开场
kāi chǎng · HSK 7
to start
🎬 开场 = 开 (open) + 场 (scene/venue) = the opening of a show
开 kāi means to open; 场 chǎng is a venue, scene, or staged event. Put them together and you get the opening act, the start of a performance or event.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.
场 — earth 土 + 昜 (bright/rising)
Originally a flat open ground used for sun-drying grain or for ritual offerings, hence 土 'earth' as the meaning component. 昜 supplies the sound and hints at an open, sunlit space. The meaning broadened to any open area or venue, and as cháng it still refers to a threshing floor or a session/spell of something.