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Is it "A Typical Sign" or is it "Atypical Sign?"
Few punctuation or spacing clues exist in Chinese. In English, spacing
distinguishes "therapist" from "the rapist." In Chinese, you infer from context and order how
the writer meant the grouping. But first, the individual characters starting from top:
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zhè - water, or with the next character, jiāng:
Zhejiang Province.
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Next character:
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jiāng - river. Also, the common surname Jiang,
or with qīng below, Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao.
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We have two characters and five possible meanings already.
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qīng - green, blue, or young.
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The next character is not so ambiguous as the first ones:
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tián - field, farm.
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The fifth character is:
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shí - stone, rock; or with qì below, stone tools or stoneware.
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The last character fits either way, just like the fifth one.
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qì - utensil, equipment, or with the preceding character, stoneware.
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Content
Try a meaning and see how it affects the rest of the expression. Make
a list of each possible meaning and watch for idioms.
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1. Literally: Water, river, green, farm (field), stoneware.
Loosely like a wish for plentiful water, green fields and good tools.
2. Water Mao's wife's farm stoneware ( At left, Mrs. Mao planting re-educated bodies on her farm ).
3. Zhejiang Province green (young) field stoneware, something like Zhejiang Province Youthful Farms Tool Shoppe
4. Zhejiang Province Green Field Stoneware.
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Choice 1 is the good luck sign interpretation.
Choice 2 might be suitable for a Dadaist Communist Party worker's slogan.
One native speaker translated it for me as Choice 1, so
zhè must mean water.
However the standard dictionary defines it with jiāng as Zhejiang Province.
Zhejiang Province was before the revolution a commercially and culturally
dominant region including Shanghai. Green Field is a common place name, so Choice 4.
Choice 4 is correct, but as a beginner 1 or 3 look OK to me. There's another clue.
Each polished character is a different variety of jade, all framed by expensive rosewood.
The artisan made the placard a business showpiece.
From the clues above, choice 4 is right. It was a shop shingle:
"Zhejiang Province Green Field Stoneware"
It was a business sign for a jade artisan.
Thanks to Dr. Jun Shan,
About.com Chinese culture author, for his help.
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Character images from
Zhongwen.com
Great Chinese reference site!
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