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Look up Play in my Japanese Kanji & Chinese Character Dictionary(My dictionary is a different system then the calligraphy search you just tried)
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紅五蝠 is a play on words in Chinese because of some homophones.
The first thing you need to know is that the word for bat, 蝠, sounds exactly like the word for good fortune, 福. Thus, bats are often associated with good luck and good fortune in Chinese culture.
Five bats (五福 / 五蝠) means “five fortunes,” referring to luck, prosperity, wealth, happiness, and longevity.
The word red, 红, has the same sound as 宏 meaning vast, great, or magnificent. Therefore, a red bat means “vast fortune.”
Altogether, five red bats represent vast reaches of the five fortunes.
喫喝玩樂及時行樂 is just about the closest proverb to match the western idea of “Eat, drink, and be merry.”
This is a Chinese proverb that more literally means “Eat, drink, play, be merry, enjoy everything as long as you can.”
It's basically a suggestion that you try to enjoy everything in life, as long as you live, or as long as you are able.
葡萄酒 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for wine.
Very specifically, this is for grape wine (an important distinction in Asia where most wines were rice-based until western influences came into play).
The first word, 葡萄 literally means grape (or grapevine), and 酒 means alcohol (generic term for alcohol, sake, wine, liquor).
琴瑟和鳴 is a Chinese title that means “in perfect harmony” or “in sync.”
This can translate as “two harps in harmony.” While this more literally means “qin [and] se harmonious sound.”
The qin and se are both types of string instruments (Chinese zithers) that are known to play in perfect harmony. Thus, the two together are often used as a metaphor for marital harmony or a happy marriage.
馬球 is the Chinese title for the ancient game of polo.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the elite and rich would mount their horses and engage in this rigorous sport. It was the only sport of that period that women were also known to play.
The original polo came from Persia and may have been played in China hundreds of years before the Tang popularized it.
The characters “馬球” literally mean “horse ball.”
節制 means moderation or temperance in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
Moderation is creating a healthy balance in your life between work and play, rest and exercise. You don't overdo or get swept away by the things you like. You use your self-discipline to take charge of your life and your time.
節制 can also be translated as sobriety or self-restraint.
This is often used as part of the Seven Heavenly Virtues to represent sobriety and/or temperance.
神舟 is the name of the Chinese spacecraft “Shenzhou.” The name means “divine craft” or “saintly vessel.”
The name is a play on words in Chinese, as there is an alternate name for China that is pronounced “Shenzhou” but means “Divine land” or “Land of the Gods” (just the second character is different).
The first flight of a Shenzhou spacecraft was in 1999, with more missions following. The next is planned for 2008, and will include China's first “spacewalk.” The tenth Shenzhou mission is planned for 2015, when China has promised its people that a Chinese astronaut will walk on the moon (or at least orbit the moon - there are two ways to interpret the announcement made in 2005).
For those of you concerned, this word is pronounced more like “Shen Joe” (with a slightly soft “J”) than the Romanization would suggest.
2016 Update: I wrote the above in 2006. Imagine that, 10 years later, none of the promises came true.
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These search terms might be related to Play:
Guide / Help / Cooperate
If You Cannot Bite, Do Not Show Your Teeth
Life is Fun
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Five Red Bats | 紅五蝠 红五蝠 | hóng wǔ fú hong2 wu3 fu2 hong wu fu hongwufu | hung wu fu hungwufu |
|
| Eat Drink and Be Merry | 喫喝玩樂及時行樂 吃喝玩乐及时行乐 | chī hē wán lè jí shí xíng lè chi1 he1 wan2 le4 ji2 shi2 xing2 le4 chi he wan le ji shi xing le chihewanlejishixingle | ch`ih ho wan le chi shih hsing le chih ho wan le chi shih hsing le |
|
| Go-Dan 5th Degree Black Belt | 五段 | go dan / godan | ||
| Wine | 葡萄酒 | bu dou shu / bu dou sake budoushu / budousake bu do shu / bu do sake | pú tao jiǔ pu2 tao5 jiu3 pu tao jiu putaojiu | p`u t`ao chiu putaochiu pu tao chiu |
| Perfect Harmony | 琴瑟和鳴 琴瑟和鸣 | qín sè hé míng qin2 se4 he2 ming2 qin se he ming qinseheming | ch`in se ho ming chinsehoming chin se ho ming |
|
| Polo | 馬球 马球 | mǎ qiú / ma3 qiu2 / ma qiu / maqiu | ma ch`iu / machiu / ma chiu | |
| Moderation Temperance | 節制 节制 | sessei / sesei | jié zhì / jie2 zhi4 / jie zhi / jiezhi | chieh chih / chiehchih |
| Nana-Dan 7th Degree Black Belt | 七段 | nana dan / nanadan | ||
| Shenzhou Spacecraft | 神舟 | shén zhōu shen2 zhou1 shen zhou shenzhou | shen chou shenchou |
|
| 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 Play Kanji, Play Characters, Play in Mandarin Chinese, Play Characters, Play in Chinese Writing, Play in Japanese Writing, Play in Asian Writing, Play Ideograms, Chinese Play symbols, Play Hieroglyphics, Play Glyphs, Play in Chinese Letters, Play Hanzi, Play in Japanese Kanji, Play Pictograms, Play in the Chinese Written-Language, or Play in the Japanese Written-Language.
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