Adeline Yen Mah

For thousands of years, the dragon has been a symbol of the Chinese people. Some Chinese call themselves ‘sons of the dragon’. The dragon is part of the logo of Hong Kong.

Zodiac is translated into Yellow Way Belt in Chinese astronomy. It is an imaginary band of the sky containing the positions of the sun, the moon and the main planets.

However, the Chinese Zodiac is translated from the two characters Sheng Xiao, which mean Living Resemblance. These two words, Sheng Xiao, symbolize the twelve different animals which represent the Chinese Zodiac. People born in the year of the dragon, for instance, are believed to possess the characteristics of a dragon.

The twelve animals are rat , ox , tiger , rabbit , dragon , snake , horse ,ram , monkey , rooster , dog , and pig . These animal years invariably follow one another in this order. For example, the year of the ox is always preceded by the year of the rat and followed by the year of the tiger .

The dragon is one of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. People born in 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 and 2000 were all born in the year of the dragon. Dragon people are energetic, popular, fun-loving, honest and brave. They appear stubborn but are soft-hearted and sensitive. They are most compatible with people born in the year of the Rat , the Snake , the Monkey or the Rooster .

There are many places in China named Nine Dragons. The most famous is probably Kowloon (Nine Dragons) Peninsula across the harbor from Hong Kong Island. The Nine Dragon Wall is a famous wall in the garden of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing.

The dragon was said to have nine children. Each had a different temperament. A musical dragon would adorn a two-stringed Chinese violin; one which was quarrelsome would appear on the handle of a sword; one which was scholarly would be carved on a tombstone; one who liked to jump was placed on the corner of a roof; one which liked to eat would be on chopsticks; one which rode would be on a saddle; one which painted would be on a brush; one which like water would be on the stern of a boat; and one which like to run would decorate shoes.

Announcement From Dr. Mah:
I have had several requests from readers for a guide to help them pronounce Chinese characters in pinyin. I have created this pronunciation guide to assist in learning Chinese for those who are interested. You may find the document here.

- Dr. Adeline Yen Mah

From time to time, I will send you something unique and fascinating about the Chinese language. Today, I want to tell you about Chinese stem words and their modifiers.

In the English language, hyphenated words such as absent-minded or cool-headed are occasionally used. Sometimes, two hyphenated words end up merging together and becoming one word. An example of this is the word land mine evolving from land mine to land-mine to landmine.

Although the hyphen is not used in Chinese, it is very, very common for two words to be placed side by side (like a hyphenated English word) in order to express a third concept.

For example, the two words 地理 when coupled together, mean geography. The word 地 by itself means land and 理 means logic or truth, but put the two words 地理 together and the single combination means geography.

Think of 地 as a stem word and 理 its modifier. Among the many other modifiers of the stem word 地 are the words 雷，球，契 and 址。

Taken individually, the word 雷 means thunder. 球 means ball. 契 means contract. 址 means location. Together, the second word modifies the first word 地 to express a third concept.

Thus

地理 = land logic = geography

地雷 = land thunder = landmine

地球 = land ball = earth

地契 = land contract = title deed

地址 = land location = address

‘Stem word and its modifiers’ forms part of the basic structure of the Chinese language. The stem word is usually the first word and its modifier the second word but not always.

Other examples are the following:

The stem word 电 means electric or electricity. Some of its modifiers are 话 (talk)，灯(lamp)，线 (thread)，脑 (brain)，池 (pond)，影 (shadow).

电话 = electric talk = telephone

电灯 = electric lamp = light

电线 = electric thread = wiring

电脑 = electric brain = computer

电池 = electric pond = battery

电影 = electric shadows = movies

The stem word 小 means small. Some of its modifiers are 便 (convenient), 产 (lay eggs, birth), 学 (learn), 气 (spiritual energy), 吃 (eat).

小便 = little convenience = urinate

小产 = little birth = miscarriage

小学 = little learning = primary school

小 气 = little energy = stingy

小 吃 = little eats = snack

There are numerous other examples of stem words and their modifiers. They form part of the basic structure of the Chinese language.