Americans are fond of referring to their country as "the greatest nation on earth". Until recently, I didn't believe any country deserved that description. But today I think there is a strong contender for the title.

China is the world's oldest living civilisation. It has recovered from over a century of colonial oppression and lifted its citizens out of poverty. As its growth continues, China is poised to become the world's largest economy and a technology leader that is second to none. By 2030, I believe it will be an indisputable fact that China is the greatest nation on earth.

I need to understand China, from a Chinese perspective. This is my journey.

Monday, 19 July 2021

When The Chinese Invented The Lightbulb

I was reading a text on Du Chinese yesterday, and the passage ended with 你觉得呢? nǐ jué dé ne? ("What do you think?")

I was struck by the symbol 觉 jué, which I learnt could be used to mean "think", "feel" or "awaken".

I thought it looked like a person wearing a cap that was shining bright. A lightbulb!

Remember that the ideograph for "person" is 人 rén, a minimalistic stick figure with just two legs to represent a human being.

We can see the two legs representing the person in 觉 jué too. The person is wearing a hat, and the hat is radiating something. That looks so much like a lightbulb, it's uncanny.

I guess, in addition to the Four Great Inventions of paper, gunpowder, the compass and the printing press, the Chinese also invented the lightbulb (at the very least, the concept of a light source above a person's head to represent a thought or idea).

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