鄉 Stroke Order

鄉 xiāng 1. Generally refers to areas outside cities: 鄉村 (countryside); 窮鄉僻壤 (remote rural areas). 2. One's place of origin or hometown: 家鄉 (hometown); 故鄉 (ancestral home); 鄉井 (village well); 鄉里 (1. a place where one’s family has long resided; 2. people from the same hometown); 鄉黨 (local fellow townsmen); 鄉試 (local examination). 3. A basic administrative unit in China, subordinate to a county or below. 1. (Pictophonetic interpretation. Based on oracle bone script, resembles two people sharing food. "鄉" and "饗" originally were one character, depicting two people sitting facing each other sharing a meal. The original meaning is to entertain others with food, which is a former character of "饗"). 2. "鄉" is borrowed as a name for administrative regions (English: township). 3. Refers to regions below the county level from the Tang and Song dynasties to the present, with varying scales throughout history. 4. Rural areas or countryside (English: countryside; rural area; country). 5. Hometown or ancestral home; refers to one's original home when abroad (English: native place; home village). 6. Place or location (English: place). 7. A certain surreal realm (English: an unreal delightful country). 8. People from the same place (mentioned when in a foreign location) (English: villager). 9. Used as a verb, pronounced xiàng. Meaning "to face" (English: face to). 10. A surname. Historical References: 1. From "Shuowen": 鄉, refers to the place awarded to the people based on the distance from the nation. 2. From "Zhou Li": Five states as one township. 3. From "Guang Ya": Ten cities as one township, which is three thousand six hundred families as one township. 4. From "Li Ji": Practice customs based on seniority. 5. From "Zhuang Zi": Traverse to a township. 6. From "Zuo Zhuan": The townspeople said, "What concern do we have with the meat eaters?" Examples: 1. 鄉薦 - recommended candidates for the imperial examination during the Tang and Song. 2. 鄉科 - local examination; 鄉貢 - scholars selected from the prefectures to attend the examination. Further Meanings: 1. Location or place (English: place). 2. A surreal realm (English: unreal delightful country). 3. Villagers from the same hometown (English: villager). 4. To face (English: face to). 5. A surname.