Learning Chinese Writing Symbols for Kids

In China, there are more than 3,000 dialects of Chinese being spoken; however, Chinese writing symbols are all the same across the regions. So people from different provinces in China speak different dialects, but use the same written language.

Chinese writing characters go back more than 3,000 years. The symbols began as pictures. Pictures were drawn to resemble the items they represented.

Some Popular Chinese Characters and Their Evolution
WATER				SHUI
SUN				RI
MOUNTAIN				SHAN
RAIN				YU

A standard set of characters to be used throughout the Middle Kingdom emerged in 221 B.C. when China was unified for the first time, and the first Emperor Qin, issued that the same symbols should be used by all.

In ancient China, students had to memorize many pictures or characters each week and used brushes and ink to paint the "words".

We only have to learn the 26 letters in the alphabet to be able to read and write. Imagine trying to memorize hundreds even thousands of pictures in order to be able to read and write...

Chinese character writing is done in columns, from top to bottom and from right to left. So you start writing in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Some Simple Chinese Characters for You to Try

Characters for Chinese New Year Banners: Make your own Good Luck Messages for the New Year!

Learn to write the Numbers in Chinese.

How about Chinese Names? What is your Chinese Name? Visit Ding's site Great Chinese Names and find out about the art and the science of selecting a great Chinese Name and the different ways to translate your name to a meaningful Chinese Name.

Fun with Chinese Characters 1
(Straits Times Collection Vol. 1)
$10.17

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