Hanmoji Handbook
HAN CHARACTERS + EMOJI = HANMOJI! If you can understand emojis, then you can learn Chinese. This colourful handbook from MIT Kids Press is a fun and memorable introduction to the Chinese language and a fascinating window into how languages evolve, ideal for readers 12+.
Even though their dates of origin are millennia apart, the languages of Chinese and emoji share similarities that the average smartphone user might find surprising. These “hanmoji” parallels offer an exciting new way to learn Chinese – and a fascinating window into the evolution of Chinese Han characters, how language is shaped by technology and what the parallel lives of Chinese
and emoji can tell us about the future of language.
Packed with fun illustrations and engaging descriptions, The Hanmoji Handbook is entertaining, accessible and educational – as well as a quirky, visual gift book for inquisitive readers.
Jennifer 8. Lee is a vice-chair of the Unicode emoji subcommittee and cofounder of Emojination, a grassroots group that advocates for more inclusive and representative emoji. She is also a former New York Times reporter, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, and producer of the documentaries The Search for General Tso and The Emoji Story. Jennifer 8. Lee runs the Plympton literary studio.
An Xiao Mina is a technologist, writer and artist whose work has been featured in the New York Times, the Economist, the Atlantic, and Hyperallergic. She was a research fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and she works at the technology nonprofit Meedan, and is the author of Memes to Movements.
Jason Li is an independent designer, artist and educator. His practice revolves around promulgating bottom-up narratives, exploring networked technology, and helping people live safely on the internet. His works have appeared at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and on the BBC. He is an editor at Paradise Systems and a member of Zine Coop.