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(precious stone)
玉 is how to write jade in Chinese, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji. This refers to the semi-precious stone that can be almost white or a vivid green.
Note: In Japanese, this character can mean jewel, ball, sphere or coin depending on context.
If your name is Jade, you may want to choose this to represent your name by meaning rather than pronunciation.
Better to be broken jade than unbroken pottery
寧為玉碎 is the short version of a longer Chinese proverb which means “rather be shattered piece of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery.”
寧為玉碎 says the “rather be a broken piece of jade” part (the second half is implied - everyone in China knows this idiom).
A little more explanation:
Death is implied with the “broken” meaning. Jade is one of the most precious materials in Chinese history, and in this case, is compared with one's honor and self-worth. Pottery is just something you eat off of; it has no deep value, just as a person who has lost their honor or had none to begin with.
Thus, this means “better to die with honor than to live in shame” or words to that effect.
This is often translated in English as “Death Before Dishonor,” the famous military slogan.
I would also compare this to the English proverb, “Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
Better to be broken jade than unbroken pottery
寧為玉碎不為瓦全 is the long version of a Chinese proverb that means “rather be shattered piece of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery.”
A little more explanation:
Death is implied with the “broken” meaning. Jade is one of the most precious materials in Chinese history, and in this case, is compared with one's honor and self-worth. Pottery is just something you eat off of, it has no deep value, just as a person who has lost their honor, or had none to begin with.
Thus, this means “better to die with honor than to live in shame” or words to that effect.
寧為玉碎不為瓦全 is often translated in English as “Death Before Dishonor,” the famous military slogan.
I would also compare this to the English proverb, “Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
This is an idiom. It therefore doesn’t directly say exactly what it means. If you think about the English idiom, "The grass is always greener," it does not directly say "jealousy" or "envy" but everyone knows that it is implied.
金似金挨玉似玉 is a Chinese proverb that literally translates as: [One who is] close to gold [is] like gold [and one who is] close to jade [is] like jade.
Figuratively, this means:
A good environment produces good people.
People are influenced by the company they keep.
Basically, if you hang out with good people, you are likely to become or stay good yourself. The opposite also is true. 挨This is like the moral version of “You are what you eat.”
Note: In Japanese, they have a similar phrase, 類は友を呼ぶ (rui wa tomo o yobu) Birds of a feather flock together. However, this is not a good meaning, so we’re not offering it for wall scrolls.
珠玉 is a Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja word meaning gem.
Beyond just the word gem, this can refer to pearls and jades, jewels, clever remarks, beautiful writing, gems of wisdom, genius, or an outstanding person.
If your name is Gem, this is a nice way to represent your name in 3 Asian languages. Though the pronunciation will be far from Gem, the meaning of gem is really nice.
Note: In Japanese, this is sometimes used as the female given name, Tama.
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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 | |
Jade | 賈德 贾德 | jiǎ dé / jia3 de2 / jia de / jiade | chia te / chiate | |
Jade | ジェイド | jeido | ||
Jade | 玉 | tama / gyoku | yù / yu4 / yu | yü |
Death Before Dishonor | 寧為玉碎 宁为玉碎 | níng wéi yù suì ning2 wei2 yu4 sui4 ning wei yu sui ningweiyusui | ning wei yü sui ningweiyüsui |
|
Death Before Dishonor | 寧為玉碎不為瓦全 宁为玉碎不为瓦全 | níng wéi yù suì bù wéi wǎ quán ning2 wei2 yu4 sui4 bu4 wei2 wa3 quan2 ning wei yu sui bu wei wa quan ningweiyusuibuweiwaquan | ning wei yü sui pu wei wa ch`üan ning wei yü sui pu wei wa chüan |
|
You are who you hang out with | 挨金似金挨玉似玉 | āi jīn sì jīn āi yù sì yù ai1 jin1 si4 jin1 ai1 yu4 si4 yu4 ai jin si jin ai yu si yu aijinsijinaiyusiyu | ai chin ssu chin ai yü ssu yü aichinssuchinaiyüssuyü |
|
Gem | 珠玉 | shugyoku | zhū yù / zhu1 yu4 / zhu yu / zhuyu | chu yü / chuyü |
Time is more valuable than Jade | 不貴尺之壁而重寸之陰 不贵尺之壁而重寸之阴 | bù guì chǐ zhī bì ér zhòng cùn zhī yīn bu4 gui4 chi3 zhi1 bi4 er2 zhong4 cun4 zhi1 yin1 bu gui chi zhi bi er zhong cun zhi yin | pu kuei ch`ih chih pi erh chung ts`un chih yin pu kuei chih chih pi erh chung tsun chih yin |
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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. |
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.
Some people may refer to this entry as Jade Kanji, Jade Characters, Jade in Mandarin Chinese, Jade Characters, Jade in Chinese Writing, Jade in Japanese Writing, Jade in Asian Writing, Jade Ideograms, Chinese Jade symbols, Jade Hieroglyphics, Jade Glyphs, Jade in Chinese Letters, Jade Hanzi, Jade in Japanese Kanji, Jade Pictograms, Jade in the Chinese Written-Language, or Jade in the Japanese Written-Language.