The Chinese character 品 and its counterpart in Japanese have different meanings and uses. While 品 in Chinese used to mean "things," it is not commonly used that way anymore. In Japanese, the character 品's meaning, pronunciation, and function were influenced by the Chinese character, which originally meant "things." Over time, the Japanese character 品 was chosen to represent the word "things" or "a thing," and this choice ended up affecting the usage of 品 in Chinese as well. The development of 品 in both languages shows how they have influenced each other's character development.