On the Character: 构

The character that brings blueprints into reality

从造房子到造梦，从无到有，搭建物质和精神双重世界

Constructing a wooden palace without a single nail was no miracle in ancient China—people had been doing it for nearly 7，000 years. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River， the Neolithic Hemudu people adapted to the region’s wet climate by constructing stilt houses from wood and bamboo. They were the earliest known users of mortise-and-tenon （榫卯 sǔnmǎo） joints， a joinery technique that later became a central feature of traditional Chinese architecture. These precisely carved wooden components fit together securely without the need for nails， allowing homes to be elevated， kept dry， and protected from pests.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that the Chinese character for “build” or “construct，” 構 （gòu）， is rooted in wood. Its earliest form， seen in seal script from around the first century BCE， features the wood radical， or 木 （mù）， on the left， and 冓 （gòu） on the right—itself resembling interlocking wooden beams and providing the character’s pronunciation. The traditional form of the character was later simplified to the 构 used on the Chinese mainland today.

In the Huainanzi （《淮南子》）， a wide-ranging compendium on philosophy， politics， and science compiled in the second century BCE by Liu An （刘安）， a Han dynasty （206 BCE – 220 CE） prince， and his court scholars， a description of prehistoric settlements appears to correspond with archaeological discoveries at Hemudu.

“In ancient times， the people dwelt in marshes and nested in caves，” Liu writes. “In winter， they could not endure the frost， snow， fog， and dew; in summer， they suffered from the sweltering heat and swarms of mosquitoes and gnats. Then the sages stepped up， building structures of earth and wood to create houses （筑土构木，以为宫室 zhùtǔ gòumù， yǐ wéi gōngshì）—with beams above and eaves below—to shelter them from wind and rain， to shield them from cold and heat， and thus the people found peace.”

In modern Chinese， 构 is commonly used in phrases involving both literal and abstract concepts. One example is 构成 （gòuchéng）， meaning “to form” or “to make up，” for instance： 山水和人家，共同构成了美丽的乡村。（剩余3589字）