The Art of Chinese Riddles: Character Riddles and Lantern Riddles

August 31, 2017-October 30, 2017
Location: Asia Collection

The art of riddles has long been an interesting part of Chinese culture. It ranges from simple word puzzles to sophisticated poetic expressions. Among various types of Chinese riddles, character riddles (字谜) are unique to Chinese language as the process of creating and solving such riddles relies entirely on the structure, pronunciation and definition of Chinese scripts, whereas lantern riddles (灯谜) are special because of their distinctive formats and connection with Chinese traditional celebrations, such as the Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. This exhibit features books on the history of Chinese riddles, their unique character riddles and lantern riddles. In addition to materials from the Hamilton Library, special thanks to Mr. Daniel Tschudi, for generously contributing his personal collection on Chinese riddles to this exhibit, and to Confucius Institute at UHM for loaning us lanterns for users to see real lantern riddles. Items that circulate in this display may be checked out. Please ask at the Asia Reference Desk during service hours: M-F, 10am-4pm.