Asian Art Outpost

Adventures in Asian Art



Buy a Jesus Chinese/Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

We have many options to create artwork with the Chinese characters / Asian symbols / Japanese Kanji for Jesus on a wall scroll or portrait.

Quick links to words on this page...

  1. Jesus
  2. Jesus Christ
  3. Christ
  4. Christian / Disciple of Christ
  5. Disciple of Christianity
  6. Christianity / Christian
  7. God of Zion / God of Abraham...
  8. Word of God / The Gospel
  9. Resurrection / Re-Birth

Jesus

yē sū
耶
穌

This is simply the name "Jesus" transliterated into Chinese. These characters hold a pronunciation in Mandarin that is closer to the real and original Hebrew Yeshua, instead of the incorrect way we have always pronounced Jesus in English with a hard "J" sound. While this name sounds like the real "Jesus" in Chinese, Christians in China are more likely to say "Christ" (Jidu) which holds more meaning than just sound.

If you are Latino and have been given the name "Jesus", this is also how to write your name in Chinese.

Jesus Christ

yē sū jī dū
耶
穌
基
督

This is the full version, with the name "Jesus" being the first two characters and the meaning of "Christ" as the last two. You can't get more specific than this when referring to the Messiah.

Christ

jī dū
kirisuto
기독
基
督

This how to write "Christ" in Chinese characters, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji. This is the word used in the Chinese Union Bible (the only readily-available translation of the Bible into Chinese that I know of - published about 100 years ago). For Chinese Christians, this is the most common way to refer to Jesus Christ.

This is also the way that "Christ" is written in Japanese. But since the Japanese language is very flexible about the sounds that can be assigned to various Kanji, these characters have been assigned a pronunciation that sounds a lot like "Christ" or actually closer to the original "Christos". In Japanese (if you don't know how the Romaji shown above in the gray box works) it sounds like "key ree sue toe" using English words/sounds. Say those four words really fast and you'll get it.
It should be noted that only Japanese Christians will be familiar with this word.

This word is best defined, read and understood with the characters together, but if you take this word for Christ apart, the first character means "fundamentals" or "foundation". The second character can mean "leader" or "boss".

Christian / Disciple of Christ

jī dū tú
kirisuto
基
督
徒

This is a very strong and direct word in Chinese for "Christian".

The literal translation of the first two characters is "Christ". The last character means apprentice, follower, or disciple. Altogether these three characters mean "Christ's Disciple" or "Christ's Apprentice". This is a pretty cool title to hang on your wall if you are a devout Christian.

Also used by Japanese Christians (but may be unfamiliar to non-Christian Japanese people).

See Also...  Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham

Disciple of Christianity

jī dū jiào tú
kirisutokyouto
基
督
教
徒

This is the most verbose (longest) word for "Christian" in the Chinese and Japanese languages.

The literal translation of the first two characters is Christ. Third Character means "Religion" or "Teaching". The last character means "apprentice" or "disciple".

Altogether these three characters mean "Christ's Teaching Disciple" or "Christ's Religion Apprentice".

Note: The last two characters are sometimes translated together as "follower (of a religion)", so you could also say it means "Follower of Christ".

This four-character title makes it very clear what you are talking about in Chinese.

See Also...  Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham

Christianity / Christian

jī dū jiào
kirisutokyou
기독교
基
督
教

This is the Chinese, Japanese and Korean word for "Christianity". Just as in English, this word is often used to mean "Protestant" but includes Catholics in the true definition.

It is the word used to refer to the whole "Christian religion" or "Christian Faith" and therefore it can be translated as "Christianity". However, used as an adjective in regards to a person, it would translate as "Christian". But more like saying "His religion is Christianity" rather than a noun form.

If you break it apart, the characters mean Base/Foundation Leading/Supervising Religion/Teaching. It makes more sense in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The first two characters together are translated as "Christ". So you can also say this means "Christ's Religion" or "Christ's Teachings" when directly translated, or in reverse, "The Religion of Christ" or "The Teaching of Christ".

Notes: The last character has a slight difference in one stroke - however, in calligraphic form, this will not be apparent. This entry can easily be read by any Korean person who knows Hanja characters (Chinese characters used in Korean).

See Also...  Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham

God of Zion / God of Abraham
The Judeo-Christian God

shàng dì
joutei
상제
上
帝

This is how Chinese Christians and Jews refer to God. Yes, there are Chinese Jews whose ancestry dates back to Jewish traders on the silk road. Most have left China for I presume, Israel now. There are also plenty of Christians in China of both the Protestant and Catholic variety. However, the churches are basically run by the government, and the Chinese Catholic church does not recognize the Pope.

Oddly, in my experience, I found the Chinese Protestant church to be much less political compared to Baptist and other Protestant churches that I have attended in America.

This is also the typically-used title for God in Japanese.
However, while you may find this term in old Korean dictionaries, it is an obscure, and rarely-used title for God in modern Korean.

See Also...  Christianity | Jesus Christ

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Word of God / The Gospel

fú yīn
fukuin
복음
福
音

This is the Chinese, Korean and Japanese word for "Gospel" or "Word of God". This is a specifically Christian word in Asia (not used for any other religion).

The first character means "blessing", "good fortune" or "good luck". This first character is a special character used throughout China to bring good tidings and fortune - especially during Chinese New Years. The second character means "sound", "noise" or "news".

Together, these characters create a word that means "The Good News" or "The Sound of Good Fortune".

When read by a Chinese or Japanese person, this word is always perceived as "The Christian Gospel", "Word of God", or even "The Voice of God".

See Also...  Christianity | Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham

Resurrection / Re-Birth

fù huó
hukkatsu
부활
復
活

This is the Chinese, Japanese and Korean word for resurrection or rebirth. Basically this means "return to life".

It is the term used in most Asian Bibles to refer to the resurrection of Christ. In Japanese, it is sometimes used to mean a Christian Revival. In some context it can mean resuscitation.

See Also...  Christianity | Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "medium size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form of art alive.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.


A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.



See: Our list of specifically Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls. And, check out Our list of specifically old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese

Title
Characters 
Simplified
Traditional
Japanese Romaji
(Romanized Japanese)
Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Jesus耶稣
耶穌
n/ayē sū
ye su
yeh su
ye1 su1
yesu
Jesus Christ耶稣基督
耶穌基督
n/ayē sū jī dū
ye su ji du
yeh su chi tu
ye1 su1 ji1 du1
yesujidu
Christ基督
基督
kirisutojī dū
ji du
chi tu
ji1 du1
jidu
Christian / Disciple of Christ基督徒
基督徒
kirisutojī dū tú

Disciple of Christianity基督教徒
基督教徒
kirisutokyouto
kirisutokyoto
jī dū jiào tú
ji du jiao tu
chi tu chiao t`u
ji1 du1 jiao4 tu2
jidujiaotu
chituchiaotu
chi tu chiao tu
Christianity / Christian基督教
基督教
kirisutokyou
kirisutokyo
jī dū jiào
ji du jiao
chi tu chiao
ji1 du1 jiao4
jidujiao
God of Zion / God of Abraham / The Judeo-Christian God上帝
上帝
joutei
jotei
shàng dì
shang di
shang ti
shang4 di4
shangdi
Word of God / The Gospel福音
福音
fukuinfú yīn
fu yin
fu2 yin1
fuyin
Resurrection / Re-Birth复活
復活
hukkatsu
hukatsu
fù huó
fu huo
fu4 huo2
fuhuo

If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why I spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Jesus" listings above.
If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich.

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