Spot the Differences!

Different from Western characters, Chinese characters are square and indicate either pronunciation or meaning or both. Chinese characters provide a convenient tool for imagery thinking.

With language, ancient humans began accumulating knowledge through which human culture came forth. With characters, they recorded the language and communicated with each other , which distinguished man from animals. It is characters that drew a line between the primitive and civilized periods of human society. 

While some Chinese characters look like twins, can you spot the differences? Let's go! 

01

Even one more stroke will be different.

(Actually I finally found the difference after staring at the screen for a minute...)

The left one “zhòu”, is a combination of "由" and "月", referring to the descendants of emperors or aristocrats. 

The right one is also “zhòu”, while it is a combination of "由" and "冃", which refers to the helmet for the ancient soldiers.

Qīngtóng Zhòu

Bronze helmet

The process of creating Chinese characters was really  fun, one more or one less  stroke could be a completely new character. 

The left one is "háo", referring to slender and pointed hair.

The right one is "bó", it is a place which located in Anhui Province. 

Like Chinese brushes which made with wolves' hair are called "lángháo". 

The left one is "jī", it is a name for ladies in ancient time.

The right one is "zhěn", which means cautious. 

The left one is "yǒu", which means "Yes, I have."

The right one is "mǎo", which means "No, I don't have." 

The left one "hú", which is a kettle.

And the right one, "kǔn", it is the arched doors on the roads in the palaces. 

The arched door of Dabaoen Glass Tower (Ming Dynasty) is a "kǔnmén". 

The left one is "ɡài", it means the beggar. 

And the right one is "miǎn", a short wall in the battle.

    Spot the differences!    

Please feel free to reply in the comments, the answers would be released next week. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

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See you next time.

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