It was late at night only a couple days prior to Christmas.  The house was fairly neat, most of the decorations were up, gifts ready, but I was still baking cookies.  It was then that I heard from the China Room a muffled "Nǐ hǎo."  In response, I replied "Nǐ hǎo" and went into the room to find out what object was saying hello.  It seemed that is came from the shelf.

  I walked over to the shelf where I thought that I had heard an object saying "Nǐ hǎo" and soon discovered it was from the carved Chine wood seal.

I realized that the top of the wooden seal was still attached, which caused its "Nǐ hǎo" to sound muffled.  Therefore, I took off the top.

As soon as I took the top off, the seal said, "Xièxiè," which means thank you.  I responded by saying, "Bù kèqì," which means you're welcome.  Thus began a nice conversation in English, since I had about reached my limit of words that I remembered in Mandarin. 

I began by asking why the seal wanted to talk with me.  The seal replied, "Well, Christmas is a very festive season for many people around the world.  It is a time for love, peace, and joy.  I thought that it would be a nice time to wish you well during this season and the coming New Year."

I acknowledged its best wishes and wished it well also.

"What do you know about the use of Chinese seals?  You certainly have a great deal of objects from China.  Everything in this room and many other things scattered around your home are from China."

I replied that I just know that seals were used in China and many other places around the world as a signature, whether it was on official documents or just ordinary letters.     

The seal agreed and said, "You have a large calligraphy picture on the other side of the room."

Then the seal added, "Notice that there is a seal in the lower left.  Interestingly, in all Chinese seals, they are almost always red in color."

I looked closer, and the seal was indeed red.

"The process of using seals in China started nearly four millennia ago during the Yin Dynasty.  In China, we call seals, Yin-Zhang or chop-carving.  It is considered one the four-treasured arts, along with painting, calligraphy, and poetry.

"I am a chop-carving of the English word for love, which is  in Mandarin.   Interestingly, love is a combination of the English word for friendship, which is in Mandarin and the English word for heart, which is  in Mandarin.  Therefore, love in Chinese is a loving relationship between the hearts of friends.  It seems that this should be part of the expression of this season of the year."

I thanked the Chinese seal and hoped that this season and the New Year would be devoted to relationships between the hearts of friends.  Then I returned to the kitchen and finished baking.  My cookies could also be expressions of my love. 

Talking with Objects

Visit the Talking with Objects page to read more about this topic.

12/23/15