Chinese Characters in Pictures
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- General readers interested in the origins and evolution of Chinese characters who want a systematic introduction
- Primary and secondary school language teachers and parents, for classroom enrichment or parent-child reading
- Lovers of calligraphy, Chinese painting, and traditional culture, as a bedside book to enjoy text and images together
- Non-specialist readers who want an accessible understanding of Chinese cultural connotations
Not a good fit for
- Professional researchers requiring rigorous philological textual criticism and scholarly annotations
- Readers who prefer dense text-only reading and have little interest in combined text-and-image formats
- Users of reference works seeking character-by-character dictionary lookup organized by radical
Reading tips
- Read the pictographic characters section first to build a basic feel for the evolution of character forms, then move on to associative and compound characters
- For each character, cover the explanation and guess the meaning from the calligraphy or painting first, then check against the text—this leaves a deeper impression
- Read in blocks by thematic character groups, the twelve zodiac animals, and auspicious characters, taking one small section at a time for easier digestion
- In parent-child reading, have the child copy the character forms from the book, drawing while explaining, turning knowledge into a hands-on experience
About the publisher
Founded in 1985, Social Sciences Academic Press (SSAP) is known for its "Pishu" (Blue Book) series, Pishu database, and academic journals, and has long been dedicated to professional academic publishing in the humanities and social sciences. The books in the library cover foreign literature, social sciences, world history, historical reading, politics, and classical poetry. They include cross-cultural works such as The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (3 volumes, centenary commemorative revised edition) and Similar in Form, Different in Essence: What Are the Structural Differences Between Traditional Chinese and Japanese Political Cultures, as well as world history translations such as The Hundred Years War, Volume 1: Trial by Battle (2 volumes) and To End All Wars: Loyalty, Rebellion, and World War I (1914–1918), along with social science and historical studies such as Six Essays on Spontaneity: Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play, The Return of the Fierce General: A New Jiangnan History of Dongting East Mountain, and An Example-Based Guide to the Method of Organizing Tang Poetry Documents. Its authors include Yehuda Amichai, Fu Hao, Ge Zhaoguang, Jonathan Sumption, and Adam Hochschild. Public information is limited, so this introduction focuses on the publishing directions reflected in the library's books.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 作者简介
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- 序言
- FOREWORD
- 象形字 THEPICTOGRAPHICCHARACTER
- 会意字 IDEOGRAPHICCHARACTERS
- 主题字组 COMPOSITEWORDS
- 叠加字 COMPOUNDIDEOGRAPHS（IDENTIEALCOMPONENTS）
- 十二生肖 TWELVEZODIACSIGNS
- 吉祥字 AUSPICIOUSWORDS
- 抄录仓央嘉措诗
FAQ
How is this book different from an ordinary Chinese character dictionary?
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About the author
Pu Yin is an author about whom limited public information is currently available, and whose work falls mainly within the field of culture. One title by this author is included in the collection, namely Hua Shuo Hanzi (Explaining Chinese Characters Through Pictures). Judging from the title and its category, the book approaches the subject of Chinese characters by combining pictures with explanation, presenting character forms, meanings, and cultural context together, and is a cultural reading on Chinese characters intended for general readers. Writing of this kind tends not to pursue rigorous academic argument, but rather uses images alongside commentary to lower the threshold of understanding, allowing readers to grasp the interest of character construction and cultural connotations through direct visual experience. Because materials on Pu Yin's life, identity, and other writings are very limited, it is not possible at present to establish this author's educational background, professional experience, or the full scope of their writing, nor to judge the place of Hua Shuo Hanzi within their personal body of work. On the basis of the available information alone, Pu Yin may be regarded as a writer who takes the popularization of Chinese character culture as a point of entry, and whose work offers readers a path to understanding Chinese characters through both images and text.
