A few months ago, a 70-year old grandpa from the US had heart surgery in China. He said it’s only one-tenth of the costs in the US. After the operation, he received many Chinese netizens’ concern and good wishes. Why has he received so much attention?
几个月前，一位70岁的美国爷爷在中国做了心脏手术，他说这只是美国的十分之一。手术后，他收到了很多中国网友的关心和祝福。为何他受到了如此多的关注呢？
Because he had a deep affinity with Chinese characters and is known as Uncle Hanzi（Chinese Character）.
因为他和汉字有一段不解之缘，中国朋友们亲切地称他为汉字叔叔。
Nowadays, more and more foreigners are learning Chinese, and they find Chinese characters is the most difficult part. While Richard Sears came to China across the ocean and spent nearly 30 years learning Chinese and studying the culture of Chinese characters, and found a related website called Chinese Etymology.
如今，越来越多外国人在学习中文，他们觉得最难学的部分便是中国汉字。但理查德先生远渡重洋来到中国，耗用近30年时间学汉语和研究汉字文化,并创立了汉字字源网。
The website he created（他创建的网站）：https://hanziyuan.net/
More recently, he has been working with a company to develop character CARDS to animate the evolution of Chinese characters.
近期，他还与某公司合作开发字源卡片，以动画形式生动展示汉字的演变。
His experiences
他的经历
Richard was born in 1950 in a small town in the western STATE of Oregon.
1950年，理查德先生出生在美国西部俄勒冈州的一个小城。
Richard’s family with him
理查德先生和他的家人们
In 1972, he, at the age of 22, bought a one-way ticket to Taiwan and began learning Chinese.
1972年，22岁的他买了一张去台湾的单程机票，开始学汉语。
“I didn’t fall in love with Chinese characters then,” he recalls. “I really wanted to learn Chinese, because one in five people in the world spoke Chinese. I hope I can learn Chinese and know more about the world.”
他回忆说：“当时我并没有爱上汉字，我的确希望学会中文，因为全世界有五分之一的人在说中文。我希望能够通过学习中文，认识更大的世界。”
In 1994, he suffered a heart attack, underwent four surgeries, and spent his fortune accumulating more than 6,500 primitive forms and logic of Chinese characters from ancient Chinese books and archaeological data.
1994年，他心脏病发作经历四次手术，散尽家财，从中国古籍和考古资料汇总积累了6500多个汉字的原始形式和原始逻辑。
In 2002, the “Chinese Characters Resource Network”, which he founded, was quietly launched.
2002年，由他创办的“汉字字源网站”悄然上线。
In 2012, he joined Beijing Normal University as a contemporary teacher to gain a chance to stay in China.
2012年，他到北师大当代课老师，以取得长留中国的机会。
In 2017, he was invited to appear on TV show The Reader and The first class of the new semester.
2017年，他受邀参加了《朗读者》《开学第一课》等节目的录制。
He is also often involved in public welfare campaigns to popularize Chinese characters.
After years of study on Chinese characters, Uncle Hanzi is so familiar with the characters that he often draws them off the top of his head. He believes what he has done can help foreigners better understand Chinese characters.
汉字叔叔对这些汉字熟悉到信手拈来，他在讲解中常常会将古汉字不假思索地画出来。他认为自己所做的一切， 能够帮助外国人更好地理解汉字。
He said：”Chinese people rarely think about where characters come from. Chinese is their mother tongue, they can remember and learn it easily, but for foreigners, it is very difficult to use this method. Why should we memorize 5000 complicated symbols? Why is the stroke of a Chinese character like this? I want to tell you the history of Chinese characters, so that they can understand how Chinese characters came from, so that Chinese characters are no longer complex symbols, but small stories one by one.”
他说：“中国人很少思考汉字是从哪里来的。中文是他们的母语，他们可以轻易地记住、学会，但对于外国人而言，用这样的方法非常困难。为什么要背5000个那么复杂的符号?一个汉字的笔画为什么是这样的?我想从汉字的演变历史讲给大家听，让他们能够明白汉字是怎么来的，这样汉字就不再是复杂的符号，而是一个一个的小故事。”
To be sure, it’s still a long way to go for his further research, but his humanistic sensibility always gives us spiritual strength.
诚然，他的研究还有很长的路要走，但这种人文情怀总能给我们精神力量。
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