At first glance, linking China to the biblical narrative may appear entirely abstract. However, a closer inspection of Chinese writing reveals that the earliest Chinese people were likely familiar with the key events from the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis.
Chinese Pictograms and Detective Work
The Chinese language is not based on an alphabet. Its characters are both abbreviations and combinations of pictographic symbols.1 The simplest symbols are merged to create more complex ones that represent compound words.1,2 Certain pictograms, along with their associated meanings, offer a glimpse into China’s enigmatic past, a history that remains largely unknown. These pictographic clues, always present yet long overlooked, have been concealed for thousands of years.
Language develops over long periods, meaning that the present language cannot offer direct insight into China’s linguistic history. The core written Chinese vocabulary was established long before modern times. As a result, exploring the origins of Chinese pictograms demands a forensic approach.3 Detective methods, including historical cause-and-effect analysis, play a crucial role in revealing how the early Chinese, during the development of their written language, carefully selected symbols to convey the meanings of words.
How Chinese Pictograms Were Created
The creators of the earliest Chinese writing system deliberately chose symbols that reflected their cultural and conceptual understanding. What were the key ideas that shaped the creation of the Chinese written language around 4,500 years ago? Furthermore, why do the meanings encoded in these ancient pictographs appear to resonate with the themes found in the Book of Genesis?
When examining the biblical account of human origins, it appears that the Chinese civilisation emerged not long after the dispersal of people from the Tower of Babel. The early Chinese settlers likely retained knowledge of humanity’s beginnings, from the creation week to the scattering of languages at the Tower of Babel. They probably considered the key events of the first eleven chapters of Genesis as significant to the human story. As a result, many of the ancient Chinese pictographs reflect a worldview shaped by the preservation of these foundational historical events.
Biblical Motifs in Ancient Chinese Writing
Themes and connections within Chinese pictograms related to events spanning from creation to the Tower of Babel include:
- God the Creator (one component of the word ‘create’ is ‘speak’);
- The creation of heaven and earth, including a garden;
- Man created from the ground;
- Man given stewardship responsibilities;
- Warning represented by God, a hand, and a tree;
- Man and woman symbolizing completeness;
- Greed involving trees and a woman;
- Temptation represented by a garden, trees, and the devil;
- Death involving hands, a tree, and a mouth;
- Thorns symbolizing weeds and punishment;
- Alienation depicted through man, woman, and garden;
- Goodness encompassing a woman and ‘seed’;
- Sacrifice represented by God, a hand, and blood;
- The ‘Lord’ denoted by God and blood;
- ‘I’ plus sheep equals righteousness;
- Trust/dependence represented by God covering the pair with clothing;
- Violence shown by an elder brother with a mark;
- Flood involving widespread water, with ‘widespread’ expressed by the number eight, unity, and earth;
- ‘Boat’ depicted as a vessel or container and eight people;
- Humanity plus one mouth/speech representing unity, but this unity combined with weeds (symbolizing a curse) equals ambition, and ambition plus clay/bricks equals a tower;
- Rebellion/confusion represented by language.
The list extends much further, with various scholarly sources offering numerous visual examples of these patterns associated with Genesis.1,2 Additionally, it is noteworthy that the seven-day week is symbolically represented as a ‘returning seventh day’, which serves as a reminder of the creation week.4
Theory and Practice: A True Story
Does this have practical apologetic value? Indeed, it does. Dr. James J. S. Johnson experienced this firsthand.5 In 1990, he met a PhD student from communist China, brought up on atheistic evolution, who asked: ‘Why should I believe in the biblical God and that the Bible is true and God is just, if China never received the biblical truth about God to believe in?’6
Dr. Johnson, aware that the Chinese character for the word ‘flood’ incorporates the symbol for the word ‘eight’, asked the student to write the word for ‘flood’ and explain the significance of its components. The student complied, yet he was unable to clarify why the number eight appeared in the character’s representation of the flood.
Dr. Johnson then shared 1 Peter 3:20 with him, pointing out that Genesis 6–10 describes the survival of exactly eight people in the global flood. The student, reflecting on this, observed that the Chinese character for ‘boat’ also contains the number eight. It was at this moment that he began to recognise that his own language held clues suggesting that the early history of the Bible had once been familiar to the Chinese. This insight led him to accept the God of the Bible as his personal God.
Evidence of Biblical Truth
Ancient Chinese pictograms serve as silent witnesses to God’s influence on Chinese history. They offer evidence that the earliest generations of the Chinese people were aware of the events described in Genesis. Over time, this significant truth was forgotten within the nation, yet it has been preserved in the form of simple pictographs that still attest to the reliability of Scripture today.
By the way, we recommend reading the articles:
- Consciousness – A Mystery for Science, A Gift for Humanity
- The Laws of Logic and the Existence of God
- What Do Astronauts Have To Say About God?
- The Fourth Dimension – Part 1: The Shape of the Universe
- The Fourth Dimension – Part 2: Exploring the Intersection of Science and Spirituality
Footnotes
- Kang, C. H. and Nelson, E. R. (1979). The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House; Nelson, E. R., Broadberry, R. E., and Chock, G. T. (1997). God’s Promise to the Chinese. Dunlap, TN: Read Books Publishers, p. 11.
- Voo, K. S. and Hovee, L. (1999). The Lamb of God Hidden in the Chinese Characters. Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, 13(1), pp. 81–91.
- Johnson, J. J. S. (2012). Genesis Critics Flunk Forensic Science 101. Acts & Facts, 41(3), pp. 8–9; Johnson, J. J. S. (2014). Is the Present the “Key” to Our Past? Acts & Facts, 43(6), p. 19.
- The Bible, New King James Version, 1982, Genesis 2:2–3.
- https://www.icr.org/james_johnson/, accessed 25 March 2022.
- Johnson, J. J. S. (2010). Understanding Effective Biblical Apologetics. Acts & Facts, 39(4), pp. 8–9.
Compiled from: J. J. S. Johnson, ‘Genesis in chinese pictographs’, Acts&Facts, Institute for Creation Research, March 2015, pp. 18-20.
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