Book Review: "The Nature of the Chinese Character" by Barbara Aria

The Nature of the Chinese Character (1991)
Barbara Aria
Calligraphy by Russell Eng Gon
Illustrations by Lesley Ehlers
96 pages

I have long enjoyed the puzzle aspect of languages, in particular the etymology and construction of words. In German, famous for its many compound words, a simple example would be that the word Stift means ‘writing instrument’ and Blei means ‘lead’ (the ore), and they came together at some point in history to form the word for ‘pencil’: Bleistift: a lead writing instrument. I recall a native German teacher warning our class to not try and create such compound words ourselves – that it’s not a free for all – but the temptation is indeed hard to resist.

Given this background, it is perhaps not surprising then, that when I discovered author Barbara Aria’s book The Nature of the Chinese Character, I couldn’t resist reading it. Aria’s text, with calligraphy by Russell Eng Gon and illustrations by Lesley Ehlers, goes right to the heart of my interest. As someone who only knows perhaps a half dozen Chinese characters, and a (different) half-dozen or so words, I have long been intrigued by the apparent connection of at least some Chinese characters to objects in the natural world.

In the book, Aria presents forty Chinese characters, exploring for each its origins and evolution. Although apparently only a small portion of the Chinese written language has pictographic origins, her intimate and thoughtful prose paints lovely portraits of the history of a selection of such characters. The word nature in her title in fact serves double duty: the characters she includes all relate to the natural world, and, through her descriptions of their origins and evolution, she introduces us to the nature of the Chinese language more generally.

For anyone fascinated by Chinese characters and the artistry of their earliest origins, Aria and her collaborators provide a gorgeous introduction.

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Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
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