The Nature of Chinese Character: Gifts from the Earth

by Barbara Aria, Lesley Ehlers (Illustrator), Russell Eng Gon (Contributor)

In the best-selling tradition of The Spirit of the Chinese Character comes a beautiful companion, The Nature of the Chinese Character. Masterfully crafted earthly symbols are displayed throughout these rich, colorful pages--from sky and wind to water and sand. Each is accompanied by a graceful drawing illustrating the organic form that inspired the calligraphic representation and an enlightening description of the meaning, lore, and construction of the character. At once an inquiry into centuries of thought and a paean to the oldest functional art form, The Nature of the Chinese Character is exquisite in its own right-an elegant keepsake that both informs and enchants

Genres: China, Language, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Bethany Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 2001, this book is beautifully designed and gracefully written. It would make a peaceful coffee table type embellishment. To a student of the Chinese language though, it will be somewhat disappointing. The transliterations of the character sounds contain no tone markings and are often written in non-Pinyin forms, making them almost useless in terms of oral/audio practice.

On the whole, I would agree with what is written in terms of introducing the history of the Chiense language, though a few minor things differ from what my language teachers in/from China have told me. I enjoyed the mythology, which was quite standard, but beautifully written.

This is an art book, and in that it does well. It is not a language book, which is what I thought it would be when I held it at the library.

[Winterwhisper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, fascinating look at the history of Chinese Calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy is a poetic art reflecting the natural world. I just love the insight I got from this book!

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple list of characters documented--which is a bit disappointing. What's helpful is the history at the start and the many different meanings that are related to the root character. Makes an easy to copy set of characters.