In China, an educated person has to know 8,000 characters or more - a daunting task by any measure. Meanwhile, Western students struggle to learn a few hundred of them. How much easier it is to learn, when you have a clue as to the origins and hidden meanings of the symbols!

An enthusiastic educator and a highly esteemed scholar in Chinese calligraphy explores ancient life in China and shows how the characters derived from early pictograms. He presents groups of words together with glimpses of early life, opening our eyes to Asian traditions and concepts as well as the words to describe them.