给孩子的汉字王国

by Cecilia Lindqvist, 林西莉, 李之义 ( Translator)

《给孩子的汉字王国》由瑞典汉学家林西莉以图文并茂的形式为孩子讲述中国文字的起源和特点，主要选取一些与人的生活有关的字，按章讲述，如人与人类，水与山，家畜，车、路和船，农耕，酒和器皿，麻与丝、竹与树、工具与武器，屋顶与房子，书籍与音乐等，同时分析和讲述中国人的生活方式和风俗习惯 ，加深读者对文字的理解。市场上关于汉字的书很多，但基本上都是中国作者写的。作为一个外国人，林西莉对每一个汉字都充满了好奇，比如为什么人们把自来水的开关称之为“龙头”？为什么人们把怀孕叫做“有身子了”？“身”和“孕”有什么关系？为什么许多中国人见了面不问“你好”，而问“你吃了吗？”等等。书中只讲述了200多个“基本汉字”，它们大多是中国人最早创造使用的汉字。可以说，这是一本孩子学习汉字的通俗易懂的入门书。

296 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2016

About the author

Cecilia Lindqvist (Chinese: 林西莉, Lin Xili) was a Swedish sinologist. She was a professor and wrote several books on China, becoming one of the few authors to win the August Prize twice.

Reviews

[Ellen]

I'm always fascinated about the origins of Chinese text, and have bought quite a few books that said they will provide that understanding. However, none reached a fraction of the depth that Cecilia Lindqvist has reached in this book, nor did any put in a comparable effort, or is written so beautifully. Many critiques I read before I decided to read this book have expressed a sense of amazement, perhaps some degree of regret at the same time, that someone who is not a Chinese scholar would be able to understand Chinese characters, history, and culture so deeply and make such beautiful connections among them in a way we have never been taught through our school years, or through the recent rush to pickup traditional culture under an empty ideology vision. The book was not originally written for children, but it's Chinese version is positioned as a Children's book. I would say it is a very satisfying read for adults who is interested in Chinese culture and language and its origins. If you are a Chinese and have learned the characters everyday when you were a kid, you would definitely have many WOW moments reading this book, and say "THAT is why it is written this way!"

The English version of this book is titled "China - Empire of Living Symbols".

[Chen Qu]

也是教孩子认字的书