Thousand
Overview
Thousand marks the scale beyond the countable: a thousand li is a journey, a thousand years is a span no person sees, and both are conventional rather than measured.
Meaning
Thousand is the conventional number of great quantity — thousand-li journeys, thousand-year plans, thousand-character classic.
Traditional Interpretation
Sources use thousand for scale in the fixed expressions, and the number is always doing figurative work.
Related Concepts
FAQ
What does thousand symbolize in Chinese tradition?
Thousand is the conventional number of great quantity — thousand-li journeys, thousand-year plans, thousand-character classic. Thousand marks the scale beyond the countable: a thousand li is a journey, a thousand years is a span no person sees, and both are conventional rather than measured.
Why is thousand treated as significant?
The reading usually rests on sound and on cosmology rather than on quantity. Thousand is the conventional number of great quantity — thousand-li journeys, thousand-year plans, thousand-character classic. The thousand-character classic is the notable exception — a text with exactly a thousand characters, none repeated, which makes the number literal for once.
How is thousand read in Chinese tradition?
Sources use thousand for scale in the fixed expressions, and the number is always doing figurative work. It is grouped under Water (水) in the five-element system.
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