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Personalize your custom “Best of the Best” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Best of the Best” title below...
1. Best Love / Most Sincere Love
3. Best
4. Best Friends
7. Best Friends / Closest Friend
8. Brevity: Fewer Words are Best
9. Best Love / Most Sincere Love
10. Most Sincere Friend / Honest Friend / Real Friend / Best Friend
至愛 can mean the best love or most sincere love of your life.
This could be a romantic love such as your love for your spouse or a boyfriend/girlfriend.
It can also apply to the extreme love you have for your children or a parent and maybe a really good friend.
See Also: I Love You
至 is a little strange as calligraphy, but 至 would be the character that means “best” or “extreme” in Chinese and Korean.
The problem is, this is seldom used alone. It's mostly used in combination with other characters to make words like “best friend,” “best food,” and “best love.”
I do not recommend this character for a wall scroll. It's better if you find a more specific term that fits your circumstances.
Note: This can be pronounced in Japanese and has a similar meaning but it is rarely if ever used in modern Japanese.
至交 is an alternate way to say best friend in Chinese.
The first character can mean “most,” “extreme” or “best.” The second character means “making friends” or “building friendship.” There's sort of a suggestion with the second character that fate caused you to intersect in life and become friends (that character can mean intersection in some context).
This can also mean “most intimate friend,” “very good friend of long-standing,” or “closest friend.”
See Also: Friendship | Soulmates
Supreme / Highest
最高 means the highest level, supreme, top, the most, or the best.
Depending on the context, it can mean the most expensive or highest quality.
親友 is the Japanese way to say “best friend.”
The first character can mean “relative” or sometimes “parents.” The second character means “friend.” Think about the close relationship that Japanese people have with their parents and relatives, and this starts to mean “close friends.”
Some Japanese-English dictionaries also translate this as “bosom friend,” “old friend,” “intimate friend,” “buddy,” “crony” or “chum.”
Note that in Chinese, this means “relatives and friends.” It's a good meaning in Chinese, but it's not quite the same as “best friends.”
至友 is one way to say best friend in Chinese.
The first character can mean “most,” “extreme,” or “best.”
The second character means “friend” or “friends” (plural forms work differently in China).
Can also be translated as “close friend” or “most intimate friend.”
See Also: Friendship | Soulmates
Getting to the point quickly with the fewest words possible is the suggestion of this 少說為佳 Chinese proverb.
But taking it more profound, there is a warning that using too many words may act to “tip your hat” or “show your hand” (to use two American idioms).
It can also be said that using many words does not make the message have more value.
This is really about the art of brevity.
My only hope is that I did not use too many words to explain this proverb.
摯友 is one way to say best friend in Chinese.
The first character can mean “honest” or “most sincere.” The second character means “friend” or “friends” (plural forms work differently in Chinese).
See Also: Friendship | Soulmates
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Best Love Most Sincere Love | 至愛 至爱 | zhì ài / zhi4 ai4 / zhi ai / zhiai | chih ai / chihai | |
| Best Number One | 一番 | ichi ban / ichiban | ||
| Best | 至 | shi | zhì / zhi4 / zhi | chih |
| Best Friends | 至交 | zhì jiāo / zhi4 jiao1 / zhi jiao / zhijiao | chih chiao / chihchiao | |
| Simply the Best | 最高 | sai kou / saikou / sai ko | zuì gāo / zui4 gao1 / zui gao / zuigao | tsui kao / tsuikao |
| Best Friends Buddies | 親友 亲友 | shin yuu / shinyuu / shin yu | qīn yǒu / qin1 you3 / qin you / qinyou | ch`in yu / chinyu / chin yu |
| Best Friends Closest Friend | 至友 | zhì yǒu / zhi4 you3 / zhi you / zhiyou | chih yu / chihyu | |
| Brevity: Fewer Words are Best | 少說為佳 少说为佳 | shǎo shuō wéi jiā shao3 shuo1 wei2 jia1 shao shuo wei jia shaoshuoweijia | shao shuo wei chia shaoshuoweichia |
|
| Best Love Most Sincere Love | 最愛 | moai | ||
| Most Sincere Friend Honest Friend Real Friend Best Friend | 摯友 挚友 | zhì yǒu / zhi4 you3 / zhi you / zhiyou | chih yu / chihyu | |
| 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.
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