Adventures in Asian Art
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...
![]() ![]() 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. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 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. ![]() ![]() 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 a very strong and direct word in Chinese for "Christian". See Also... Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This is the most verbose (longest) word for "Christian" in the Chinese and Japanese languages. See Also... Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham ![]() ![]() ![]() 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. See Also... Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham 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. See Also... Christianity | Jesus Christ ![]() 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). See Also... Christianity | Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham ![]() This is the Chinese, Japanese and Korean word for resurrection or rebirth. Basically this means "return to life". See Also... Christianity | Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham |
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)
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.
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.
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.
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/a | yē sū ye su yeh su | ye1 su1 yesu |
| Jesus Christ | 耶稣基督 耶穌基督 | n/a | yē sū jī dū ye su ji du yeh su chi tu | ye1 su1 ji1 du1 yesujidu |
| Christ | 基督 基督 | kirisuto | jī dū ji du chi tu | ji1 du1 jidu |
| Christian / Disciple of Christ | 基督徒 基督徒 | kirisuto | jī 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 | fukuin | fú 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.
Copyright Oriental Outpost 2002-2012 - All Rights Reserved
Image Use Policy Privacy Policy