The Chinese word for “miss”, as in young lady (Xiao jie) -— if said in a different tone, is not a nice word.
There is a classic set of phrases using the word “ma”. “Ma ma qui ma, ma man, ma ma ma”, When translated it reads -— “Mother rides the horse. Horse slow. Mother scolds horse”.
Fascinating language!!
Yes. Chinese is today - especially in Chinese writing, very complex in how it has developed over centuries, and more so than in English it is complex and vaired in how words got and have the Chinese script for writing them.
To write excellent Chinese very fluently can require knowledge of up to 3,000 Chinese characters.
I think written Chinese will remain a “classical” written language, like Latin remains today, but in time, I think the practicalities and international intercourse of the advancing modern world, will cause English to be the adopted primary spoken language in China, just as Chinese script was once the official form of writing in many nations around China, and remains so (though modified) in Japan today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters