龟 guī tortoise; turtle

Alternative traditional form of character: 龜

Note

A simplified picture of a tortoise, the simplified form has a head, shell and tail, the traditional form has two legs
Number of strokes: 7

Sounds same

归 guī (to return) 圭 guī (jade tablet)

Different tone

鬼 guǐ (ghost) 贵 guì (precious)

< Previous 归 guī Next 圭 guī >

Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Stroke order for character 龟, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚

Also

龟 guī tortoise

Mon 5^th Nov

Rhinos and Tigers at risk

The use of rhino horn and tiger bones in traditional Chinese medicine has fueled the decline in the numbers of these animals in the wild. With increasing affluence in China the demands have mushroomed so it is strange that the government is relaxing controls. An outright ban is to be replaced with the restriction that the rhinos and tigers must be 'farmed'. This is strange because China has recently banned all ivory because it was clear that the restriction that permitted some ivory imports was being abused. The partial ban on tiger and rhino parts must surely have the same weakness- it is easy to forge papers that claim they come from a legal source.

Of course the efficacy of these products in traditional medicine is totally unproven and so there is no justification for the Chinese government to allow greater supply. Animal bones and hair (the rhino horn is made of keratin like hair not one) are no different between different species and so there can be no scientific basis for wanting to hunt these critically endangered species.

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