We have many options to create artwork with Respect characters on a wall scroll or portrait.
If you want to create a cool Respect Asian character tattoo, you can purchase that on our Chinese and Japanese Tattoo Image Service page and we'll help you select from many forms of ancient Asian symbols that express the idea of respect.
Quick links to words on this page...
Can also be a sign of gratitude
Mandarin: lǐ
Japanese: rei
Korean: 례 or 예

We show respect by speaking and acting with courtesy. We treat others with dignity and honor the rules of our family, school and nation. Respect yourself, and others will respect you.
This is also one of the five tenets of Confucius.
This character can also be translated as propriety, good manners, politeness, rite, worship or an expression of gratitude.
Please note that Japanese use a simplified version of the character for respect - it also happens to be the same simplification used in mainland China. Click on the character to the right if you want the Traditional Chinese version.
This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here
See Also... Confucius


This is how to express the ideas of respect, honor, reverence, esteem, nobility, and sometimes the state of being noble, all in one word. Most of the time this is used in the form of "giving respect", but depending on context, it can suggest that you should try to be "worthy of respect".
Although pronounced differently, the Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja are the same across these languages. This is an indication that this word is very old, and crosses many barriers and cultures in the Orient (East Asia).


This word means self-respect or self-esteem in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. It can also mean "pride in oneself".
Note: Japanese sometimes put the character for heart after these two. However, this two-character word is universal between all three languages (which is often better since more than a third of the world's population can read this version as a native word).
Mandarin: zì zūn xīn
Japanese: jisonshin
Korean: 자존심



This Japanese and Korean word means "pride" or "self-respect".
The first Kanji/Hanja means "oneself". The second can mean "revered", "valuable", "precious", "noble" or "exalted". And the last Kanji/Hanja means "heart", "mind" and/or "spirit".
While these characters make sense and hold the same general meaning in Chinese, this is not a normal Chinese word. This selection should only be used if your audience is Japanese or Korean.
See Also... Pride | Self-Reliance | Self-Control | Self-Discipline




This is a custom word list scroll created at the special request of a customer.
This is a word list (not a normal Chinese or Japanese phrase).
Please contact me before deciding to purchase this phrase.
Mandarin: dǎ pà de rén shì jiǎ de jìng pà de rén shì zhēn de














Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right
This is a proverb that seems to be aimed at world leaders or others in power. Perhaps a suggestion to avoid the practice of "fear mongering" opting instead for a policy of benevolence and justice.
An example: When the Bush administration told Pakistan they could either join America in the "war on terror", or expect some bombs to be coming their way, Bush gained this kind of "less-than-genuine respect" from Pakistanis.
Leaders in places like North Korea and even Saudi Arabia reap the same bogus respect from their own citizens.
Note that calligraphers do not like to repeat the same characters in exactly the same way in the same piece of artwork. So expect the characters that are repeated to be written in different forms in the real artwork (unlike the way they are displayed to the left).
Also known as the Five Cardinal Rules of Confucius
Mandarin:
rén yì lǐ zhì xìn
Korean: 인의예지신





These are the core of Confucius philosophy. Simply stated they are:
benevolence / charity
justice / rectitude
politeness / tact
wisdom / knowledge
fidelity / trust
Many of these concepts can be found in various religious teachings. Though it should be clearly understood that Confucianism is not a religion, but should instead be considered a moral code for a proper and civilized society.
See Also... Confucius Teachings | Ethics


In Japanese, this word means "manners", "courtesy" or "etiquette".
This also clearly means etiquette in Chinese, though the first Japanese Kanji has been "modernized" and happens to be the same as the modern Simplified Chinese version. Therefore this word will be understood by both Japanese and Chinese people, but best if your audience is mostly Japanese (Chinese people would generally prefer the ancient Traditional Chinese version).
See Also... Kindness


Courtesy is being polite and having good manners. When you speak and act courteously, you give others a feeling of being valued and respected. Greet people pleasantly. Bring courtesy home. Your family needs it most of all. Courtesy helps life to go smoothly.
If you put the words "fēi cháng bù" in front of this, it is like adding "very much not". It's a great insult in China, as nobody wants to be called "extremely discourteous" or "very much impolite".
See Also... Kindness


This version of honor is about having or earning the respect of others and about your reputation. It is the status of being worthy of honor (not to be confused with doing honorable things or specific actions - see our other "honor" listing for that).
Both modern Japanese and modern mainland Chinese use the same simplified version of the second character of honor. We will automatically use the simplified version shown to the left, unless you make a special request for the traditional second character as shown to the right (just click on that character to order the traditional Chinese version). Before WWII, both Japan and China used the traditional form, but modern Japanese and Chinese are more likely to identify this simplified form. Koreans still use the traditional form when they are not writing in their modern Hangul glyphs.
This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here
See Also... Integrity


This word can mean "pride", "self-respect" or "self-esteem". The first character means "oneself" and the second can mean revered, valuable, precious, noble, exalted, honorable or simply "pride".
I have also seen this two-character word translated as "amour propre", self-regard, and self-pride.
This word is universal between Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja written languages. It may also be understood in old Vietnamese (they once used Chinese characters as well).
Wall scroll artwork shown on this page is priced as follows:
1 character $29.88 each
2-3 characters $39.88 each
4 characters $49.88 each
5-10 characters $59.88 each
11 or more characters $69.88 each
After you select your calligraphy, our website will take you through the process of customizing your artwork.
Options for other mounting such as portraits are available for $13 less.
We also offer the services of a famous master calligrapher for a $40 fee on any scroll if you are looking for investment-quality calligraphy.
If you chose our famous master-calligrapher, you also get more choices for silk and paper colors and the option for larger artwork.
All of our calligraphy is completely done by hand in the ancient way.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to our art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Therefore, allow at least 3 weeks for delivery from the time you place your order.
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "regular size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese
| Title | Characters Simplified Traditional |
Japanese Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Hanyu-Pinyin (Romanized Chinese) | |||
| Respect (Japanese / Simplified version) | 礼 禮 | rei | lǐ li | li3 li | ||
| Respect / Honor / Esteem | 尊敬 尊敬 | sonkei | zūn jìng zun jing | zun1 jing4 zunjing | ||
| Self-Respect / Self-Esteem | 自尊 自尊 | jison | zì zūn zi zun | zi4 zun1 zizun | ||
| Prideful Mind / Self-Respecting Heart / (Japanese / Korean) | 自尊心 自尊心 | jisonshin | zì zūn xīn zi zun xin | zi4 zun1 xin1 zizunxin | ||
| Respect and Loyalty | 尊敬忠诚 尊敬忠誠 | son kei chu sei sonkeichusei | zūn jìng zhōng chéng zun jing zhong cheng | zun1 jing4 zhong1 cheng2 zunjingzhongcheng | ||
| Respect out of fear is never genuine Reverence out of respect is never false | 打怕的人是假的敬怕的人是真的 打怕的人是假的敬怕的人是真的 | n/a | dǎ pà de rén shì jiǎ de jìng pà de rén shì zhēn de da pa de ren shi jia de jing pa de ren shi zhen de | da3 pa4 de ren2 shi4 jia3 de jing4 pa4 de ren2 shi4 zhen1 de | ||
| The Five Tenets of Confucius | 仁义礼智信 仁義禮智信 | n/a | rén yì lǐ zhì xìn ren yi li zhi xin | ren2 yi4 li3 zhi4 xin4 renyilizhixin | ||
| Courtesy / Etiquette (Japanese) | 礼仪 礼儀 / 禮儀 | rei gi reigi | lǐ yì li yi | li3 yi4 liyi | ||
| Courtesy / Politeness | 礼貌 禮貌 | n/a | lǐ mào li mao | li3 mao4 limao | ||
| Honor (Japanese / Simplified version) | 名誉 名譽 | meiyo | míng yù ming yu | ming2 yu4 mingyu | ||
| Pride | 自尊 自尊 | jison | zì zūn zi zun | zi4 zun1 zizun | ||
| If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why we spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Respect" listings above. If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich. | ||||||
All custom calligraphy items are made-to-order in our little Beijing artwork-mounting workshop.
Normal delivery isjust over 3 weeksfor these handmade items.
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