Monday, November 03, 2008

How do you say "Bling" in Chinese?

I got the neatest gift from Uncles Joe and Dave a couple of months ago. They sent me a piece they had picked up back in the dawn of time, from an ancient Chinese man selling jewelry on the beach in San Francisco. The jewelry was composed of found and reclaimed items. They decided it was time for the necklace to have a new home, and sent it to me.


Dave says the long pieces, such as the one pictured below, are finger tips. But the rest of the components are more mysterious.



Dave made this remark about you guys - you readers, that is. He said "You seem to have some quite intelligent people who read your blog - ask if one of them can translate any of the Chinese characters."

It was very tricky to get good pictures, especially of the shiny bits, but can any of you Intelligentsia shed some light here?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Sunmi were to pop by the blog she might be able to tell you some of them, as she knows some Chinese (along with her native Korean).

I, however, can simply say oooh, how pretty!

Penny said...

That's a cool necklace.

Anonymous said...

No light to shed, but *oboy* that is a beautiful piece! I love the story that comes with it, too, and the fact that it's made from found/reclaimed pieces. YuM!!

Brenda said...

Beautiful! I can't help with the translation, but can check with a co-worker if no one else bites.

Anonymous said...

Alas, the only Chinese I speak is swear words I learned from watching a lot of Firefly - and I don't know how to spell any of them.

knititch said...

that is a great necklace. my great aunt who was an eccentric used to wear her happi coat in the vain hope that it said something dirty in chinese. i suppose it said happiness but didn't mention it.

Annalea said...

While I may not know Chinese, I have a brother who does. ;o) He served a mission for two years in Taiwan, and here's what he had to say:

"The characters are in the ancient style, but the main pieces means "blessing" or "good fortune" the Chinese is "ZHU FU." The bottom picture is just that a picture. I don't believe the symbol means anything, its just decoration. Kind of like a yingyang sign. It may have meaning, but I'm pretty sure it is not a word.

Dave"

Isn't that neat? Have a great night!