Thread: Help with Chinese

I just picked up a "Joseph Elliot's Chinese Razor" for a song on EBite and I'm wondering what the Chinese characters on the blade mean. Anybody have any ideas? Looks like it'll be a fine shaver once I get it cleaned up a little, it's almost sharp and has a decent bevel on it already.

I'd be interested to hear whether the characters are actually part of the Chinese language as well. The vintage W&B Chinese Razor on pg 227 of the Standard Guide to Razors 3rd Edition mentions that the characters on that razor are not part of the Chinese language.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

I'd be interested to hear whether the characters are actually part of the Chinese language as well. The vintage W&B Chinese Razor on pg 227 of the Standard Guide to Razors 3rd Edition mentions that the characters on that razor are not part of the Chinese language.

Chris L

Maybe it's just meaningless decoration for a "Chinese" razor. I hope it has some meaning, though. Well, something pleasant anyway - "Drinker of blood" might be a little unnerving!

I can get you an answer on Wednesday (I'm on leave today and tomorrow, hence the delay). If you don't get it before then, PM and remind me and I'll get it. My uneducated guess is, however, it's not Chinese. It doesn't look right to me.

I know some Chinese characters from studying Japanese. The characters are sideways and though I don't know what the first means, the third character means "like" in Japanese. Not sure what it means in combination, but I can ask my wife if she can read it (she's Japanese and she studied some Chinese).

There are three characters on the face, but they are turned sideways. If the first and second characters were reversed (as they should be in Japanese--doesn't know if it's different in Chinese), it would mean "the best." Evidently, the "like" character means "good" in Chinese. The first character (the straight line) means 1 and the second character signifies rank order. All together, it should mean something like "number one" or "the best," but the order of the first two characters threw her off a bit. Hope this helps.