Radical 28-1土 Tǔ, earth

Radical 28-1土 Tǔ, earth

“The seed that sprouts out of the ground is like a child that holds on to mother earth. The two are inseparable.”

The radical 土 Tǔ, is made up of two parts, the upper part shows a sprouting seed and the lower part shows the earth. Together they have the meaning of “earth, ground or land”.They transmit the idea that all living things depend on the earth and cannot be separated from her.

The saying 皇天后土 Huáng tiān hòu tǔ “Emperor Sky and Queen Earth” is used in literature to indicate the totality of things, the natural world, and as a way of expressing great respect for Mother Nature herself.

Furthermore, the radical土 Tǔ also has the meaning of “local, native, indigenous”, “mankind”. Here are some commonly used words: 土產Tǔchǎn local speciality 土著Tǔzhù aboriginal 土話Tǔhuà local dialect.

The theory behind the五行Wǔ xíng, (the five elements/movements), around which Chinese philosophical thinking revolves, is regarded by many as an attempt to understand the phenomena and the dynamic transformations observed in the universe.

In the most ancient diagrams depicting this theory, TU-Earth is placed at the centre of a cross, made up of the other elements because the Earth was considered quintessentially the mother of everything. In more recent versions of the diagram, the five elements/movements form a circle or a pentagram and Earth comes after fire and before metal. This also corresponds to the end of summer, the so-called “fifth season” in which fruit is harvested.

A famous Chinese proverb says:
兵來將擋, 水來土掩
Bīnglái　jiāngdǎng, shuǐlái　tǔyǎn
“A great general can stop a war, just as a great flood can be blocked by earth.”

A clever and skilled person can resolve problems efficiently. The proverb also means, “every difficult situation requires a precise (or adequate) solution.” We have to be able to adapt or be flexible, not rigid, in order to find good solutions to problems.

During a flood, as well as a huge quantity of water, large amounts of mud and other sediments flow into the areas that are close to rivers. Disasters can be averted however, if flood embankments are constructed which contain the waters and allow the land to absorb the excess water.

For every situation, for every circumstance, for every problem, we can find an appropriate solution in order to obtain maximum benefit and minimum damage.
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©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi  Translated by Neil Berry