Every year, our local Chinese newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao, runs a competition to sum up the year with a Chinese character. This is possible and interesting because every Chinese character is an ideogram, which is to say, it represents an idea. There are approximately more than 50,000 Chinese characters, each with its own individual meaning (sometimes meanings). Piece the characters together and you will form words 词语 that may carry a very different meaning.
In case you are wondering (or sweating), you only need to know about 2000 commonly used characters to be able to read most Chinese texts. What a relief!
Contrast it with English, an alphabetic language which uses 26 letters to form 44 sounds or phonemes. Individually, each letter does not carry any particular meaning. There is nothing special or feline in the 'c', 'a' and 't' of the word 'cat', except to make sounds based on English phonic rules. This is why there will not be an 'Alphabet of the Year' for English, only Word of the Year (trivia: Dictionary.com 's Word of the Year is 'woman').
Back to the event by Lianhe Zaobao that has been running for 11 years, this year's character is 涨 zhǎng, which literally means rising water level (hence the 氵) . It was voted to be the Word of the Year because of the rising prices due to inflation, and the rising interest rate that was meant to tackle it. How much do you resonate with this character? Which character would you choose to sum up your 2022?
As 2022 is coming to a close, I thought it would be great to encourage and engage everyone to reflect about how your year has been.
Hence, we are starting a writing competition for both parents and children! Here's how you can participate:
Write about a Chinese character which sums up your 2022.
Explain the reasons, thoughts and feelings behind your choice.
Post it in your Instagram or Facebook feed.
Tag @molaoshi.sg (for Instagram) or Molaoshi Chinese Learning Centre (for Facebook) and include the hashtag #Molaoshi_ChineseWord2022
Ensure your Instagram or Facebook accounts are not set to private so that we can read your post, or take a screenshot of it and whatsapp us at +65 81134241.
We have prepared prizes for the top 3 of the following categories:
Parents
1st Prize: 24-essay marking and 6 Zoom consultation (15min each), worth at least $180.
2nd Prize: 12-essay marking and 3 Zoom consultation, worth at least $90.
3rd Prize: 6-essay marking and 2 Zoom consultation, worth at least $45.
* Feel free to share it with up to 3 other parents if you won the essay-marking and consultation package!
* All packages are valid for 6 months (Jan to Jun 2023).
Pupils and Students
Rank / Level (2022) | Primary 1 to 3 | Primary 4 to 6 | Secondary 1 to 5 |
1st Prize | $40 cash gift | $50 cash gift | $60 cash gift |
2nd Prize | $20 cash gift | $25 cash gift | $40 cash gift |
3rd Prize | $10 cash gift | $15 cash gift | $20 cash gift |
Important Pointers
Entries will be assessed based on content (how creative, original and deep your post is) and language (how expressive and clear you write). Judges' decisions are final :)
The post must be your original idea and NOT plagiarised from other sources.
Word limit is 800 Chinese characters.
Entries must be posted by 31 December 2022, 11:59pm.
Winners will be announced by 9 January 2023.
By submitting the entries, you give consent to us to use your content for education and/or marketing purposes. All identities or identifiers will be removed to protect your privacy and personal data.
This competition is only open to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents.
For more details, feel free to reach out to us at +65 81134241 or info@molaoshi.sg !
We look forward to reading about your thoughts and reflections for 2022!
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