Good Characters, Inc. Blog

For thousands of moms in Sichuan, China, the day after Mother’s Day will be remembered as their worst day ever. On that day, Monday May 12, 2008, a 7.9 earthquake took the lives of their children.

If you know someone who has lost a love one, the most common way to express sympathy is to say, “Qing Jie Ai,” pronounced cheeng jee-eh eye.

Qing (cheeng) means please. Jie Ai (jee-eh eye) means to restrain one’s grief and accept the change.

For anyone interested in numbers and symbolism, this quake, registering nearly 8 on the Richter scale, has a lot that can be talked about. The number 8, traditionally a symbol for prosperity and good luck in the southern part of China, has not been lucky so far for China this year. The quake struck 88 days before the Summer Olympics is scheduled to begin in Beijing; the official start is slated for 08-08-08, at 8 p.m. Some researchers linked the quake to a shift of the Tibetan plateau to the north and east. The day of the quake was the birthday of Lord Buddha in China, which is the eighth day of fourth lunar month. The epicenter was in Sichuan Province, which is, literally, the place of four (si) rivers (chuan).

Mu-Qin-Jie Kuai-Le

Mu Qin (pronounced moo cheen) is a mother.

Jie (pronounced jee-eh) is a festival day or holiday.

Kuai Le (pronounced kwie-luh) is happiness, joy, pleasure, delight, or rejoicing.

So Mother + Day + Happy, pronounced moo cheen jee-eh kwie luh, Mu Qin Jie Kuai Le is how you say “Happy Mother’s Day” in Mandarin Chinese.

A distinct feature of the mother “mu” character is presence of two dots. They are said to represent two nipples of a breast-feeding mother. If you look at the ancient Chinese characters you can see a resemblance between the “mother” and the “female” characters. A female character with two dots becomes the mother character. Picture a mother feeding and embracing a baby in her arms. The bottom part of the ancient characters look like legs in a sitting position. The resemblance is less obvious in the modern character.

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