ON THE CHARACTER

These days， you’re more likely to use the virtual net than handle a real one， but the character 網 remains a handy reminder of the days when more fish slipped the hunter’s net than savvy internet users jumped over firewalls. Though 網 still bears a strong resemblance to its original， oracle bone form ， its form has actually rounded the circle from simple to complicated， and back to simple.

Things started getting knotty when the pronunication aid 亡 was added below 網， turning it into 罔. The confusion was heightened when 罔 also came to be wrongly used as a negating word meaning 沒有 (don’t have)， as seen in the idiom 置若罔聞 (zh# ru6 w2ng w9n)， which literally means “to act as if there is no news，” or more colloquially，“to turn a deaf ear to.”

To avoid confusion， the radical 糸was added to 罔’s left side， to form網. 糸 means “thread” or “yarn，”and was used to indicate the kinds of nets that were used for hunting and fishing. Meanwhile， the 罔 without a 糸continued to be used to express 沒有 as well as “deceive.”

Though the meaning was now clear， 網’s strokes had multiplied like bunnies in heat， making it a huge pain to write. The movement to simplify Chinese characters in the 50s provided the perfect opportunity to rectify the unecessary complexity， and 網 reverted to the elegant simplicity of 網.

Just as in English， there are a ton of fishing-related expressions that use 網. To wit: 張網 (zh`ng w2ng， to throw out your net)， 落網 (lu7 w2ng， be caught by a net)， 漏網之魚 (l7u w2ng zh～ y%， the fish that slipped through the net， or“the fish that got away”)， 魚死網破 (y% s@ w2ng p7， the fish dies and the net gets torn， a lose-lose situation)，一網打盡 (y# w2ng d2 j#n， to catch all in one net， to round up in one fell swoop)， 網開一面 (w2ng k`i y! mi3n， leave one side of the net open， give the wrongdoer a way out). Another one is “臨淵羨魚， 不如退而結網”(l!n yu`n xi3n y%， br% tu# 9r ji9 w2ng)， which means， “Standing near the water and admiring fish isn’t as good as going back and weaving a net.” Though 網 was originally a noun， it also came to be used as a verb. For example: “網到一條大魚” (w2ng d3o y# ti1o d3y%)， which means to net a big fish.

The metaphorical meanings were expanded through sayings like， “天網恢恢，疏而不漏” (ti`n w2ng hu～ hu～， sh$ 9r b% l7u). This literally means that “the net of heaven has large meshes， but it lets nothing through，”meaning that evil cannot escape punishment. And then there are your more prosaic nets， like 蜘蛛網 (zh～zh$w2ng， spiderweb)， 鐵絲網 (ti0s～w2ng， wire netting)， 排球網(p1iqi%w2ng， volleyball net) and so on. Things that resemble the criss-cross organization and structure of nets are also called 網. For example: 水利網(shu@l#w2ng， irrigation network)， 交通網(ji`ot4ngw2ng， transportation network)，通訊網 (t4ngxnw2ng， communications network)， 商業網 (sh`ngy-w2ng， trade network)， 關系網 (gu`nx#w2ng， interpersonal network) and so on.

Since the internet， or 網絡， burst onto the scene， more and more“virtual nets” have been popping up in people’s lives. For example， 社交網(social network)， 婚戀網 (marriage network)， 購物網 (shopping network) and so on. You’ve also got lots of web-related words like 網吧 (w2ngb`， internet café)， 網址 (w2ngzh@， web address)， 網頁 (w2ngy-， webpage)， 網速 (w2ngs， internet speed) and 網警(w2ngj@ng， internet police). These days， even if you aren’t a 網蟲 (w2ngch5ng，“internet bug” or internet addict)， you’re probably at least a 網民(w1ngm!n， a regular internet user); even if you haven’t had a 網戀 (w2ngli3n， cyber romance)， you’ve got a few 網友(w2ngy6u， internet friends). If you work a white collar office job， you definitely like 網購 (w2ngg7u， online shopping). You can use 網銀 (w2ngy!n， internet banking) to manage your finances; in your spare time you can study at a 網校 (w2ngxi3o， online school). There’s really no aspect of the tangled web of our online lives that this character doesn’t reach!

By lao huang and xIao chu (黃偉嘉， 儲丹丹) tranSlated By lIz tung (董怡)