Pride and Humility – Insights from Chinese Characters

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‘Pride’ and ‘humility’ are concepts that are on my mind just now. That’s because I’m about to swallow my pride and send out a newsletter saying (in the words of Oliver Twist), “Please sir, I want some more.” More money, that is. Just a little more.

As part of an online book club for cross-cultural workers[1], I have also been reading the book ‘Humble Roots[2]’ recently. It is all about pride and humility. It seems that God has me undertaking a unit entitled ‘Pride and Humility’ in the divine syllabus of life.

As I read about ‘pride’ and ‘humility’, it occurs to me that the corresponding Chinese phrases depict these meanings visually and powerfully.

 

骄傲 (jiao’ao) – pride

The Chinese word for ‘pride’ is actually made up of two characters – 骄傲. Each word is made up of radicals, which are pictographs with their own meaning and sounds.

骄 – jiao – the first character in the Chinese word for ‘pride’ begins with the character for ‘horse’ – 马. In English, we may say to somebody who is full of their own importance, “Come down off your high horse”. It seems that this picture of pride has crossed cultural boundaries, being present in both English and Chinese. It is not insignificant that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey on what we now call ‘Palm Sunday’ rather than on a ‘high horse’.

‘Being tall’ – 乔-is the second part of the first character in the Chinese word for pride. In her book, Humble Roots, the author cites Milton’s depiction of the temptation as including Adam and Eve reaching high for the fruit[3]. She says that reaching high is a way of getting as far from our humble roots – dirt – as possible[4]. The Tower of Babel is another expression of that, as are most towers that have been constructed in the world ever since, ranging from Asia’s pagodas to Europe’s castles to Dubai’s enormous tower, which is currently the tallest in the world.

The second character in the Chinese word for pride, 傲 – ao – also means ‘proud’. It begins with a picture of a person – 人. The top of the middle pictograph shows plenty – 丰. Beneath that is a character meaning ‘ten thousand’ – 万. On the right is a radical which, though rarely appearing on its own, means to rap or tap – 攴.

When we put the various pieces together, we see a picture of a man mounted high on a horse, all alone up there, decorated in finery suggesting riches unlimited. I imagine ‘mere mortals’ running along below, banging drums and cymbals, making a lot of noise along the way, as if to say, “Look at this great man on his tall horse!”

谦卑 (qian bei) – Humility

In contrast to the picture of pride, the characters for ‘humility’ reveal connection, mutual support, and close contact with the soil from which we are made.

‘Speech’ is how the first character begins, represented by the side radical 讠. This suggests that we are not alone, but interact with others. The second part of the first character, 兼, shows lots of mutual co-operation and interaction. See how there are two of just about everything in the pictograph? On its own, this character means to ‘unite’ or ‘combine’ or ‘connect’. Neither side is dominant – they almost (not quite) mirror each other.  Together, 谦 forms a character which means ‘modest’.

The second character in the word for ‘humility’, 卑, means ‘inferior’ when it stands alone. That is interesting considering that it is composed of three radicals, two of which suggest excellence. I like to break the radical down beyond even what Chinese dictionaries do. Up the top is a movement radical 丿which some say portrays the ‘breath of life’[5].  Under that comes the character 甲 which has a variety of meanings, including ‘the first in a list of things’.  Within that is a picture of a plowed field – 田. Below that, we see the number 10  十 which symbolizes perfection.

I like to think that the the field 田 in the second part of the character for humility 卑 reflects our humble beginnings from dirt.  In fact, the terms ‘human’ and ‘humus’ (soil) are related in English, just as they are in ancient Hebrew, where man is ‘Adam’, and soil is ‘adamah’. (See footnote 4.) In Chinese, too, the character for a man 男 also contains a field 田 as well as strength 力.

When we put all these pieces together, we get ‘humility’ – 谦卑. We see people communicating with one another through speech 讠, pulling together in mutuality 兼, as the breath of God 丿is blown into the field 田, restoring creation to perfection 十.

Jesus epitomizes humility. Though he had incredible glory and was in a very high place, he came down to earth and humbled himself even to death on a cross[6]. In doing this, he redeemed us and all of creation, restoring it to its perfect state[7]. In a mysterious way, we experience this in part now and look forward to seeing it fully in the future[8].

 

Am I reading too much into these Chinese characters? Perhaps. Yet there is no question that the meaning of ‘pride’ is vividly depicted in the Chinese characters 骄傲, just as the earthy and mutually dependent aspect of ‘humility’ is clearly depicted in 谦卑。

 

Here ends the theoretical part of the language lesson. And now, for me, comes the application part of the lesson.  I am about to send out a letter to current and potential future supporters which says, “I need your help.” If you’ve read this far, could you say a little prayer for me regarding the whole support-raising venture? Thanks so much.

 

 

 

[1] https://velvetashes.com/category/book-club/

[2] ‘Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul’ by Hannah Anderson, Moody Publishers, 2016

[3] Anderson, ‘Humble Roots’, p.68 of 209 in the Kindle version of the book

[4] Anderson, ‘Humble Roots’, p.66 of 209 in the Kindle version of the book

[5] See, for example, http://www.icr.org/article/genesis-chinese-pictographs/ accessed 5 April 201

[6] Philippians 2:6-11

[7] Romans 8:19-22

[8] 1 Corinthians 13:12