As we prepare for Thanksgiving Day celebrations here in the United States, I’ve been thinking about expressions of thanks in Chinese culture and language. As I wrote in a post in 2018, Chinese cultural etiquette does not require expressions of thanks in as many social situations as in American culture. For those of us who have lived and worked in China, this was often a source of cultural conflict.
The most common way of expressing thanks in Chinese is xie xie (谢谢). Xie (谢) by itself means thanks. Doubling words up is a common linguistic feature of Chinese that expresses casualness of affection.
Another expression is ganxie (感谢). In this case, gan (感) means “to feel.” This one expresses a bit more intensity than xiexie.
But there is another word that is used to express thanks: gan’en (感恩). Gan is of course the same character from the previous expression, but this time it is paired with the character en (恩), which means grace. This one is much more formal, and is also a noun; gratitude, or to be grateful. Gan’en, then, means “to be grateful.”
I love that en means “grace.” To be grateful is to feel, or experience, GRACE.
Jon Bloom, writing for Desiring God, puts it this way:
Gratitude is what we experience when we perceive that what we have received is an undeserved gift of God’s grace. It is a fruit of humility; it’s inherently unselfish. We don’t feel true gratitude toward ourselves, but only towards someone else who treats us better than we deserve.
Being treated better than we deserve. That is grace!
The Southern California-based music ministry Streams of Praise has a song called “The Path of Grace” that I have long enjoyed. We used to sing it at the church I attended in Beijing.
Thanks be to God for leading us on his path of grace! May you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
As we reflect on the past year, we are filled with gratitude for all that we have been able to accomplish together. Thanks to your support, ChinaSource has reached over 100,000 individuals through our training programs and resources, and we have facilitated 50+ key partnerships aimed at strengthening the Church in China.
These accomplishments are more than just numbers; they represent lives transformed and ministries empowered. One partner shared:
The resources from ChinaSource have been instrumental in helping us equip church leaders who are facing tremendous challenges. Their training has made a lasting impact on our ability to serve our local communities.
It’s stories like these that remind us of the power of partnership and the importance of your ongoing support. Whether through prayer, financial contributions, or encouraging words, you are making a real difference.
Thank you for standing with us as we continue our mission to see the Church in China thrive. Together, we will press forward into the coming year, confident that God is using our efforts to build a vibrant, sustainable Church.
