Jiu3 in Chinese / Japanese...

酒 is the Chinese character, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji which means alcohol.

This can refer to wine (esp. rice wine), liquor, spirits, sake, or to alcoholic beverages in general.

In the west, we tend to say “sake” to mean Japanese rice wine, however, this character is a little ambiguous in Japanese. It literally just means alcohol and is often pronounced “shu” in Japanese. Specifically, in Japanese, you might want to ask for “seishu” or 清酒 to get the sake that you are used to in the west. Seishu literally means “clear alcohol.”

啤酒 means beer in Chinese.

This can refer to virtually any fermented grain-based alcoholic beverage that has bubbles. So this includes all kinds of ales and lagers.

In China, the grains used for beer sometimes include rice. But even in Chinese beer, the concept is the same - beer must be made with hops and yeast.

Beer was the third word I learned in Chinese, and I've toured 3 different breweries in China, Tsing Tao, Lao Shan, and Yanjing. I've done my research on this calligraphy entry!

九月 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for the month of September.

Originally this was for the ninth month of the lunar calendar, now used for the western (Gregorian) calendar.

This can also be the Japanese female given name Kugetsu.

永久 is a Japanese, Chinese, and old Korean word that means everlasting, perpetual, lasting, forever, permanent, eternity, perpetuity, and/or immortality.

This can also be a female given name Haruku in Japan.

持久 means to endure or lasting.

In some contexts, it can mean “persistent” or “persistence” (especially in Japanese and Korean).

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).

九 is the number nine in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

九 is a strange selection for a wall scroll, so it's here mostly for reference. I guess it's OK if the number nine is important to you.

Because this character is rather simple (just two strokes), there is an anti-fraud way to write nine on bank documents. This version is shown to the right.

鍼灸 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja word for acupuncture-moxibustion.

酒池肉林 is a Chinese idiom that is also somewhat known in Japanese and Korean.

This literally means “lakes of wine and forests of meat.”

Figuratively, it refers to debauchery, sumptuous entertainment, a sumptuous feast, or any kind of ridiculously-lavish spread of food and wine.

杜松子酒 is the full Chinese name for the alcohol known as gin.

If you like this juniper-berry-based liquor, this could be your title. Don't skimp on the vermouth!

一言九鼎 is an ancient Chinese proverb used in modern times to talk of profound or powerful words.

The literal meaning is “one word [worth] nine [sacred] tripods.” The tripod is a highly-prized three-legged (sometimes four-legged) metal pot or kettle of ancient China. They are often made of bronze, and the Emperor would have large ones gilded in gold. See the image to the right for an example.

面壁九年 is a Buddhist term that means “facing a wall for nine years.”

This refers to the Bodhidharma who stared at a wall in meditation at the Shaolin Temple (or in a cave) for nine years until reaching full enlightenment.

行百里者半九十 is an old Chinese proverb that speaks to the act of giving up. This phrase suggests that no matter how close you are to finishing your task or journey, giving up just before you finish is just as bad as giving up halfway.

50% finished or 90% finished, the result is the same: “You are not finished.”

You can take what you want from this proverb, but I think it suggests that you should finish what you start, and especially finish that last 10% of your journey or project so that you can honestly say “it's finished.”

Some notes: The character, 里, that I am translating as “mile” is an ancient “Chinese mile” which is actually about half a kilometer - it just doesn't sound right to say “When walking 100 half-kilometers...”

酒后吐真言 / 酒後吐真言 is a nice Asian proverb if you know a vintner or wine seller - or wine lover - although the actual meaning might not be exactly what you think or hope.

The literal meaning is that someone drinking wine is more likely to let the truth slip out. It can also be translated as “People speak their true feelings after drinking alcohol.”

It's long believed in many parts of Asia that one can not consciously hold up a facade of lies when getting drunk, and therefore the truth will come out with a few drinks.

I've had the experience where a Korean man would not trust me until I got drunk with him (I was trying to gain access to the black market in North Korea which is tough to do as an untrusted outsider) - so I think this idea is still well-practiced in many Asian countries.

VS

Please note that there are two common ways to write the second character of this phrase. The way it's written will be left up to the mood of the calligrapher, unless you let us know that you have a certain preference.

See Also:  Honesty | Truth

白酒紅人面黃金黑世心 literally says: [Just as] white liquor makes people's faces turn red, [So] yellow gold makes people's hearts turn black.

This is a warning about the nature of greed. The suggestion is that one who lusts for gold and riches will eventually have a black heart (or become a heartless greedy bastard). As a wall scroll, this is a reminder and warning to keep yourself from following the greedy path.

不眠之夜长久交知人心 literally translates as: [Only one who does] not sleep, learns how long the night is; [Only by] long acquaintance [does one] learn a person ['s true] character.

Basically, this proverb suggests that we really need to experience something intimately and for a long time to really know everything about it.

This can also be translated as “Spending years with someone is the only way to know them.”

Note: Sometimes this proverb is split into just the first or second idea alone (first 5 or last 5 characters only).

不殺生不偷盜不邪淫不妄語不飲酒 is the full list of the five precepts of Buddhism in Chinese.

There are many ways to translate or express these.
The following is one basic way:
1. Do not kill/murder.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not commit adultery and/or sexual misconduct.
4. Do not lie or speak falsehoods.
5. Do not become intoxicated (with drugs/alcohol).

Here is another take from my favorite magazine: Lion's Roar: Five Precepts

愛是恆久忍耐又有恩慈愛是不嫉妒愛是不自誇不張狂 is 1st Corinthians 13:4 in Chinese.

With large “love” character added.

In English, this reads:

1st Corinthians 13:4 (KJV) Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up...

1st Corinthians 13:4 (NIV) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

1st Corinthians 13:4 (Basic English) Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride.

The Chinese translation follows the love meaning, rather than the King James' use of “charity.” I was a little confused when writing this description with the significant differences between the NIV vs. KJV translations. After speaking to a Greek scholar about this, it would seem that the KJV has an almost errant translation with the use of “charity” in place of “love.”

We used the most popular Christian Chinese Bible, which is the Chinese Union Version (CUV). The CUV was first published in 1919. We use this so that the Chinese translation would be as accurate and standard as possible. Any Chinese Christian worth their salt will easily be able to identify this verse when they see these characters.

If you want a big “love” character written above the verse on your artwork, just make a note in the “special instructions” tab when you are customizing your artwork. There is no extra charge for that service on this special verse.

This is referred to as passage or chapter 33 of the Dao De Jing (often Romanized as “Tao Te Ching”).

These are the words of the philosopher Laozi (Lao Tzu).

Notes:

During our research, the Chinese characters shown here are probably the most accurate to the original text of Laozi. These were taken for the most part from the Mawangdui 1973 and Guodan 1993 manuscripts which pre-date other Daodejing texts by about 1000 years.

Grammar was a little different in Laozi’s time. So you should consider this to be the ancient Chinese version. Some have modernized this passage by adding, removing, or swapping articles and changing the grammar (we felt the oldest and most original version would be more desirable). You may find other versions printed in books or online - sometimes these modern texts are simply used to explain to Chinese people what the original text really means.

This language issue can be compared in English by thinking how the King James (known as the Authorized version in Great Britain) Bible from 1611 was written, and comparing it to modern English. Now imagine that the Daodejing was probably written around 403 BCE (2000 years before the King James Version of the Bible). To a Chinese person, the original Daodejing reads like text that is 3 times more detached compared to Shakespeare’s English is to our modern-day speech.

Extended notes:

While on this Biblical text comparison, it should be noted, that just like the Bible, all the original texts of the Daodejing were lost or destroyed long ago. Just as with the scripture used to create the Bible, various manuscripts exist, many with variations or copyist errors. Just as the earliest New Testament scripture (incomplete) is from 170 years after Christ, the earliest Daodejing manuscript (incomplete) is from 100-200 years after the death of Laozi.

The reason that the originals were lost probably has a lot to do with the first Qin Emperor. Upon taking power and unifying China, he ordered the burning and destruction of all books (scrolls/rolls) except those pertaining to Chinese medicine and a few other subjects. The surviving Daodejing manuscripts were either hidden on purpose or simply forgotten about. Some were not unearthed until as late as 1993.

We compared a lot of research by various archeologists and historians before deciding on this as the most accurate and correct version. But one must allow that it may not be perfect, or the actual and original as from the hand of Laozi himself.