Mountain Asian in Chinese / Japanese...

山 is the Chinese character, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja for mountain.

亞洲 is the Chinese name for the continent of Asia, the Far East, and refers to all things Asian or Asiatic.

See Also:  China | Singapore | Hong Kong | Taiwan | Japan | Vietnam | Korea | Mongolia | India | Pakistan | Iran | Iraq | Saudi Arabia

亜細亜 is the Japanese name for the continent of Asia, the Far East, and refers to all things Asian or Asiatic.

See Also:  China | Singapore | Hong Kong | Taiwan | Japan | Vietnam | Korea | Mongolia | India | Pakistan | Iran | Iraq | Saudi Arabia

東方自尊 is the universal way to write “Asian Pride.”

We worked on this one for a long time. The effort involved both Chinese and Japanese translators and lengthy discussions. If you have been searching for this term, there is a reason that it's hard to find the way to write “Asian Pride” in Chinese and Japanese - it's because of the inherent difficulties in figuring out a universal combination of characters that can be read in all languages that use forms of Chinese characters.

This final solution that you see to the left creates a reasonable title in Chinese and an exotic (perhaps unusual) title in Japanese (This could be read as “Eastern Self-Respect” in Japanese”).
Although not as natural, it does have the same meaning as Korean Hanja, and the older generation of Vietnamese people will be able to read it.

The first two characters literally mean “Oriental” and the second two mean “pride,” “self-esteem,” or “self-respect” (we chose the most non-arrogant way to say “pride”). If you have “Asian Pride” (sometimes spelled Asian Pryde) these are the characters for you.

Note: For those who wonder, there is nothing technically wrong with the word “Oriental.” It is a correct word, and any bad meanings were created by so-called “Asian Americans” and Caucasians in the United States. To say “Asian” would not completely correct the intended meaning since that would include people from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, India, and portions of Russia.

For further proof, if you were of East Asian ancestry and born in England, you would be known as a “British Oriental” (The “Oriental stigma” is basically an American creation and, therefore, applies mainly to the American English language - where they get a bit overzealous with political correctness).

Further, since the Chinese and Japanese word for Oriental is not English, they can not be construed as having ill meaning. On one trip to China or Japan, you will find many things titled with these two characters, such as malls, buildings, and business names. These places also use “Oriental” as their English title (much as we do since our Chinese business name starts with these same two characters).

In short, the first two characters have the meaning that Americans attach to “Asian” but is more technically correct.

山高水長 is a Chinese idiom that means “high as the mountain and long as the river.”

It figuratively means “noble and far-reaching.”

Not sure this is valid or commonly used in Korean. It probably was borrowed into Korean a few hundred years ago but is obscure now.

This poem was written almost 1200 years ago during the Tang dynasty.

It depicts traveling up a place known as Cold Mountain, where some hearty people have built their homes. The traveler is overwhelmed by the beauty of the turning leaves of the maple forest that surrounds him just as night overtakes the day, and darkness prevails. His heart implores him to stop, and take in all of the beauty around him.

First, before you get to the full translation, I must tell you that Chinese poetry is a lot different than what we have in the west. Chinese words simply don't rhyme in the same way that English or other western languages do. Chinese poetry depends on rhythm and a certain beat of repeated numbers of characters.

I have done my best to translate this poem keeping a certain feel of the original poet. But some of the original beauty of the poem in its original Chinese will be lost in translation.

Far away on Cold Mountain, a stone path leads upwards.
Among white clouds, people's homes reside.
Stopping my carriage I must, as to admire the maple forest at nights fall.
In awe of autumn leaves showing more red than even flowers of early spring.

Hopefully, this poem will remind you to stop, and “take it all in” as you travel through life.
The poet's name is “Du Mu” in Chinese that is: .
The title of the poem, “Mountain Travels” is:
You can have the title, poet's name, and even “Tang Dynasty” written as an inscription on your custom wall scroll if you like.

More about the poet:

Dumu lived from 803-852 AD and was a leading Chinese poet during the later part of the Tang dynasty.
He was born in Chang'an, a city in central China and the former capital of the ancient Chinese empire in 221-206 BC. In present-day China, his birthplace is currently known as Xi'an, the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.

He was awarded his Jinshi degree (an exam administered by the emperor's court which leads to becoming an official of the court) at the age of 25 and went on to hold many official positions over the years. However, he never achieved a high rank, apparently because of some disputes between various factions, and his family's criticism of the government. His last post in the court was his appointment to the office of Secretariat Drafter.

During his life, he wrote scores of narrative poems, as well as a commentary on the Art of War and many letters of advice to high officials.

His poems were often very realistic and often depicted everyday life. He wrote poems about everything, from drinking beer in a tavern to weepy poems about lost love.

The thing that strikes you most is the fact even after 1200 years, not much has changed about the beauty of nature, toils, and troubles of love and beer drinking.

山莊 is a Chinese word that literally means “mountain villa.”

It can also be translated as a manor house or just a villa. 山莊 is used in hotel names and other fancy titles.

山荘 is a Japanese word that means mountain villa, mountain retreat, or mountain cottage.

This can also be a Japanese surname that romanizes as Yamajou, Yamajo, Sansou, or Sanso.

黃山 is the title for Mt Huang, Yellow mountains, or Huangshan.

This refers to the Mountain(s) in south Anhui, a centuries-old tourist attraction.

This old Buddhist phrase means, “When the sun rises it always shines first on the highest mountain,” or “When the sun appears, it first casts its light upon the highest mountain.”

This comes from the Avatamsaka Sutra and has been used as the name or portion of the name for temples in Japan and sites in China.

The Buddha's first round of teaching (Avatamsaka period) is likened to the time when the sun rises from the east horizon. When the sun first rises it illuminates the high mountains. In this analogy, the high mountains represent the great Bodhisattvas and/or those most ready to receive enlightenment and liberation.

This can be romanized from Japanese as “Nichi shutsu sen shō kō san,” “Nisshutsu saki teru takayama,” or “Hide temazu kōzan wo terasu yama.” The last one is probably the most common. Ask three Japanese people what they think the pronunciation is, and you will get three different opinions.