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1. Never Give In / Never Succumb / Never Lose
3. Undaunted After Repeated Setbacks
6. No Fear
8. Appreciation and Love for Your Parents
9. Guanxi
決して諦めるな is a Japanese term that informally means “never give up.”
It's also a Japanese way to say “never surrender.”
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
See Also: Tenacity | Perseverance | Hope
The first character means “eternal” or “forever,” and the second means “not” (together, they mean “never”). The last two characters mean “give up” or “abandon.” Altogether, you can translate this proverb as “never give up” or “never abandon.”
Depending on how you want to read this, 永不放棄 is also a statement that you will never abandon your hopes, dreams, family, or friends.
Persistence to overcome all challenges
百折不撓 is a Chinese proverb that means “Be undaunted in the face of repeated setbacks.”
More directly translated, it reads, “[Overcome] a hundred setbacks, without flinching.” 百折不撓 is of Chinese origin but is commonly used in Japanese and somewhat in Korean (same characters, different pronunciation).
This proverb comes from a long, and occasionally tragic story of a man that lived sometime around 25-220 AD. His name was Qiao Xuan, and he never stooped to flattery but remained an upright person at all times. He fought to expose the corruption of higher-level government officials at great risk to himself.
Then when he was at a higher level in the Imperial Court, bandits were regularly capturing hostages and demanding ransoms. But when his own son was captured, he was so focused on his duty to the Emperor and the common good that he sent a platoon of soldiers to raid the bandits' hideout, and stop them once and for all even at the risk of his own son's life. While all of the bandits were arrested in the raid, they killed Qiao Xuan's son at first sight of the raiding soldiers.
Near the end of his career, a new Emperor came to power, and Qiao Xuan reported to him that one of his ministers was bullying the people and extorting money from them. The new Emperor refused to listen to Qiao Xuan and even promoted the corrupt Minister. Qiao Xuan was so disgusted that in protest, he resigned from his post as minister (something almost never done) and left for his home village.
His tombstone reads “Bai Zhe Bu Nao” which is now a proverb used in Chinese culture to describe a person of strong will who puts up stubborn resistance against great odds.
My Chinese-English dictionary defines these 4 characters as “keep on fighting despite all setbacks,” “be undaunted by repeated setbacks,” and “be indomitable.”
Our translator says it can mean “never give up” in modern Chinese.
Although the first two characters are translated correctly as “repeated setbacks,” the literal meaning is “100 setbacks” or “a rope that breaks 100 times.” The last two characters can mean “do not yield” or “do not give up.”
Most Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people will not take this absolutely literal meaning but will instead understand it as the title suggests above. If you want a single big word definition, it would be indefatigability, indomitableness, persistence, or unyielding.
See Also: Tenacity | Fortitude | Strength | Perseverance | Persistence
This Japanese proverb literally translates as: [After having achieved a fair degree of success,] one should still try to do better.
Others may translate this as “Always try to improve,” or “Always try to be better.”
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
See Also: Never Give Up
頑強 means “Tenacious,” “Hard to Defeat,” or “Dogged.”
Alone, the first character means mischievous, obstinate, or stubborn. But it loses some of the mischievous meaning when the second character is added.
The second character means strength, force, power, or better.
See Also: Determination | Dedication | Devotion | Never Give Up
(2 characters)
無畏 literally means “No Fear.” But perhaps not the most natural Chinese phrase (see our other “No Fear” phrase for a complete thought). However, this two-character version of “No Fear” seems to be a very popular way to translate this into Chinese when we checked Chinese Google.
Note: This also means “No Fear” in Japanese and Korean, but this character pair is not often used in Japan or Korea.
This term appears in various Chinese dictionaries with definitions like “without fear,” intrepidity, fearless, dauntless, and bold.
In the Buddhist context, this is a word derived from the word Abhaya, meaning: Fearless, dauntless, secure, nothing, and nobody to fear. Also, from vīra meaning: courageous, bold.
See Also: Never Give Up | No Worries | Undaunted | Bravery | Courage | Fear No Man
Never say die
誰言寸草心報得三春暉 is the last line of a famous poem. It is perceived as a tribute or ode to your parents or mother from a child or children that have left home.
The poem was written by Meng Jiao during the Tang Dynasty (about 1200 years ago). The Chinese title is “You Zi Yin” which means “The Traveler's Recite.”
The last line as shown here speaks of the generous and warm spring sunlight which gives the grass far beyond what the little grass can could ever give back (except perhaps by showing its lovely green leaves and flourishing). The metaphor is that the sun is your mother or parents, and you are the grass. Your parents raise you and give you all the love and care you need to prepare you for the world. A debt that you can never repay, nor is repayment expected.
The first part of the poem (not written in the characters to the left) suggests that the thread in a loving mother's hands is the shirt of her traveling offspring. Vigorously sewing while wishing them to come back sooner than they left.
...This part is really hard to translate into English that makes any sense but maybe you get the idea. We are talking about a poem that is so old that many Chinese people would have trouble reading it (as if it was the King James Version of Chinese).
The Chinese Concept of Relationship and Exchange of Favors
The dictionary definition is:
Relations/relationship, to concern, to affect, to have to do with, or connection.
But there's more to it...
In China, the relationship that you have with certain people can open doors for you. Having guanxi with someone also means they would never defraud you but are honor-bound to treat you fairly (of course, this goes both ways). Sometimes it is suggested that guanxi is the exchange of favors. 關繫 / 関繫 / 關係 is more about having a relationship that allows you to ask for and expect favors without shame.
There is no concept in western culture that exactly matches guanxi, but perhaps having a social or professional network is similar.
Note that there are some variations common within Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja for this word...
Japanese tend to use a Chinese alternate form as shown to the right for
the first character.
There's also another alternate form of that first character (currently used as the official Simplified form in mainland China) which looks like the character shown to the right. It's basically the central radical of the alternate version shown above but without the “door radical” around it. In more free-flowing calligraphy styles, this version would be the likely choice for a calligrapher.
In Modern Japanese, they use the character shown to the right.
They also tend to use this same form in Korean Hanja (I've only checked this word in my Korean dictionary, but it has not been confirmed by a translator's review).
If that was not confusing enough, there is another alternate form of that second character. See right.
An Asian calligrapher of any nationality may use these forms at their discretion. However, They would tend to stick to the most common form used in their respective languages.
If you have any preference on any of these issues, please give us a special note with your order, and we'll make sure it's done the way you want.
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Never Give In Never Succumb Never Lose | 決して諦めるな | kesshite akirameruna kesshiteakirameruna keshite akirameruna | ||
Never Give Up | 永不放棄 永不放弃 | yǒng bù fàng qì yong3 bu4 fang4 qi4 yong bu fang qi yongbufangqi | yung pu fang ch`i yungpufangchi yung pu fang chi |
|
Undaunted After Repeated Setbacks | 百折不撓 百折不挠 | hyaku setsu su tou hyakusetsusutou hyaku setsu su to | bǎi zhé bù náo bai3 zhe2 bu4 nao2 bai zhe bu nao baizhebunao | pai che pu nao paichepunao |
Always Try to do Better | 更に上を目指す | sara ni ue o me za su saraniueomezasu | ||
Tenacious Tenacity | 頑強 顽强 | gan kyou / gankyou / gan kyo | wán qiáng wan2 qiang2 wan qiang wanqiang | wan ch`iang wanchiang wan chiang |
No Fear | 無畏 无畏 | mui | wú wèi / wu2 wei4 / wu wei / wuwei | |
There is always a way out | 天無絕人之路 天无绝人之路 | tiān wú jué rén zhī lù tian1 wu2 jue2 ren2 zhi1 lu4 tian wu jue ren zhi lu tianwujuerenzhilu | t`ien wu chüeh jen chih lu tienwuchüehjenchihlu tien wu chüeh jen chih lu |
|
Appreciation and Love for Your Parents | 誰言寸草心報得三春暉 谁言寸草心报得三春晖 | shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn bào dé sān chūn huī shui2 yan2 cun4 cao3 xin1 bao4 de2 san1 chun1 hui1 shui yan cun cao xin bao de san chun hui | shui yen ts`un ts`ao hsin pao te san ch`un hui shui yen tsun tsao hsin pao te san chun hui |
|
Guanxi | 關繫 / 関繫 / 關係 关系 / 関係 | kankei | guān xì / guan1 xi4 / guan xi / guanxi | kuan hsi / kuanhsi |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Never Give In Kanji, Never Give In Characters, Never Give In in Mandarin Chinese, Never Give In Characters, Never Give In in Chinese Writing, Never Give In in Japanese Writing, Never Give In in Asian Writing, Never Give In Ideograms, Chinese Never Give In symbols, Never Give In Hieroglyphics, Never Give In Glyphs, Never Give In in Chinese Letters, Never Give In Hanzi, Never Give In in Japanese Kanji, Never Give In Pictograms, Never Give In in the Chinese Written-Language, or Never Give In in the Japanese Written-Language.