“few.” The character 小 represents 八 bā “eight” made “smaller” by a vertical line (丨) that divides the character into two parts. Contrast 小 and 六 liù (7).
Reading Exercises (Simplified and Traditional Characters)
Now practice reading the new characters and words for this lesson in context. Be sure to refer to the Notes at the end of this lesson, and make use of the accompanying audio disc to hear and practice correct pronunciation, phrasing, and intonation.
A. TWO-CHARACTER PERSONAL NAMES
Read out loud the following personal names, each of which consists of a surname followed by a one-syllable given name.
一、何文
二、李京
三、王文
四、李明
五、林山
六、王生
七、文山
八、林中
B. THREE-CHARACTER PERSONAL NAMES
Read out loud the following personal names, each of which consists of a surname followed by a two-syllable given name.
一、李大一
二、林台生
三、王小文
四、何明明
五、王京生
六、文大中
七、何小山
八、李大林
九、林明生
十、李小明
C. PLACE NAMES
Read out loud each of the following place names.
一、台山
二、北京
三、台中
四、台北
D. CHARACTER DIFFERENTIATION DRILLS
Distinguish carefully the following similar-looking characters, pronouncing each one out loud and thinking of its meaning.
一、六 六 六 文 文 文
二、文 文 文 六 六 六
三、王 王 王 生 生 生
四、生 生 生 王 王 王
五、小 小 小 六 六 六
六、六 六 六 小 小 小
七、小 小 六 六 文 文
Notes
B2. When choosing personal names, Chinese people sometimes choose names that describe some aspect of a person. Consider the name 林台生; the character 台 can stand for Taiwan and 生 means “be born.” Thus, 林台生 could mean “a person with the family name 林 who was born in Taiwan.”
B5. Look carefully at the name 王京生. Keeping in mind note B2 above and the fact that the literal meaning of the character 京 is “capital” (which refers to 北京), what do you think 王京生 could mean?
Entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The characters on the left mean “Long live the People’s Republic of China”; the characters on the right mean “Long live the great unity of the world’s peoples.”
UNIT B
People, Places, Streets, and Roads
COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES
Once you’ve mastered this unit, you’ll be able to use Chinese to read and write:
1. More Chinese surnames: “An,” “Du,” “Jin,” “Lu,” “Nan.”
2. More Chinese personal names: “Antian,” “Guanghai,” “Haiwen,” “Xiaochuan,” “Tianhu,” etc.
3. More place names in mainland China and Taiwan: “Chengdu,” “Guangzhou,” “Hong Kong,” “Nanjing,” “Shanghai,” “Taitung,” “Tainan,” “Tianjin,” “Xian.”
4. The names of a number of Chinese provinces: “Guangdong,” “Guangxi,” “Hainan,” “Hebei,” “Henan,” “Hubei,” “Hunan,” “Shandong,” “Shanxi,” “Sichuan.”
5. The names of two important Japanese cities that are written with Chinese characters: “Tokyo,” “Kyoto.”
6. People’s places of origin: “native of Beijing,” “native of Guangdong,” “native of Taiwan,” etc.
7. Names of roads, streets, and avenues: “Tianjin East Road,” “Zhongshan South Road,” “Chengdu Street,” “Tianjin Avenue,” etc.
PART 1
Personal Names, Place Names, People and Their Places of Origin
New Characters and Words
Study the six characters below and the common words written with them, paying careful attention to each character’s pronunciation, meaning, and structure, as well as similar-looking characters. After you’ve studied a character, turn to the Practice Book volume and practice writing it on the practice sheet, making sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction as you pronounce it out loud and think of its meaning.
| 25 | 上 | shàng | above |
| The radical, located at the very bottom of the character, is 一 yī (1), which here represents a base. The two strokes “above” that base signify “above.” | |||
| 26 | 海 | hăi | ocean, sea |
| Radical is 水 shuĭ “water.” Notice that this radical is written 氵 and is referred to colloquially as 三点水 (三點水) sāndiăn shuĭ “three drops of water” when it occurs at the left-hand side of a character. The other component is 每 mĕi “each.” | |||
| 上海 | Shànghăi | Shanghai [PW] | |
| 27 | 广(廣) | guăng | broad |
| Radical is 广 yăn “eaves” [BF]. This radical is referred to colloquially as 广字头 (廣字頭) guăngzìtóu “top made up of the character 广.” Phonetic is 黃 huáng “yellow.” 广 (廣) can itself serve as a phonetic, e.g., in 矿 (礦) kuàng as in 煤矿 (煤礦) méikuàng “coal mine.” | |||
| 28 | 州 | zhōu | state, district |
| Radical is 川
|