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纍 is a word that means rope, to bind together, or to twist around.
It's also a Chinese surname Lei (one of several versions of Lei).
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
Thread of Lover's Destiny / Fate
This literally translates as “the red string” or “the red thread” in Japanese, but the real meaning is much deeper...
In Japanese culture, it's believed that fate, destiny, or karma joins lovers by an unseen string, tied around one little finger of each. 赤い糸 is how soul mates find and are drawn to each other.
The Japanese concept of the red thread of fate, by most estimations, comes from Chinese folklore, where it's known as 姻緣紅線. The only difference is that in China, the celestial red thread is tied around the ankles of the lovers (versus what is usually represented as the pinky finger in Japan).
姻緣紅線 is the legendary red string of destiny that binds all soul mates or lovers together.
In ancient Chinese culture, a mythological matchmaker named 月老 (Yuè Lǎo) was the controller of the fate that led lovers to meet. He did this by tying a celestial red string to the ankle of each person. Sometime during their life, they will meet and marry as fate dictates.
While the origin of the red string comes from China, it has spread to other parts of Asia (such as Japan, where it's known as 赤い糸).
Chill Out
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your rope search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
索 see styles |
suǒ suo3 so soo; sou / soo; so ソー; ソウ |
More info & calligraphy: Soe(counter) {mahj} counter for bamboo tiles; (given name) Saku Cord; to extort, express; the cord or noose of Guanyin by which she binds the good; the cord of the vajra-king by which he binds the evil; translit. sa. |
維 维 see styles |
wéi wei2 wei yuki ゆき |
More info & calligraphy: Vee(pronoun) (1) (kana only) this (indicating an item near the speaker, the action of the speaker, or the current topic); (2) (humble language) this person (usu. indicating someone in one's in-group); (3) now; (4) (archaism) here; (5) (archaism) I (me); (6) (archaism) certainly; (female given name) Yuki A carriage-curtain; a net; a corner, cardinal point; to tie or hold together, connect; a copula, also, but, whereas, now. |
纍 累 see styles |
léi lei2 lei |
More info & calligraphy: LeiSee: 累 |
ロップ see styles |
roppu ロップ |
More info & calligraphy: Loup |
乼 see styles |
xx xx5 xx |
rope (Korean gugja) |
套 see styles |
tào tao4 t`ao tao |
to cover; to encase; cover; sheath; to overlap; to interleave; to model after; to copy; formula; harness; loop of rope; (fig.) to fish for; to obtain slyly; classifier for sets, collections; bend (of a river or mountain range, in place names); tau (Greek letter Ττ) |
憨 see styles |
hān han1 han |
silly; simple-minded; foolish; naive; sturdy; tough; heavy (of rope) |
攬 揽 see styles |
lǎn lan3 lan ran |
to monopolize; to seize; to take into one's arms; to embrace; to fasten (with a rope etc); to take on (responsibility etc); to canvass To seize, hold in the arms, embrace; monopolize. |
畚 see styles |
běn ben3 pen fugo; mokko; mokkou; ishimi / fugo; mokko; mokko; ishimi ふご; もっこ; もっこう; いしみ |
a basket or pan used for earth, manure etc implement for carrying heavy loads, generally made of bamboo and woven grass or rope |
笉 see styles |
qǐn qin3 ch`in chin |
smiling countenance; bamboo rope |
紲 绁 see styles |
xiè xie4 hsieh setsu せつ |
to tie; to bind; to hold on a leash; rope; cord (1) bonds (between people); (emotional) ties; relationship; connection; link; (2) tether; fetters; (given name) Setsu |
紼 绋 see styles |
fú fu2 fu |
heavy rope; rope of a bier |
綆 绠 see styles |
gěng geng3 keng |
(literary) well rope (for drawing water) |
綍 see styles |
fú fu2 fu |
heavy rope; ropes of a bier |
綱 纲 see styles |
gāng gang1 kang tsuna つな |
head rope of a fishing net; guiding principle; key link; class (taxonomy); outline; program (1) rope; cord; line; (2) {sumo} grand champion's braided belt; (given name) Tsunashi A net rope, bond, social nexus, constant obligation, the restraints of society. |
緡 缗 see styles |
mín min2 min sashi; bin さし; びん |
cord; fishing-line; string of coins (1) (See 緡縄・さしなわ) slender rope that goes through the hole in a coin; (n,ctr) (2) string of coins (usu. 100 mon) |
緪 see styles |
gēng geng1 keng |
a rope |
緱 缑 see styles |
gōu gou1 kou |
rope attached to a sword hilt; (archaic) hilt; sword |
縄 see styles |
shéng sheng2 sheng nawa なわ |
Japanese variant of 繩|绳 (1) rope; cord; (2) (See 御縄) policeman's rope; (surname) Nawasaki |
縋 缒 see styles |
zhuì zhui4 chui |
to let down with a rope |
縲 缧 see styles |
léi lei2 lei |
(literary) thick rope used to restrain a prisoner |
縴 纤 see styles |
qiàn qian4 ch`ien chien |
boatman's tow-rope |
繘 see styles |
yù yu4 yü |
a well-rope |
繨 see styles |
dá da2 ta |
a knot (of a rope) |
繩 绳 see styles |
shéng sheng2 sheng nawa なわ |
rope; CL:根[gen1] (surname) Nawa String, cord. |
舫 see styles |
fǎng fang3 fang moyai もやい |
2 boats lashed together; large boat (irregular okurigana usage) painter; mooring rope |
お縄 see styles |
onawa おなわ |
policeman's rope |
三性 see styles |
sān xìng san1 xing4 san hsing sanshō |
The three types of character 善, 惡, 無記 good, bad and undefinable, or neutral; v. 唯識論 5. Also, 徧依圓三性 the three aspects of the nature of a thing— partial, as when a rope is mistaken for a snake; only partly reliable, i.e. incomplete inference, as when it is considered as mere hemp; all around, or perfect, when content, form, etc., are all considered. |
井綱 see styles |
izuna いづな |
well rope; (surname) Izuchi |
井繩 井绳 see styles |
jǐng shéng jing3 sheng2 ching sheng |
rope for drawing water from a well |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Lei | 纍 累 | léi / lei2 / lei | ||
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 |
The Red String | 赤い糸 | akai ito / akaiito | ||
The Red Thread of Fate | 姻緣紅線 姻缘红线 | yīn yuán hóng xiàn yin1 yuan2 hong2 xian4 yin yuan hong xian yinyuanhongxian | yin yüan hung hsien yinyüanhunghsien |
|
Relax | 放鬆 放松 | fàng sōng fang4 song1 fang song fangsong | fang sung fangsung |
|
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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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 Rope Kanji, Rope Characters, Rope in Mandarin Chinese, Rope Characters, Rope in Chinese Writing, Rope in Japanese Writing, Rope in Asian Writing, Rope Ideograms, Chinese Rope symbols, Rope Hieroglyphics, Rope Glyphs, Rope in Chinese Letters, Rope Hanzi, Rope in Japanese Kanji, Rope Pictograms, Rope in the Chinese Written-Language, or Rope in the Japanese Written-Language.
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