Practice writing Chinese characters (Exercise 1)

Chinese Character Stroke Order

If you are sitting at home waiting out the novel corona virus pandemic, why not use some of the extra time on hand to practice writing Chinese characters. The picture showing the stroke order for writing the 永 character is taken from the book “Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes”. 永 (yǒng) means forever or always. This character incorporates all the possible types of strokes you might encounter in a Chinese character. The general rule for the stroke order is from the top to the bottom and from the left to the right. In addition, when a horizontal stroke intersects a vertical stroke to form a cross shape, you will write the horizontal stroke first. For a box shape, write the vertical stroke on the left side first.

Below is a sheet you can print out. It contains 10 simple Chinese characters. Take a look at each character and determine the proper stroke order to use. For example, with 人 (rén person), you would begin with the stroke on the left side then add the stroke on the right side. With 大 (dà big, great), you would first put in the horizontal stroke then write the 人 (rén person) character. With 天 (tiān sky, heaven), you would write a short horizontal stroke, followed by the 大 (dà big, great) character.

Trace over the fainter characters to become familiar with the position of each stroke. Finally, write the character in the three blank spaces yourself. Each character should look neat and “together” rather than just a bunch of random strokes. Practice until what you write approximates the provided master copy.

Chinese Character Tracing 2

Details about the types of strokes you will encounter in Chinese characters and the correct stroke order can be found at this link.

Sing Flower on a Rainy Night in Mandarin Chinese

The song called 雨夜花 (Yǔ Yè Huā Flower on a Rainy Night) is a very well-known Taiwanese song. The beautiful melody was originally composed for a children’s song. After hearing the sad life story of a young bar girl, the lyricist changed the lyrics and used a tender blossom pounded upon by merciless, relentless rain as a metaphor for a poor girl fallen into the flesh trade through unfortunate circumstances.

The Taiwanese pronunciation for 雨夜花 is “wuyahue”, quite different from the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. There are still a few older Taiwanese folks who only speak the local dialect. However, the majority of the people in Taiwan speak Mandarin Chinese, which is the official language to date.

At this link, you can hear Teresa Teng sing this song in Taiwanese.

I changed the lyrics so you could sing it in English or Mandarin Chinese, if you wish.

Flower on a Rainy Night

Rain on me, rain on me.
So much shame, so much pain to bear.
No one sees me, no one hears me,
No one knows me, no one cares.

Nigh is falling, day is dying,
Now I wilt, now the last hour nears.
No more sighing, no more crying,
No more fears and no more tears.

雨连连, 雨连连.
Yǔ liánlián, yǔ liánlián.
The rain keeps falling.

多少羞愧, 多少悲凄.
Duōshao xiūkuì duōshao bēi qī.
So much shame and regret, so much sorrow.

没人看见, 没人听见,
Méi rén kànjian, méi rén tīngjiàn,
No one sees, no one hears,

没人知晓, 没人理.
Méi rén zhīxiǎo, méi rén lǐ.
No one knows, no one pays attention.

夜已临, 日已尽.
Yè yǐ lín, rì yǐ jìn.
Night has come, day has ended.

花已谢, 花瓣已凋零.
Huā yǐ xiè, huābàn yǐ diāolíng.
Flower is spent, the petals have fallen.

不再怨叹, 不再啜泣,
Bùzài yuàn tàn, bùzài chuòqì,
No more sighing, no more sobbing,

不再畏惧, 得安宁.
Bùzài wèijù, dé ānníng.
No more dreading; peace at last.

So today we will learn a few words associated with decay and sadness.

雨 (yǔ) is rain. 下雨 (xiàyǔ) means to rain.
连 (lián) means to connect or to link. 连连 means continuously, as in the song “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”.

羞愧 (xiūkuì) means to feel ashamed or abashed.
悲凄 (bēi qī) means mournful.
知晓 (zhīxiǎo) means the same as 知道 (zhīdào), i.e. to know or to be aware of.
理睬 (lǐcǎi) means to pay attention to or to show interest in.
Here, 谢 (xiè) does not mean “thanks”. It refers to the decline or withering of the flower. 谢世 (xièshì) means to pass away.
花瓣 (huābàn )are flower petals.
凋零 (diāolíng) is to wither and be scattered about.
怨叹 (yuàn tàn) is to complain and to sigh.
啜泣 (chuòqì) is to sob or weep.
畏惧 (wèijù) is to fear or to dread.
安宁 (ānníng) means peaceful or free from worries.

儿童节快乐!
Értóng jié kuàilè!.
Happy International Children’s Day!

P.S. I hope you are all holding out all right with the social distancing. Stay safe.