Is Genesis hidden in ancient Chinese characters?
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In short: Chinese characters are built from smaller components, and a number of the oldest characters combine components in ways that mirror the Genesis account of creation, the garden, the fall and the flood. Chinese Writing Wonders by Pastor Stéphane Chauvette presents these characters in full colour, component by component, beside the biblical narrative.
How Chinese characters are built
Unlike an alphabet, Chinese writing uses characters assembled from smaller meaningful parts called radicals. The character for "good" combines woman and child. The character for "rest" combines a person and a tree. Because the components carry meaning, the way the ancient scribes combined them tells you something about what they knew and believed when the script was formed, some four thousand years ago.
The observation
In the twentieth century, Christian readers of the oldest characters noticed something. The character for "boat" is made of vessel, eight and mouth (persons): eight people in a vessel, which is the number in Noah's ark. The character for "to covet" is a woman beneath two trees. "Forbidden" is two trees and a command. "Righteousness" is a lamb over the word for me or I. "To create" combines speak, dust, life and walking. Read one after another, the components tell the opening chapters of Genesis.
What Chinese Writing Wonders does with it
Pastor Stéphane Chauvette's book takes the strongest of these characters and lays each one out visually: the complete character, its components in colour, and the Genesis passage beside it. It is 42 pages, fully illustrated, and written to be understood by a reader with no Chinese at all. A longer Bible College manual on the same subject exists for students who want the full course.
Why it matters
If the earliest Chinese knew the events of Genesis, that is independent testimony to the account from a civilisation far from Israel, recorded before Moses wrote. The book presents it as a wonder rather than a proof: evidence that the knowledge of the one God and of the fall was once widespread, and an unusual way into the Genesis text for readers who think they know it.
A fair caveat
Linguists debate individual etymologies, and the book is honest that some characters are clearer than others. Its claim rests on the pattern across many characters rather than on any single one, and it invites the reader to look at the components and judge.
Where to read it
Chinese Writing Wonders is published by Moriah Publications, also available in a bundle with The Marvelous Trinity and in the eight-book A Word For Today bundle.
Read next
- Chinese Writing Wonders by Pastor Stéphane Chauvette
- Chinese Characters, Bible College manual
- About Pastor Stéphane Chauvette
Frequently asked
Which Chinese character shows Noah's ark?
The character for boat, 船, combines the components for vessel, eight and mouth or persons, which proponents read as the eight people saved in the ark.
Do I need to read Chinese to understand the book?
No. Every character is broken into its components with colour illustrations and plain English explanations.
Is this a proof of Genesis?
The book presents it as evidence and as a wonder, not a proof. Its weight is in the pattern across many characters.
Where can I buy Chinese Writing Wonders?
From Moriah Publications, the official publisher, shipping from Canada.