Chinese characters are one of the oldest scripts in the world and have a history of more than 6,000 years. From ancient times to the present, the influence of Chinese characters on the cultures of neighboring countries has been enormous, and a Chinese character cultural circle that uses Chinese characters has long been formed. Chinese characters are also the treasures of the Chinese nation, people's lifelong mentors and friends, but also the link of the national soul and the spiritual home of everyone.
In a foreign country, whether it is studying abroad or making a living, Chinese characters are a kind of sustenance. Nowadays Chinese sentiments have been condensed into the simplest horizontal and vertical skimming, and overseas, whether successful or wandering, as long as you see Chinese characters, you can get comfort. At present, Chinese character culture is sweeping the world, and with the arrival of the 2022 New Year, many countries have announced the annual Chinese characters.
Many countries that use Chinese characters, such as China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore. The Kanji of the Year is a summary of the past year, and it is also an expectation of the new year. It is also a selection event for regions that use Chinese characters. The annual Kanji selection originated in 1995 by the Japan Kanji Proficiency Appraisal Association, and the selected Japanese Kanji of the Year is generally written down by the abbot of Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Japan and displayed in the temple for a year. Due to the characteristics of beautiful Chinese characters, high recognition, conciseness and meaning, it can highly summarize the focus of the year.
This article was originally published in the 189th issue of Study Abroad Magazine
Reporter_Zheng Nan
Edit_Liu Yu
Design_Liu Shiyue
#01
Japan – the word "gold" for the fourth time
Japan announced the annual Kanji as "gold", and the choice of "jin" is a summary of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, also symbolizes the gold medal, and expresses expectations for economic recovery after the epidemic, which is the fourth time that the golden character has become Japan's annual Kanji. What's even more interesting is that the golden character became the annual Chinese character in the Olympic year, which also shows a pun. The gold medal symbolizes good results and reflects the encouragement given to them by the Japanese people in the new year.
In Japan, people are impressed by the scene of Chinese characters everywhere in the streets. When you go to Japan, even if you don't know Japanese, you don't know English, you can't communicate, and there is one last way to talk. Japanese kanji came from China and dates back more than a thousand years. The Kanji Museum in Tokyo, Japan, records the history of Kanji and contains a very detailed explanation of Kanji. After the Kanji came to Japan, it evolved and was converted into Japanese Kanji by the Japanese. There is a word in Japanese called "Manyo Kana", which is a Kanji that was used in Japan at that time. After the Japaneseization of Kanji, Japan used two pronunciations, training and pronunciation, and by the Heian period, that is, from the 9th century to the 12th century, Japan gave birth to its own hiragana and katakana. For example, when the protected "保" character becomes a katakana, it is written "ホ", and it can be seen that they are very similar in shape, because these are derived from Kanji. Japan also attaches great importance to the education of Chinese characters. Elementary school students Chinese course from the first day of school to learn Chinese characters, need to master 2,000 commonly used Chinese characters. There is also a Kanji Verification Test in Japan, where you have to learn 6,000 Kanji at the first level.
Japan's kanji of the year is a very important event at the end of the year, and the word chosen represents the social phenomenon of Japan during the year. From 1995 to the present, Japan's annual Kanji selection campaign has a history of 25 years, and every year the general public votes to select the Kanji of the year according to the number of votes. It can be seen that Japan loves and attaches great importance to Chinese characters.
At Kyoto's famous Kiyomizu-dera Temple, the abbot writes down the Kanji of the year and feels like the year is over. In the face of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020, Japan, like other countries, advocates the rejection of the "three secrets", that is, confined spaces, crowded places, and close contact, so the word "secret" is selected to represent the epidemic. In 2019, Japan entered the Reiwa era, and Emperor Naruhito took the throne, electing the word "Rei". In 2018, there were many natural disasters such as the Hokkaido earthquake in Japan, torrential rains and typhoons, and the word "disaster" was chosen. In 2017, it was disturbed by the situation in North Korea and the peninsula, because North Korea is called North Korea in Japan, so the word "North" was chosen. In 2016, Japan won several gold medals at the Rio Olympics to set new record, and the word "gold" was selected. The passage of the Security Law in 2015 is a major event in Japan, and the word "An" was chosen.
#02
Singapore and Malaysia – the word "hope" coincides
The selection of Chinese characters of the year, represented by Japan in East Asia, spread to Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore's annual Chinese character selection, the "Character Narrative Year" campaign, began in 2011, when singaporeans elected the word "up", representing the singaporean people's beautiful vision for the coming year in the face of inflation and a general economic downturn. After that, the annual Chinese characters selected are "color", "haze", "chaos", "yao", "change" and "fear". On 15 December 2021, Singapore announced that the annual Chinese character is "pan". The word "hope" was chosen because many people originally thought that the new crown pneumonia epidemic could disappear as quickly as SARS, but they did not expect that 2021 would not end for a whole year, and countless people hoped that the epidemic would pass as soon as possible. In addition, the epidemic has tightened the entry and exit policies of various countries, and many Chinese look forward to returning to their hometowns in China to visit relatives and reunite with their families in the new year. At the same time, it also reflects the mood of Singaporeans who hope for a better economy and the advent of more effective vaccines.
Malaysia's annual Chinese character selection also began in 2011, when the selection of the word "turn" represents the review and expression of malaysians, especially the Chinese community, since 2010. In the following years, the Chinese characters are "change", "rise", "navigation", "bitterness", "greed", "road", "deception" and "epidemic". On 19 December 2021, Malaysia announced the annual Chinese character for "pan", which coincides with Singapore. Wu Tianquan, president of the Malaysian Chinese City Hall, said that the word "hope" shows the people's expectations and hopes for political stability, epidemic prevention and control, and economic recovery as soon as possible. The person in charge of the selection organizer said that Chinese characters are the genes of Chinese culture, and the continuous annual Chinese character selection reflects Malaysia's efforts to promote Chinese in the world, hoping to make Chinese culture "shine" in Malaysia through the annual Chinese character selection.
#03
The United States and France – the words "up" and "boiling", respectively
In recent years, not only Asian countries have carried out annual Chinese character selection activities, but also Europe and the United States have gradually begun to pay attention. Li Yuming, president of the Chinese Dictionary Society, said that North America is forming a distinctive New Chinese language, and Europe is also expected to form a new variant of Chinese. He also said that the phenomenon of "breaking the circle" in the annual Chinese character selection in Europe and the United States is closely related to the improvement of the social status of local Chinese, the international application of the Chinese and the improvement of international influence, and the increasingly important role played by China on the world stage.
The Good Characters website in Los Angeles announced the annual Chinese character as "up". It is understood that the reason for choosing the word "up" is that the United States is experiencing the biggest inflation since 1990, with commodity prices rising, and at the same time experiencing a supply chain crisis, with more than sixty ships lining up in U.S. ports. Of course, the word "up" also represents a blessing for the economic rise after the epidemic subsides in the new year. Speaking of the United States, it is necessary to mention the American sinologist Richard Sears, born in Oregon, he is fascinated by the study of Chinese characters, in 2002 Uncle Hanzi created the world's largest public Chinese character etymology database "Chinese Characters and Etymology" website. After ten years of unremitting efforts, Uncle Hanzi finally got the coveted Chinese green card at the end of 2020, and he also said that with it, he can rest assured to continue to study Chinese characters, and he will strive to break the "cultural boundary" in the future, promote Exchanges between China and the West, and share Chinese character stories with more people.
On December 23, 2021, the social platform of European Chinese radio announced that the Annual Chinese Character in France is "boiling". It represents the endurance, persistence and tolerance that should be expected in modern society, and at the same time expresses the state of the French people facing the epidemic under the current spread of the new variant virus. In fact, the enthusiasm for learning Chinese characters in France has not diminished. According to the French sinologist Bai Lesang, France is the first country in the world to teach Chinese as a foreign language, dating back to the first French Chinese teacher appointed in Paris in 1814. The Sinology community in France has experienced the early Jesuit missionaries and the modern Enlightenment, and now more and more people are interested in Chinese characters. Bai Lesang founded Hanbyte, hoping to emulate the model of the French music festival, with the goal of attracting public participation, promoting Chinese characters from Paris to the provinces, and projecting Chinese characters on the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, so that Hanbyte can truly become a popular festival and give all French people the opportunity to appreciate the charm of Chinese characters.
In summary, it can be seen that there are obvious regional differences in the annual Chinese character selection, and the annual Chinese characters selected in various places reflect the social reality and social mentality of various places. In addition to the above countries have successively announced the annual Chinese characters, the mainland has also announced the annual Chinese characters. On December 20, 2021, the unveiling ceremony of the "Chinese Inventory" was held in Beijing. "Governance" and "Centenary of the Founding of the Party" were elected as the annual domestic words, "epidemic" and "meta-universe" were elected as the annual international words, and the annual top ten Internet terms, top ten buzzwords and top ten new words were also announced. It aims to use beautiful Chinese characters to describe, summarize and comment on China and the world in that year, and encourage people to use language to record living conditions and social changes.
The annual Chinese characters summarize the year, send a message to look forward to the New Year, as a mass cultural phenomenon, describe the world and the world, and inspire people's determination to protect the language ecology and protect the spiritual homeland.
"The nation is more of the world", Chinese characters are the cultural treasures and spiritual wealth left by the ancestors of the Chinese nation to the people of the world. With the increasingly close international cultural exchanges, many overseas Chinese, as the most important users of Chinese characters living in china, actively act as the inheritors and disseminators of Chinese culture, and the annual Chinese character selection also reflects the historical development process of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese groups actively integrating into local society. In this regard, Chinese characters are Chinese, overseas Chinese, and the world. The content of the annual Chinese characters is expressed by overseas Chinese and local people.
One of the influences of the annual Chinese character phenomenon is also reflected in the fact that the preservation of Chinese culture by overseas Chinese and Chinese also promotes the development of local culture. I believe that Chinese students studying overseas are no exception, and no matter where they are in, as long as they see the Chinese symbol - square characters, they will feel the concern and warmth from the motherland at that moment, which attracts them like a magnet, giving them strength and encouragement.
Source: Study Abroad Magazine No. 189, the picture comes from the Internet, such as invasion and deletion.
Reporter: Zheng Nan
Producer: Li Xuan
Editor-in-charge: Yang Dongni