Chinese translation

[mezentia]

Can anyone please tell me what the four Chinese symbols in the attached photo clip mean? The clip is from a larger photo of a gate in the wall at Shanhaikuan in Northern China, and was taken c1910.

[apwright]

Lots of Googling suggests that it has always (since the 15th Century?) said the same thing, namely "First Pass Into Heaven", consisting of 5 characters in Chinese.

But that region of China (Manchuria) was under Japanese control around 1910, so *maybe* (guessing here! ) in your photo it temporarily says the same thing, but in (4) Japanese Kanji characters ??

Probably a flight of fancy on my part, but it might be worth consulting a Japanese expert too!

Adrian

[inor]

One of the Chinese language experts at this free site might be able to help you:

http://www.allexperts.com/el/Chinese/

Just a suggestion.

[Richard Knott]

A Chinese colleague says that it is traditional Chinese, and that the four symbols (from right to left) broadly mean: blessing/great star/whole earth/shining; although they shouldn't be read separately. The overall message is something like 'A heavenly blessing to everyone on earth'.

Richard

[NgLiuYin]

It’s an idiom consisting of the four words luck, star, general and shine.  My rough translation is “the lucky star shines on all.”