Chinese Character “HE” for the Philosophy of Harmony 和谐

The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony began at 8:08 a.m., on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008. The exact time was picked by organizers because of the meaning of the number eight to the Chinese. It represents luck, prosperity and wealth. It was an appropriate number, apparently, as the opening ceremony and the Olympics in general have painted a picture of the new China: increasingly prosperous, powerful, harmonious and open. 　

A major theme of the Olympics has been “harmony.” During the MovableType show of the performance, the Chinese character of “He” or 和 was shown three time. 和 is written in Pinyin Chinese as He, but it is pronounced more similar with the English word: Her.

Indeed, this has been the overriding theme of the Chinese Communist Party for a number of years. China aims at building a “(和谐社会hexie shehui) harmonious society ,” which means a number of things: shrinking the wealth gap between the rich and the poor, improving relations between humanity and the environment, and a peaceful world order-something especially important, given that experts say China is likely to be the world’s dominant power within a few decades.

The interpretation of the characters “和谐 (hexie)”: “he 和” consists of two parts: ‘mouth’ and‘millet’. The ‘mouth’ and the ‘millet’ components of the ‘he’ character demonstrate that everyone has food to eat; the ‘xie 谐’ character indicate that everyone has words to speak. Interpreting ‘hexie’ (harmony) in this way is not only coincidence, but is the pleading of a China in transition, a pleading to “properly solve the problems of the people’s livelihood and democracy” in order to bring about basic ‘hexie’ (harmony).

Here are common expressions and proverbs with Chinese character “he 和” prepared by ChineseHour teachers. If you have any problems in using these popular Chinese　expressions, please turn to Chinese teachers at www.chinesehour.com for immediate help any time of the day.

和谐 héxié, harmony / harmonious

和平 hépíng, peace

和谈 hétán，peace talks

和好 héhǎo, become reconciled

和平鸽 hépíng gē, peace dove

和气生财 héqì shēngcái
Harmonious relationship leads to good fortune.

和为贵 hé wéi guì
Harmony is most precious. Peace is to be cherished. (Confucius)

君子和而不同 jūnzǐ hé ér bùtóng
Gentlemen seek harmony but not uniformity. (Confucius)

天时地利人和 tiānshí dìlì rénhé
Good opportunity, favorable geographical location and support from the people.

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