Chinese Hand Signals Counting to Ten

In Chinese culture hand signals are commonly used for counting from 1 to 10.

To remember the hand signals for counting, use the following mnemonics:

Chinese hand signals for the number, one.

Imagine pointing to a trophy that you won (one). There is only one finger you would use to point to it:

Chinese hand signals for two, three, four and five are now just logic.

Once you have the hand signal for number one, what finger could possibly be next in an English speaking culture?

It can only be:

Once you have the number two, what finger could possibly be next?

It can only be:

Once you have the number three, what finger could possibly be next?

It can only be:

The only thing left is to open the thumb to make five.

Chinese hand signal for the number six.

The Chinese signal for the number six is the gesture Europeans use for the table telephone on desks.

But to associate that gesture with six, imagine a six sided dice used on the phone:

Chinese hand signal for the number seven.

The Chinese hand signal for the number seven looks like a bird hand puppet.

And if you take your hand out of the puppet, you get a seven.

Chinese hand signal for the number eight.

The Chinese hand signal for the number eight looks like a gun.

Imagine a spider with eight legs using a gun.

Chinese hand signal for the number nine.

The Chinese hand signal for the number nine looks like a 9.

Chinese hand signal for the number ten.

The Chinese hand signal for the number 10 looks like a cross:

Imagine ten pin bowling under a church's cross.

Another way of remembering the hand signal in Chinese for ten is a crossed finger is the following mnemonic:

10 in Roman Numerals is X

Just like the crossed fingers.

Summary.