An example of a Chinese “character” can be found at the top of this page (my last name).
According to the American Heritage dictionary “symbol” is defined as “something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible”… which is clearly NOT the case when it comes to [...]

I think this is the best request I’ve gotten so far…  lol…  Jerri from North Carolina requested the Chinese translation for “you are dumb” as a prank gift for someone on a t-shirt”…  taking a little bit of creative license, the following technically translates as “you’re a fool” or “you fool.”  haha.

…  where the first [...]

Michelle requested the Chinese translation for “father”…  man, we’re on a roll with these loving, heartfelt requests.  *sniff sniff*  lol.

…  where essentially the first character means “father” and the second character means “dear” (as in “my dear wife”…  and erhm, no I’m not married!).
Want to see these characters embroidered on a women’s or unisex t-shirt?  Or on [...]

Marc from Texas put a little twist on the previous request for “bear” and requested the Chinese characters for “white bear.”  (Another term of endearment, perhaps?…  well, aren’t y’all just adorable?  lol.)

…  where the first character means “white” and the second character means “bear”…  also translates as “polar bear.”
Want to see these characters embroidered on [...]

Scott from Texas requested the Chinese characters for “Tang Soo Do” (another martial art), which is the Korean way of pronouncing the following characters.

…  where essentially the first character refers to the “Tang Dynasty,” the second character means “hand,” and the third character means a “way” or “method.”  So loosely, it translates as “the way [...]

The term “kanji” technically refers to Japanese writing, while the term “hanzi” refers to Chinese writing.
The Japanese originally had no writing system and borrowed from Chinese script to come up with their own.  As such, you will notice most characters are essentially the same in both systems, with some slight stylistic variations… and for the [...]

Cool, we’re on a roll with creative requests…  woo hoo.  Matt from Virginia requested the Chinese characters for “shark sword.”  See below.

…  where the first character means “shark,” the second character means”fish,” and the third character means “sword.”
… tho I’d really like to know what a “shark sword” is exactly.  Google came up with zilch, [...]

Chrissy from Massachusetts requested the Chinese translation for “friendship.”  There are a couple of possibilities that immediately come to mind…  but the one I like is as follows.

…  where essentially the first character means “friend” and the second character insinuates “sentiment” or “affection.”
… don’t I feel all warm and fuzzy now?  What a nice request… [...]

Tonray from Illinois asked for the Chinese translation for “strength” or “power.”  There are several 1 or 2 character variations that immediately come to mind, but the simplest and most direct one is as follows.

Want to see these characters embroidered on a women’s or unisex t-shirt?  Or on a women’s or unisex tank top?  Click the appropriate preceding link. [...]

Erica from Pennsylvania requested the Chinese characters for “crazy beautiful” as in “she was just CRAZY beautiful”…  *bits lip*…  and FINALLY!  A request with a little bit of creativity.  *yawn*  I was starting to get a tad bored…  *zzzzzzzz*…  *wakes up*

…  where essentially the first character translates as “crazy” and the second character translates as [...]