I Learn Chinese Through My Liking of Detective Stories, Riddles and Poetry

Why do I learn Chinese？ It is because I like detective stories， riddles and poetry.

You may ask me what is the relationship between them？ Well. Let me explain.

Many years ago I chanced upon a detective novel Judge Dee Mysteries whose protagonist is a great judge in the Tang Dynasty. I immediately became immersed in the strange mysterious world described in the novel. The book written by a Dutch diplomat who had lived in China for many years， and based on an ancient Chinese novel， vividly depicts the social structure in the Tang Dynasty， details of investigation of every case as well as Judge Dee’s wisdom and courage. In the Tang Dynasty， Judge Dee was not only a representative of the centralized authority， i.e. representing the emperor， but also a magistrate and judge， who had to discover the minutest detail in everything and make the final decision. At the time of the Tang Dynasty， the West was mired in the Middle Ages when our kings could neither write nor read， and our social structure was imperfect. The world described in the novel， though far away from me， attracted me deeply and spurred me on to know more. I thought that to understand the formation of Chinese characters might be the key to this world.

Then， I bought a book about Chinese characters that explained how they evolved from simple pictographs to the present abstract form.

Thus， I also found a world of riddles. The Chinese characters are like riddles： the answer found through all kinds of clues is the meaning of the word. Here I give some examples.

The Chinese word 電腦 （computer） is composed of two characters 電（electricity） and 腦 （brain），meaning electric brain. The word 口水 （saliva） is formed by combining two characters口 （mouth） and 水 （water）， meaning water in the mouth. The character 島（island） is composed of two characters鳥 （bird） and 山 （mountain）， suggest-ing 島 （island） is the place birds fly over. It is a happy journey of discovery for me every time I seek to tease out the meaning of a character or word.

Then， what does poetry have to do with my learning Chinese？ I find that the formation of Chinese characters or words itself is a beautiful poem. The head of a dragon that can spit out water is 龍頭 （tap）. The character I like most is 秋 （autumn）， composed of 禾 （standing grain） and 火 （fire）， meaning the rice field glows like fire. Autumn is the season that dyes mountains and fields golden.

Of course， there are still many elements of Chinese that I have not yet mastered. I find it very difficult to understand the four tones and pronounce “qu”，“ju”， “ch” and “ts” clearly.

To me， Chinese is always a new poetic world that I expect to discover.