Charm of Chinese Culture: from Characters to Literature

The Permanent Mission of China and the UNOG Cultural Activities Team invites you to celebrate the  2018 Chinese Language Day in the Palais des Nation through the exhibtion “Decoding the Chinese Characters”. Twenty-five basic Chinese characters will be decoded in various patterns to explain Chinese perception of the world and their values. The exhibition will be complemented by an interactive workshop with touch screen games, video clips, and demonstrations of Chinese calligraphy on the day of the opening event on 16 April, led by a Chinese linguist. Books of contemporary Chinese literature and its translation are also presented in the exhibition.

About Chinese Language Day:

Language Days at the UN seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organisation. The dates for the Language Days were selected by the UN Department of Public Information for their symbolic or historic significance in connection with each language.

The date for the Chinese Language Day was selected from Guyu ("Rain of Millet"), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie.

Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 20 April.