Learning Chinese Of The Meaning Behind Colors

By Author: james toma
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When you are learning Chinese culture, you could find that Chinese have developed a rich culture around the use of color, especially in Chinese learning. On Chinese lessons, you can learn something about the knowledge of colors in Chinese. Below we will explain the significance of three colors (red, white, black) in Chinese culture:
First, something you'll no doubt immediately notice with any exposure to the culture, Chinese people like the color red very much. Red is seen everywhere in China, from the decorations in large festivals, to small good luck charms displayed in storefronts. Red is basically regarded as the color for happiness and luck. For example, nowadays we'll say that someone's "红了 (hóng le)," which means that the person becomes popular and greatly admired.
To balance the love of red, Chinese typically have an aversion to the color white. In China, white represents death and decay and can also hint at doing something aimlessly. Nowadays, people commonly use the expressions: "白吃白喝 (bái chī bái hē)" meaning to freeload, "白来了 ...
... (bái lái le)" meaning to arrive with geting nothing, or "白等了 (bái děng le)" which means to wait for something that, in the end, never comes.
The last color we'll focus on today is black, which carries a particularly complex meaning. On one hand, it means solemnity and integrity, such as when used as "脸谱 (liǎnpǔ)" which is an important makeup application used in Beijing opera. Here black is used to show the virtuous and dignified nature of a character. On the other hand, black conveys a grave and frightened outlook on life because of an implied lack of light. Some examples of not-so-pleasant uses of black are "黑手 (hēi shǒu)," which means a puppet master, or someone manipulating others behind the scenes, "黑社会 (hēi shèhuì)," an underground criminal organization, "黑名单 (hēi míngdān)" meaning to blacklist someone and "黑心肠 (hēi xīncháng)" which means black hearted, or lacking a conscience.
Additionally, there are many other colors with important meanings in Chinese culture; for example, yellow can mean to mess something up, or to ruin a particular situation. With a deeper understanding of these colors, we can continue our studies to understand Chinese culture better.
In Chinese lessons, we can learn many, many things, and gain a lot of fun. Learning Chinese is really a very interesting thing. In the process of learning Chinese, on the one hand, we can improve their Chinese communicative competence: on the one hand, we can understand the Chinese traditional culture. Do you want to take Chinese lessons online? Are you interested in learning Chinese culture? Do you need some help from professional Chinese teachers? Come and join us. Welcome to visit http://www.echineselearning.com/