The Chinese written language is today the only language in the world which is non-phonetic, using pictures to convey meaning. The history of the characters goes back over 3,000 years, and their impact extends over most of East Asia. This book celebrates the breadth and depth of the thousands of characters that make up the script, starting with the most simple and commonly-used, presenting one word per page from a variety of different perspectives. It looks at the many different ways in which characters are pronounced, including in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese, as well as Chinese languages and dialects, but also shows the breadth of meaning and the many different ways in which they can be written.

The characters are capsules of history and culture, and this book provides a hint of the richness that attaches to each one.