Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Lifestyle
Home / Lifestyle / Z Weekly

Whimsical takes on Chinese characters

By Gui Qian and Chen Ruize | China Daily | Updated: 2025-04-23 06:21
Share
Share - WeChat
Lena draws the Chinese character "wu" (top) as a sheep, and "kan" as a singing jellyfish. [Photo provided to China Daily]

To most people, Chinese characters may seem like random combinations of strokes and radicals. But to Lena, a 20-year-old politics major from Northern Virginia, United States, each one tells its own story.

In her eyes, the character "ren", meaning "person", resembles the muzzle of a cat, "ceng", meaning "once", looks like an angry robot, and the traditional form of "wu", meaning "vain", reminds her of a sheep.

One day, she spent just 30 minutes sketching "wu" — her first attempt at drawing a Chinese character — and posted it on Xiaohongshu (RedNote).To her surprise, the simple doodle went viral, receiving 40,000 likes overnight.

Now, with dozens of similar posts featuring her whimsical, imaginative drawings, Lena's creations have sparked conversations about language, art, and cultural exchange.

She grew up in a diverse community with a large Asian population, where she was surrounded by languages and cultures very different from her own.

"I had Chinese friends when I was a kid. Sometimes I would see their names on lunch boxes or name tags and just thought it was fascinating — this language I had never seen, which looked nothing like any of the Western languages I was used to," Lena recalled.

This early curiosity stayed with her and resurfaced in college during a course on US-China relations, which sparked a deeper interest in modern Chinese culture.

Her creative breakthrough, however, came from an unexpected place: TikTok. When discussions about banning the app began in the US earlier this year, many young people — including Lena — turned to China's Xiaohongshu "as an act of defiance".

Immersed in Chinese social media, Lena started to notice more characters that "stood out as looking like different objects".

She describes herself as imaginative and highly perceptive. "My mind is very visual," she explained. "I use imagination to help memorize things."

In addition to writing, Lena has been practicing her spoken Chinese by dubbing her videos on Xiaohongshu. The process blends creativity with practicality: She uses AI tools to translate her English scripts into Chinese, listens to the generated pronunciations, and carefully mimics them. "I didn't want to mispronounce anything," she said.

She also translates all her Xiaohongshu posts into Chinese. "I really wanted my content to be geared toward Chinese people — as a way of showing appreciation for the kindness I've received," Lena explained.

This sense of reciprocity has led to meaningful connections — she's made Chinese friends online who now chat with her about everything from daily life to local food.

1 2 Next   >>|
Most Popular
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久午夜宫电影网| 国自产精品手机在线观看视频 | a级毛片在线观看| 日本男人操女人| 嗯啊~被触手怪女性灌液漫画| 717午夜伦伦电影理论片| 成人片黄网站a毛片免费| 五月天色婷婷综合| 波多野结衣在线视频观看| 国产h片在线观看| 欧美精品www| 在线观看国产小视频| 中文字幕在线免费| 日韩精品中文字幕在线观看| 亚洲毛片免费看| 精品乱子伦一区二区三区| 国产人成视频在线视频| 亚洲色图五月天| 日批视频网址免费观看| 人妻少妇久久中文字幕| 色偷偷成人网免费视频男人的天堂 | 国产剧情麻豆剧果冻传媒视频免费| 上课公然调教h| 日韩美女中文字幕| 亚洲男人的天堂在线| 精品国产乱码一区二区三区| 国产在线公开视频| 浮力影院亚洲国产第一页| 在线视频一区二区三区四区| 二区三区在线观看| 欧美黑人粗大xxxxbbbb| 免费看黄色a级片| 色综合天天综合中文网| 夜来香免费观看视频在线| 中文字幕在线视频一区| 日韩欧美在线综合网高清| 免费永久在线观看黄网站| 萌白酱在线视频| 国产日韩欧美三级| 一本一道波多野结衣一区| 日本动漫h在线|