面说说书法。与拉丁文和世界上其他文字一样，汉字形成体系后它得到了永生，成为人们生活中不可或缺的工具。在使用这个工具时，人们逐渐让写字的行为发展成了一种文化：这就是中国书法。

汉字发展成书法基于两个要素。其一是书写工具。传统的书写工具有毛笔，墨和宣纸。毛笔用来书写的部分由动物毛制成，它能吸放墨汁，富有弹性。墨汁中水的成分很高，也能一瞬间被毛笔吸走，但遇到宣纸时又能瞬间被释放出来。书写者通过练习可以自由控制水墨的释放过程，这个过程制造了千变万化具有个性的书法作品。也就是说，一幅书法作品除了文字本身的意义外，还透露出书写者的个性，书写时的情绪等。

使写字成为书法创作的另一个要素是字符的结构。字符的结构可以通过构件的数量和方向来分析。大多数汉字由三个以上的点和线构成，这些点和线被称作“笔画”。很多字的笔画数都超过十画。笔画可以是水平的，或垂直的，或斜的。比如说，点有横点，斜点等。所有的笔画都有头有尾，可以看出运笔的方向。比如说，点通常不是圆形的，你看得出它的首尾。笔画较多以及笔画具有方向性，为书写发展成书法提供了基础。

以上简单介绍了汉字的独特属性及其发展成书法文化的缘由。汉字对学习者来说是一种挑战，但它对中国文化来说，是一份赐予。今后我们将继续汉字的话题，探索汉字文化的无穷魅力。(完)

Have you ever been to China? What impressed you the most in China or china town in western countries? “Lots of people”, “Lots of red”, or “Unique Chinese characters”…  Among many responses, you must be very impressed with Chinese characters.

Yes, you will see Chinese characters everywhere if you travel around China (or Japan): on shop signs, in public places, at various ceremonies…and we are going to talk about this amazing cultural legacy. This article explores the nature of the Chinese character (or “kanji”) and its development to Chinese calligraphy.

Most westerners are usually most impressed by the appearance of Chinese characters. They are more familiar with the phonetic Latin alphabet. However, Chinese characters seem much more complicated. And that is true!

Unlike the Latin alphabet, Chinese characters are like logograms. That was the time when the characters were borrowed to Japan. In a period of time, Chinese characters represented the pronunciation of Japanese words. In modern Chinese, characters can be used just for pronunciation when there is a need to imitate foreign names or sounds. For example, the combination of the two characters, like麦克(maike)，means Mike, 巴黎（bali）refers to Paris and 汪汪 (wangwang) mimics the sound of dog barking.

Yet each Chinese character contains both a sound and a specific meaning. Take 麦(mai) for example, which in this character it means “wheat”, but another  “mai”  which is written differently but pronounces the same could mean “sell”(卖).  In Chinese, even two characters have the same sound, the usually have very different meanings. Therefore, a Chinese character inherits both sound and meaning, an essential difference from the Latin alphabet.

Let’s now look at Chinese calligraphy. Like Latin and other scripts, the Chinese characters earned an eternal life after they had formed its own writing system, and later became an indispensable tool in people’s lives. When people use this tool, the behaviour of writing has gradually developed into a culture. This is the birth of Chinese calligraphy.

One of the factors on which the development of Chinese calligraphy is based are writing tools.  Brush, ink and rice paper are the traditional writing tools. Brush is made ​​from animal hair which can absorb and release ink. Ink is water-based and can be easily absorbed. When a brush full of ink meets the rice paper, the ink is released to the rice paper. With enough exercise, the writer can control the amount of releasing moment by moment. The express from the brush to the paper can amazingly record the inner motion of the composer. And thus, when the work is completed, it tells the story, the personality and the emotion of the writer.

The other element that transforms Chinese writing an art is the structure of a character. The structure can be analyzed by the amount and the direction of the fractions. Most Chinese characters are made of more than three dots and lines, known as “stroke”. Many characters have more than ten strokes. The strokes can be horizontal, vertical or slanted. For example, the dots are usually not round in shape. You can recognize its direction. All the strokes have heads and tails to show how and where the composer stresses and how the direction goes. Even the dots have heads and tails. The complication of the structure of a character makes it a basis in becoming an art.

Chinese characters set a challenge for learners; yet they are a bless for the diversity of Chinese culture. In the next few issues, we will continue the topic of Chinese characters and to explore the endless charm of kanji culture. (End）