In 1972, Richard Sears, a young American began learning Chinesebecause of his interest in traditional Chinese culture.Drawn to the ancientlanguage, he went to China to study Chinese in the 1990s.
In 1994, Richard Sears decided to put the ancient Chinese charactersonline. Then, in 2002, he did it. That is the beginning of the ChineseEtymology(汉字源)website." My website did not get muchattention for the next few years. Until one day in 2011, it suddenly got a lotof attention. I got a few thousand emails, and a few million visitors andpeople started calling me 'Uncle Hanzi ',"Sears said with a smile. Hanzimeans Chinese characters. He has put more than 96,000 ancient Chinesecharacters onto the website. "When I study each character, I wonder whatthe ancient Chinese thought," said Sears.
After visiting many Chinese cities, Sears learned more about Chinaand ancient Chinese culture, He said when he came to China in the last century,few Chinese could speak good English "However, you can hear English inmany places in China now. Chinese language and culture were mysterious and notknown by people in most countries then, but now, more and more people in theworld are learning Chinese, even Chinese history, traditional Chinese medicineand so on, "Sears added.
At present, the 70-year-old American has made his home in China. "WhenI die, I hope my website will live on, and I'm planning to write a book aboutmy research. This will be my gift to China," he said.
