RedStarOverChina

How many dialects are there and how mutually intelligible are they? Like N.Italian-S.Italian or more like Italian-Spanish...?

I take it you speak Chinese? Which dialect? Mandarin, Cantonese? I am interested to learn about Chinese but confess I know very little about the language. I am a little familiar with Japanese but I know it's unrelated- although the kanji are the same are they not?

Ok, thanks. Good to know that.

Thank you for that information! Greatly appreciated.

But are all three characters thus still in use (I thought they were all considered to be in the modern script)?

革means to change, and 命 in modern Chinese means lives or fate.

However, in its original meaning 命 is supposed to be as in 天命, or Heaven's Mandate.

In other words, to be a 革命者 is to be one who changes the Mandate of Heaven. The phrase 革命 first appeared in the Book of Change. It reads: "(King) Tang Wu changes the Mandate of Heaven". He overthrew the legendary Xia Dynasty some 3,500 years ago.

So I guess in this context, fate, rather than lives, is the more appropriate translation.

Moreover, individual Chinese characters may have its inherent meanings, they has long been lost, and in so many cases work just like alphabets to compose words. Few Chinese persons would have paid attention to the fact that 革命者 is actually three words...to most it's just three alphabets that "spelled" out a word.

Yes, would you say this is a correct way to transcribe "revolutionary"? I thought the literal meaning to be "he who lives by/for change (as in societal/fate, indeed)."

congrats on modship.

Is the name of the book "a biography or Zhou Enlai" or?

where did you get the quote in your signature?