chuan Posted by paul on February 25, 1998 at 13:16:59:
One day I sat with an old Taiwanese man, middle aged actually, who recognized me as an American. He followed a mix of traditional Chinese religions, but made it a point of teaching me about the Chinese word, "chuan," which may or may not have any foundation. "Chuan," the character, is composed of three parts, or radicals. The first is "chou" or "jou" depending on the romanization you use, which means a boat or floating device. The other two are more vague because of the possible "morphing" that many characters have undergone through the centuries. One resembles "kou," meaning mouth or opening. This word, "kou," is also used in the modern word for "population." The other radical in question that the man described to me is "ba," meaning "eight." The three radicals, "jou,""kou," and "ba," in combination may therefore be loosely construed to mean "eight people in a boat." After explaining the word that is commonly used in modern Chinese to mean boat, the man asked me if I remembered the story of Noah.