Chinese Character ‘Xi’ for Learning: a Little Bird Practicing Flying

Cangjie was sent down to China from the heavens to create Chinese writing, he was born with four eyes. This portrait of Cangjie is an 18th century painting held in the National Library of France. Public domain, combination image compiled by Epoch Times

The Chinese character 習 (xi) means learning or practicing. In Oracle bone script, the earliest ancient Chinese writing, it is written like this:

There are two feathers on the top, representing the two wings of a bird flying. Underneath is the sun, referring to the bird practicing flying in the sky.

A baby hawk does not fly well yet, so it needs to keep practicing and strengthening its wings before it becomes a high-flying hawk.

When Cangjie, the inventor of Chinese writing, created this character, he passed on a message to us at the same time: in learning anything, we need to keep practicing until we master it and reach perfection.

The upper part of 習 is the independent character 羽, meaning feather. The lower part is another independent character, 白, meaning white and brightness, symbolizing the sun beaming with rays.

Thus, the character 習 brings us a vivid image of a bird flapping its wings, practicing flying under the full sun in the sky.

A bird flies in the sky at sunset. Fotolia