In the last week of every year, we will write a blog about the Chinese Character of the year. Here are the 2021 Chinese Characters.
Japan is the first country to choose one Chinese character to indicate the theme of the year. This started in 1995 and became a very popular event in Japan and in Asia. Other countries also choose their own Chinese character of the year to show the most important thing people think about the year. China started in 2006, Taiwan in 2008, Malaysia and Singapore started in the same year 2011. Recently, some overseas Chinese communities also started their own Chinese characters of the year, like America, France and others.
Let’s have a look at the Chinese of the year for Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore now.
Japan Chinese character of the year
This year the Japanese chose 金 (Jīn) to indicate there is much government money around. It also shows people are more interested in gold other than money.
金 /Jīn/
Gold, money
China Chinese character of the year – international
This is the only same character as 2020. It was chosen by Chinese people in China and Taiwan.
The pandemic is still the main concern of the year.
疫 /yì/
pandemic
China Chinese character of the year – domestic
This year Chinese people chose “治“ which means “rule” and “manage”. The Chinese government strengthened the central government power in 2021 and managed several big private companies. People expect a more powerful ruling.
治 /Zhì/
rule, management
China-Taiwan Chinese character of the year
Most Chinese people in China and Tawan think 2021 will be a difficult year for China and Taiwan in many aspects. So they chose “难” which means difficult.
难 /Nán/
difficult
Taiwan Chinese character of the year
Due to the lockdown in Taiwan, most people still need to stay at home and work from home. 宅 means the house as a noun, and also means stay at home as a verb.
宅 /Zhái/
house, stay at home.
Malaysia and Singapore Chinese character
This year Malaysia and Singapore Chinese chose the same Chinese character 盼 which means hope.
After two years of living with Covid and uncertainty, this is what people want to get.
盼 /Pàn/
hope
If you compare the 2021 Chinese characters with the 2020 Chinese characters, you will find people are now more positive thinking. Instead of 密 (close distance), 民 (people), 罩 (mask), 闷 (depress) in 2020, people now chose 金 (gold), 治 (rule), 难 (difficult), 宅 (stay at home) and 盼 (hope).
If you want to know all the past Chinese Characters, please visit here.
If you are interested in learning Mandarin Chinese, please join our 2022 holiday class.
Note: All the Chinese character pictures are from 汉字屋. A great website to learn Chinese characters.
You can also purchase a YCT1 Chinese character worksheet to learn how to write Chinese characters step by step.