UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY OF CHINESE CHARACTERS

For Chinese language learners，especially for students whose native languages are non-character-based，Chinese characters have always been an exciting challenge. 

Most Chinese characters are compounds consisting of a semantic radical indicating semantic category and a phonetic radical indicating the pronunciation of the character. These radicals or components are called the “building blocks of Chinese”. Some of them are evolved from the oracle bone inscriptions which are pictographs. It is easier for younger learners to accept and understand the whole character if they can “see” the meaning of the component. 

Therefore, to boost students’ interest in learning Chinese and help them overcome the fear of complex characters, we start by sharing the origin and stories of Chinese characters. By introducing a famous Chinese legend “Cang Jie created Chinese characters”, students can gain a basic understanding of how the original shapes of Chinese characters（oracle bone inscriptions）came from, and how they express their meaning. By comparing the original oracle bone inscriptions with simplified characters, students can understand how Chinese characters evolved step by step to what they are today.

When students understand the origin of Chinese characters, they unravel the mystery of Chinese characters. Inspired learning!