A photo recently went viral on the Chinese twitter-like social media platforms of Weibo and Wechat depicting a prediction for the outcomes of the FIFA World Cup using Chinese characters.
In the photo, red strokes singled out within Chinese characters reveal four Chinese more characters: one, two, three and four. The original characters are actually the words for Germany, Argentina, Holland and Brazil.
[yī] 一 one [dé guó] 德国 Germany [èr] 二 two [ā gēn ting] 阿根廷 Argentina [sān]三 three [hé lán] 荷兰 Holland [sì] 四 four [bā xī] 巴西 Brazil
Though the trick is somewhat farfetched, some characters have a reasonable structure whereby the components explain the whole. Take [yíng]”赢”(win) for example, the character has five parts, each of which tells you what characteristics you should possess if you want to win.
Five parts: [wáng] 亡( conquer/deceased/die/flee/lose) Meaning a sense of crisis. [kǒu] 口 (mouth) Referring to communication skill. [yuè]月( flesh in ancient Chinese) Referring to health. [bèi]贝 (treasure or money in ancient times) Meaning material base or money. [fán]凡 (ordinary/common) Referring to peace of mind or a balanced mood.
The shape of some characters is similar to their meanings. For Example:
[mù] “木” means tree. The shape symbolizes the tree’s top, branches and trunk. [lín] “林” symbolizes two trees standing together, so this means trees or woods. [sēn] “森” symbolizes three trees standing together. The numbers three, six and nine in Chinese implies a numerous amount or many, so this character is used to mean forest and is usually combined with ”林”.
