upward; up; to advance; to try to improve oneself; to make progress
向 · 6 strokes
Depicts a mouth (口) in a closed space (宀) making an echo sound. Based on the original meaning "echo; sound", now written as 響. The meaning later shifted to "direction" and "toward".
上 · 3 strokes
Originally a small line or dot above a longer line, indicating "up". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from 二 (two). Opposite of 下.