July - "喜" To be Happy and Delighted

Summer is full of happiness and delight for everyone. In China, drums of all shapes and sizes are used to celebrate joyous occasions. The Chinese character for happiness is 喜 (xǐ) and consists of two parts, the drum and a mouth that shouts happily along with the beat. The comic above show how a child tried playing the erhu which sounded so bad, someone dumps a bowl of water on him to make him stop. He decides to try playing the drums and finds that he is actually pretty good at it. He shouts out loud as his beats his drum face bursts into a huge smile and shows how the Chinese character 喜 evolves from that pictograph. Want more fun stories on how Chinese characters are created? Check out our Magical Chinese Characters to learn more! These 3-4 minute animation shorts are available on DVD or through an online subscription.

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