150 CHINESE PUZZLEDOM 



ideographs, or ideograms, because they are said to embody 

 in their construction some idea or figure. Every student 

 knows that the combination of the symbols for "sun" and 

 "moon" ( H ft ) means brightness, and "not" and "straight" 

 ( 31 ) means awry; but it may not be generally known that 

 the character ch'ii ^ , meaning "to marry a wife," suggests 

 taking a woman by the ear. This character, of course, 

 would never do for "marrying a husband"; marriage on the 

 woman's side is chia (#£ ), and the idea presented by this 

 character is simply that the woman acquires a home. Then 

 again there is the character niao, where the symbol for 

 "woman" is placed between two symbols for "man" ( 588), 

 or, for that matter, where the symbol for "man" stands 

 between two symbols for "woman" ( ^ ) — it amounts to the 

 same thing, — it is not difficult to guess that these ideographs 

 signify a state of affairs not strictly above board. If all 

 Chinese characters were constructed on this perfectly 

 rational principle, learning their meanings would be reduced 

 to a tolerably simple process of deduction; but alas! they 

 are not; and too often when our boasted reason is brought 

 into play it only leads us astray. Take for example the 

 character Ch'ien, meaning "shallow," or "wanting in 

 depth." Who in the world w T ould ever imagine that this 

 same character also means a tiger, because of the shortness 

 of that animal's hair, and the want of depth in the fur of 

 his coat ! Who would ever guess that a combination of 

 "big" and "sheep" means small sheep, or lambkin just 

 recently born; and who for a moment would dream that the 

 character Hna, meaning "flowery," and used as a poetic 

 designation for China, also means "cutting up a melon!" 



The character Li is another of the elusive sort. There 

 are many characters with the sound li, but the one I refer 

 to here is composed of the radical "stone" with the primitive 

 "water," #. Naturally one assumes that it has something 

 to do with stone in conjunction with water. Can it mean 

 that water wears away stone, or does it denote some hidden 

 danger to navigation in the form of a submerged rock, or 

 does it perhaps refer to the Chinese proverb "when the water 

 subsides the stones beneath appear," or can it signify a 

 pebble on the beach ? One puzzles over the question till on 

 consulting the dictionary the following heart-breaking de- 

 finition is found : "to cross a stream on stepping-stones" ! 



Another Li is the surname, composed of the radical 

 "wood" placed over the symbol for "son," $. Mr. Li, for 

 instance, meets Mr. Chang, whose surname is composed 

 of the radical "bow" and the symbol for "long," $|. They 

 are introduced; but both are in the dark as to what characters 



