Send in this character to the rescue
“The alarm comes at dawn/ At night, we reinforce the Great Wall (朝来羽书急，夜救长城窟),” wrote the poet Zhangsun Zuofu (长孙佐辅) in the eighth century of the high-strung border defenses of the Great Tang empire (618 – 907).
The character 救, meaning “rescue” or “save,” is formed by the radical 求 (qiú) meaning “to ask for” on its left side and the radical 攵 (pū), on the right, meaning “to tap.” This combination literally implies insistently asking for help from others. It appears as in bronze inscriptions, using the older forms of 求 and 攵 (primitively written as 攴). This combination has remained unchanged for thousands of years.
One of the earliest appearances of the character is in the Book of Songs (《诗经》), a collection of poetry from the eleventh to sixth century BCE: “Whenever my neighbors are in need, I’ll offer help in word and deed (凡邻有丧，匍匐救之).”
On the Character: 救 is a story from our issue, “Disaster Warning.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Dr. Huang Weijia is a senior lecturer in Chinese language at Boston University and a distinguished research fellow at Shaanxi Normal University. He has taught courses in modern and classical Chinese and Chinese culture at Harvard University, Brown University, and the Middlebury College Summer Program. Dr. Huang has authored a series of successful textbooks and reference books in the US, Chinese mainland, and Hong Kong, including the Readings in Chinese Culture series. He has also written numerous articles on cross-cultural and Chinese studies for newspapers and magazines in the US and China.
Aaron Hsueh is a Chinese editor at China News Service and a former intern at The World of Chinese. He graduated from the University of International Business and Economics in July of 2021. Being a travel and culture enthusiast and a sports fanatic, he writes mainly on Chinese culture and language.
