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1. No one knows a son better than the father
3. My Son
4. John 3:16
5. Prince
7. Empress
8. Undaunted After Repeated Setbacks
9. Tiger Rumor
知子莫若父 can be translated as “No one knows a son better than his father.”
This idiom is based on the idea that after spending many years together, family members know everything about each other. Better than anyone else, a father knows the qualities and shortcomings of his son.
If you are looking for something about “father and son,” this is probably the best selection.
While this is the original proverb (very old), others have been composed about various combinations of mothers, sons, daughters, and fathers. Let me know if you need a custom version.
長男 is a Chinese, old Korean Hanja and Japanese Kanji title for eldest son (may be the only son), firstborn son.
This can also be the Japanese personal name “Nobuo.”
王子 is prince in Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji.
If you look at the meaning of each character, the first means king, and the second means son (or child). Thus, “King's Son,” “Son of the King,” or “King's Child” is the literal meaning of this title.
祖先崇拜 means “Appreciation and honor of your ancestors.”
This can refer to anyone from your grandparents and beyond.
The first two characters mean ancestors or forefathers.
The last two characters mean worship, adore/adoration, or admiration.
This is the kind of wall scroll that a filial son or daughter in China or Japan would hang to honor their ancestors who paved the way for the new generation.
Japanese use a slight variation on the last Kanji. If you want this specifically Japanese version, just click on the Kanji image to the right (instead of the button above). Note that Japanese people would easily be able to identify the original Chinese form of that Kanji anyway.
They also have a similar phrase in old Korean but the first two characters are reversed - just let me know if you want that version when you place your order.
皇后 is the title of empress/emperess, the female form of the emperor.
皇后 is used in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
While the emperor's reign was for life, if he died, his wife would hold his power. In this case, a woman was the ultimate ruler of the greater part of East Asia (now China) until her death and the succession of the emperor's firstborn son to lead the empire. Numerous times in various Chinese dynasties, an empress took power in this way.
The first character means emperor by itself.
The second character alone can mean “wife of an emperor or king” (the first character clarifies that we are talking about an empress and not a queen). It can also mean sovereign or last offspring, depending on context.
Note: In some books, this word is translated as queen. While only incorrect if you get technical (because an empress is theoretically a higher level than a queen), the meaning is very similar.
皇后 is sometimes used for the title of queen, but more technically, this is the wife of the emperor (a higher level than a queen).
Persistence to overcome all challenges
百折不撓 is a Chinese proverb that means “Be undaunted in the face of repeated setbacks.”
More directly translated, it reads, “[Overcome] a hundred setbacks, without flinching.” 百折不撓 is of Chinese origin but is commonly used in Japanese and somewhat in Korean (same characters, different pronunciation).
This proverb comes from a long, and occasionally tragic story of a man that lived sometime around 25-220 AD. His name was Qiao Xuan, and he never stooped to flattery but remained an upright person at all times. He fought to expose the corruption of higher-level government officials at great risk to himself.
Then when he was at a higher level in the Imperial Court, bandits were regularly capturing hostages and demanding ransoms. But when his own son was captured, he was so focused on his duty to the Emperor and the common good that he sent a platoon of soldiers to raid the bandits' hideout, and stop them once and for all even at the risk of his own son's life. While all of the bandits were arrested in the raid, they killed Qiao Xuan's son at first sight of the raiding soldiers.
Near the end of his career, a new Emperor came to power, and Qiao Xuan reported to him that one of his ministers was bullying the people and extorting money from them. The new Emperor refused to listen to Qiao Xuan and even promoted the corrupt Minister. Qiao Xuan was so disgusted that in protest, he resigned from his post as minister (something almost never done) and left for his home village.
His tombstone reads “Bai Zhe Bu Nao” which is now a proverb used in Chinese culture to describe a person of strong will who puts up stubborn resistance against great odds.
My Chinese-English dictionary defines these 4 characters as “keep on fighting despite all setbacks,” “be undaunted by repeated setbacks,” and “be indomitable.”
Our translator says it can mean “never give up” in modern Chinese.
Although the first two characters are translated correctly as “repeated setbacks,” the literal meaning is “100 setbacks” or “a rope that breaks 100 times.” The last two characters can mean “do not yield” or “do not give up.”
Most Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people will not take this absolutely literal meaning but will instead understand it as the title suggests above. If you want a single big word definition, it would be indefatigability, indomitableness, persistence, or unyielding.
See Also: Tenacity | Fortitude | Strength | Perseverance | Persistence
These four characters together relay the meaning that can be expressed in English as “When three people say there's a tiger running in the street, you believe it.”
Of course, there is an ancient story behind this idiom...
三人成虎 is actually a proverb that resulted from a conversation that occurred around 300 B.C.
The conversation was between the king of the Wei kingdom and one of the king's ministers named Pang Cong.
It was near the end of one of many wars, this time with the Zhao kingdom. Pang Cong was to be sent by the king to the Zhao kingdom with the king's son, who was to be held hostage. It was common at the time for a king to make his son a hostage to secure stable peace between warring kingdoms.
Before minister Pang Cong departed, he asked his king, “If one person told you a tiger was running in the street, would you believe it?.”
“No,” the king said.
The minister continued, “What if two people told you?”
The king replied, “Well, I would have my doubts but I might believe it.”
The minister continued, “So, what if three people told you that a tiger is running in the streets?”
The king replied, “Yes, I would believe it. It must be true if three people say it.”
The minister then reminded the king, “Your son and I are now traveling far away to live in the distant Zhao kingdom - much farther from your palace than the street. Rumors may fly about me in my absence, so I hope your majesty will weight such rumors appropriately.”
The king replied, “I have every trust in you, do not worry”
While the minister was gone, the king's enemies gossiped about minister Pang Cong on many occasions. At first, the king thought nothing of these comments and rumors. But slowly, as the rumors mounted, the king began to suspect ill of his minister.
Sometime later, when peace was well-established, the minister and prince were freed and returned to the kingdom of Wei. The king received his son BUT DID NOT EVEN SUMMON MINISTER PANG CONG TO THE PALACE!
Hopefully, this story will help you see how dangerous words can be when used to promote rumors or create ill will. And perhaps will inspire you not to believe everything you hear.
There is also a secondary suggestion in this idiom that gossip is as ferocious as a tiger. Some Chinese people who don't know the ancient story above may believe that this scroll means that rumors are as vicious as three tigers.
Note: This proverb appears in my Korean dictionary but is not well-known in Korea.
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
No one knows a son better than the father | 知子莫若父 | zhī zǐ mò ruò fù zhi1 zi3 mo4 ruo4 fu4 zhi zi mo ruo fu zhizimoruofu | chih tzu mo jo fu chihtzumojofu |
|
First Born Son | 長男 长男 | chounan / chonan | zhǎng nán zhang3 nan2 zhang nan zhangnan | chang nan changnan |
My Son | 我兒 我儿 | wǒ ér / wo3 er2 / wo er / woer | wo erh / woerh | |
John 3:16 (first half) | 神愛世人甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們 神爱世人甚至将他的独生子赐给他们 | shén ài shì rén shèn zhì jiāng tā de dú shēng zǐ cì gè tā mén shen2 ai4 shi4 ren2 shen4 zhi4 jiang1 ta1 de du2 sheng1 zi3 ci4 gei3 ta1 men2 shen ai shi ren shen zhi jiang ta de du sheng zi ci gei ta men | shen ai shih jen shen chih chiang t`a te tu sheng tzu tz`u kei t`a men shen ai shih jen shen chih chiang ta te tu sheng tzu tzu kei ta men |
|
Prince | 王子 | ou ji / ouji / o ji | wáng zǐ / wang2 zi3 / wang zi / wangzi | wang tzu / wangtzu |
Honor for Ancestors | 祖先崇拜 祖先崇拜 / 祖先崇拝 | so sen suu hai sosensuuhai so sen su hai | zǔ xiān chóng bài zu3 xian1 chong2 bai4 zu xian chong bai zuxianchongbai | tsu hsien ch`ung pai tsuhsienchungpai tsu hsien chung pai |
Empress | 皇后 | kou gou / kougou / ko go | huáng hòu huang2 hou4 huang hou huanghou | |
Undaunted After Repeated Setbacks | 百折不撓 百折不挠 | hyaku setsu su tou hyakusetsusutou hyaku setsu su to | bǎi zhé bù náo bai3 zhe2 bu4 nao2 bai zhe bu nao baizhebunao | pai che pu nao paichepunao |
Tiger Rumor | 三人成虎 | sān rén chéng hǔ san1 ren2 cheng2 hu3 san ren cheng hu sanrenchenghu | san jen ch`eng hu sanjenchenghu san jen cheng hu |
|
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as First Son Kanji, First Son Characters, First Son in Mandarin Chinese, First Son Characters, First Son in Chinese Writing, First Son in Japanese Writing, First Son in Asian Writing, First Son Ideograms, Chinese First Son symbols, First Son Hieroglyphics, First Son Glyphs, First Son in Chinese Letters, First Son Hanzi, First Son in Japanese Kanji, First Son Pictograms, First Son in the Chinese Written-Language, or First Son in the Japanese Written-Language.