Information about Chinese characters. (Couplets; anagrams; jokes; typos; origins, evolution; calligraphy fonts; catchphrases...) All will do.

Chinese characters (Pinyin: hàn zì, phonetic symbols: ㄏㄢˋ ㄗˋ), also known as Chinese characters, Chinese characters, and square characters, are morpheme-syllabic characters of ideographic characters. Chinese characters are the characters used to write Chinese. They are also used to write Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other languages. They are widely used in the Chinese character cultural circle and are the only highly developed characters in the world that are still widely used.

In the broad sense, Chinese characters refer to characters ranging from oracle bone inscriptions, large seal scripts, bronze inscriptions, Zhou scripts, small seal scripts, to official script, cursive script, regular script (and derived running script), etc. In the narrow sense, it refers to Chinese characters with block letters as the standard writing method. It is also a modern Chinese character commonly used today. Chinese characters were invented, created and improved by the Han ancestors in ancient times. The current precise history can be traced back to the oracle bone inscriptions, Zhou inscriptions and bronze inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty around 1300 BC. From the small seal script in the Qin Dynasty, it developed to the Libian Dynasty in the Han Dynasty, and then to the regular script in the Tang Dynasty, which became the standard handwriting font used today - block script.

Chinese characters are the longest continuously used script so far, and are also the only scripts among the major writing systems in ancient times that have been passed down to this day. Chinese characters have been the main official script in all dynasties of China. Chinese characters have developed to a highly complete level in ancient times. They are not only used in China, but also served as the only international communication script in East Asia for a long time. Before the 20th century, they were the official written standard scripts of Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam, Ryukyu and other countries. , East Asian countries have created Chinese characters on their own to a certain extent.

Origin

Archaeological Discovery

The Chinese archaeological community has successively released a series of unearthed materials that are earlier than the Yin Ruins oracle bone inscriptions and related to the origin of writing. The Jiahu engraved talisman has been measured by carbon 14 physics and has a history of about 7762 years ago (±128 years); there are also Shuangdun engraved talisman from 7,000 years ago, Banpo pottery talisman from 6,000 years ago, and Qingqing talisman from more than 5,000 years ago. There are glyphs carved from the Dun Site, characters from the Zhuangqiao Tomb Site with hyphenated sentences, symbols of pottery statues in Dawenkou, Zhu inscriptions from the Taosi Site in the Yao and Shun era, and water scripts from Xia Xu. The early bone inscriptions were a rich writing system, while the later ones were in the initial mature stage. These archaeological discoveries may be important clues to the origin of Chinese characters, or they may be the different origins of the development of various characters.

In the early 1980s, more complete writing was discovered on pottery excavated from the Xia cultural site in Dengfeng, Henan. This is the earliest written text of a definite era in our country that has been confirmed by scholars so far.

From the ancient legend of Cangjie’s creation of characters to the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions more than 100 years ago, Chinese scholars of all ages have been committed to uncovering the mystery of the origin of Chinese characters. There are five old theories about the origin of Chinese characters, namely the Jiesheng theory, the Bagua theory, the Hetu Luoshu theory, the Cangjie creation theory and the picture theory.

The theory of knotting: "Northern History·Benji of Wei" says: The ancestors of the Northern Dynasty Wei "hunted as a profession, were simple and simple, and simplified; they did not write words, they just carved wood and knotted ropes." It is recorded Before the emergence of writing, some primitive social tribes used knotting to record events such as wars, hunts, alliances, elections, celebrations, marriages, childbirth, diseases and disasters.

In the past, some scholars also inferred that "written characters were used to rule" based on the argument in "Book of Changes·Xici Xia" that "in ancient times, people were governed by knotting ropes, and later generations of saints changed them with written deeds, hundreds of officials governed them, and all the people observed them." Originated from knotting rope."

Bagua theory: The preface to Kong Anguo's "Shangshu" (a forgery, but very ancient) says: "In ancient times, the Pao Xi family was the king of the world. The government of Sheng is born from these books."

"Book of Changes": Rivers produce pictures, Luo produces books, and sages follow them. "He Tu·Jade Edition": Cangjie was the emperor, and he patrolled the south for hunting. He came to the mountain of Yangxu and came to the water of Huluo in Yuan Dynasty. The turtle carried the book, with red armor and green inscriptions, to teach him.

After uncovering the mystery of this theory, it is not difficult to find that its real core is arithmetic, which can be compared with the "Nine Palaces" algorithm. The so-called "nine palaces", according to the Chenwei family, are the eight trigrams plus the center, combined into nine (the "five" is located in the center, and can also be connected with the five elements); in the eyes of the mathematicians, the numbers are horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. , the number added together is always 15.

[2]

Cangjie coined the word: Legend has it that Cangjie was the historian of the Yellow Emperor, who was the leader of the tribal alliance in the ancient Central Plains. As society entered the stage of larger-scale tribal alliances, diplomatic affairs between alliances became increasingly frequent. There was an urgent need to establish a set of communicative symbols shared by all alliances, so the task of collecting and sorting out shared texts was left to the historian Cangjie.

"Cangjie's theory of character creation" was already popular during the Warring States Period. "Lu Shi Chun Qiu·Jun Shou" says: "Cangjie wrote books and Houji did crops." In the Qin and Han Dynasties, this legend became more popular. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi·Xu": "When Cangjie first wrote books, he was based on pictograms."

Modern scholars believe that it is impossible for a systematic writing tool to be completely created by one person. Cangjie If there is such a person, it should be the organizer or promulgator of the text.

Picture theory: Modern scholars believe that Chinese characters truly originated from original pictures. The graphics carved on some unearthed cultural relics are likely to be related to the text.

Wang Yunzhi, a doctoral supervisor at Zhengzhou University, believes that the earliest engraved symbols in China appeared at the Jiahu site in Wuyang, Henan, which has a history of more than 8,000 years. Make a comprehensive sorting of these original materials, and then sort out some clues about the occurrence and development of Chinese characters before the writing of the Shang Dynasty. However, the situation is not that simple. Except for the Zhengzhou Shangcheng site and the Xiaoshuangqiao site (more than 10 examples of early Shang Dynasty Zhu Shu pottery inscriptions have been discovered at this site), which can be directly compared with the Yin Ruins inscriptions, other Shang Dynasty The previous symbols were scattered and scattered, with many missing links from each other, and most of the symbols were inconsistent with the characters of the Shang Dynasty. There are also some symbols with strong regional colors and complex backgrounds.

Wang Yunzhi believes that the formal formation of the Chinese character system should be in the Central Plains region. Chinese characters are a writing system with independent origin. It does not depend on any foreign writing system for its existence. However, its origin is not single. It has gone through multiple and long-term adjustments. About the time of entering the Xia Dynasty, the ancestors began to write Chinese characters. Based on the extensive experience of absorbing and using early symbols, he creatively invented a text symbol system for recording language. At that time, the Chinese character system matured relatively quickly.

It is reported that judging from the written materials unearthed from archaeological excavations, China already had formal writing at least in the Yuxia period. For example, archaeologists once unearthed a flat script at the Tao Temple site in Xiangfen, Shanxi. On the pottery pot, the word "文" written in calligraphy and ink was found. These symbols all belong to the basic configuration of early writing systems. Unfortunately, such unearthed writing information is still scarce.

On the outer walls of pottery at Yangshao cultural sites such as the Banpo site, which dates back about 6,000 years, there have been more than 50 inscribed symbols on the outer walls. They are neatly planned, have certain regularity, and have the characteristics of simple writing. They may be the germination of Chinese writing.

On the pottery from the late Dawenkou Culture Site and the Liangzhu Culture Site, about four to five thousand years ago, more neat and regular graphic depictions were found, which were early graphic characters.

Introduction

Chinese characters are one of the oldest writing systems in the world, with a history of at least 4,000 years. The earliest legible mature Chinese character system is the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty. The shape of Chinese characters gradually changes from graphics to strokes, pictograms to symbols, and complexity to simplicity; in terms of the principle of character creation, it changes from form, meaning to phonetic sound. With very few exceptions, there is one Chinese character and one syllable.

Chinese characters are phonetic characters. A Chinese character usually represents a word or a morpheme in Chinese, which results in the unity of sound, form and meaning. Chinese characters are square-shaped characters made up of strokes, so they are also called square characters. For example, "Che", "Shang", "Ming", etc., "Che", "Shang" and "Ming" use the shape of the character to directly express the meaning of the word in the language; "Question" can express both the meaning and the sound, and "Men" expresses the sound. "mouth" expresses meaning.

In the course of thousands of years of evolution, Chinese characters have formed the "Seven Chinese Characters", namely: oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal script, official script, cursive script, regular script, and running script.

It is said that Cangjie created Chinese characters. "Shuowen Jiezi" records that Cangjie was inspired by the footprints of birds and animals, classified them into different categories, collected, organized and used them. He played an important role in the creation of Chinese characters and was revered as the "Sage of Character Creation".

In the Shang Dynasty, the earliest known mature Chinese character oracle bone inscriptions appeared. Although the Zhongding inscriptions that appeared later had an increase in the number of characters, the shape did not change significantly.

In the Zhou Dynasty, due to the vast territory and the long-term separatism of the princes, the Chinese characters clearly had different shapes among the princes in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and the situation was even more serious during the Warring States Period. After the unification of Qin, in order to consolidate its rule, Qin Shihuang ordered Prime Minister Li Si, CRRC Magistrate Zhao Gao, Taishi Magistrate Hu Wujing and others to organize the writing, and based on the Qin State's large seal script, the small seal script was formulated as a standard font for use throughout the country. Later, based on the fonts that were popular among the people at that time, he compiled a simpler font called official script, which was widely circulated across the country as a universal script.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, regular script appeared, and by now the evolution of Chinese characters has been perfected. Not only that, the first calligraphy monograph "Cursive Script Shi" appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the past, it was often said that Chinese characters began with oracle bone inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty, but in fact oracle bone inscriptions were already mature scripts. Before that, there should have been a development process of Chinese characters from birth to maturity, so some people advocated pushing it to the end of summer; others People advocate pushing it back to before Xia, and everyone has their own opinions. Guo Moruo pointed out in "The Dialectical Development of Ancient Writing": "When did the origin of Chinese characters begin? I think this can be indexed from the age of the Banpo Village site in Xi'an.", "The age of the Banpo site is about About 6,000 years ago." "The Banpo site is a typical example of Yangshao culture in the Neolithic Age." "There are often some simple carvings similar to characters on the Banpo painted pottery, which are completely different from the patterns on the vessels." "Although the carvings are very different. The meaning has not yet been clarified, but it is undoubtedly a symbol with a literal nature. "It can be said with certainty that it is the origin of Chinese characters, or the remnant of Chinese original characters." According to this, Chinese civilization should be regarded as recent. Six thousand years. When did the Chinese writing originate? When was the oldest writing produced? What do they mean? No consensus has been reached so far, and a large amount of material needs to be clarified.

Evolution

The subsequent evolution of Chinese characters has gone through a long process of thousands of years, and has gone through stages such as oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script, and running script. It is now commonly used. Regular script, but not yet completely finalized.

Chinese characters in the ancient writing stage, characters before the Han Dynasty. More visual.

Warring States text: "The princes are in charge of government and are not unified by the king. If they harm themselves with evil rituals and music, all their books will be removed." , the words have different sounds and the characters have different shapes. "It has strong regional characteristics. Qin characters are the mainstream of the development of Chinese characters. The scripts of the Six Kingdoms have great regional differences and do not reflect the development trajectory of Chinese characters. They are tributaries.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions

It mainly refers to the Yin Ruins oracle bone inscriptions, which were carved (or written) on tortoise shells and animal bones by the royal family in the late Shang Dynasty (14th to 11th centuries BC) for divination and recording. of text.

About 150,000 oracle bones and more than 4,500 single characters were found. The contents recorded in these oracle bone inscriptions are extremely rich and involve many aspects of social life in the Shang Dynasty, including not only politics, military, culture, social customs, etc., but also science and technology such as astronomy, calendar, medicine, etc. Judging from the approximately 1,500 single characters that have been identified in oracle bone inscriptions, it already possesses the character creation methods of "pictogram, meaning, phonetic sound, reference, transfer, and pretense", demonstrating the unique charm of Chinese characters. Documents based on tortoise shells and animal bones from China's Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty (approximately 16th century BC to 10th century BC).

Bronze inscriptions

Bronze inscriptions refer to the characters engraved on the bronzes of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, also called bell and tripod inscriptions. The Shang and Zhou dynasties were the age of bronzes. The ritual vessels of bronzes were represented by tripods, and the musical instruments were represented by bells. "Zhongding" is synonymous with bronzes. Therefore, bell and tripod inscriptions or bronze inscriptions refer to the inscriptions cast or engraved on bronze vessels.

The so-called bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. China had already entered the Bronze Age in the Xia Dynasty, and the smelting of copper and the manufacturing of bronze wares were very developed. Because copper was also called gold before the Zhou Dynasty, the inscriptions on the bronzes were called "jinwen" or "jinjinwen"; and because this type of bronzes had the largest number of characters on bells and tripods, they were also called "zhongdingwen" in the past. ".

The period when bronze inscriptions were used ranged from the early Shang Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty when it destroyed the Six Kingdoms, about 1,200 years ago.

The number of characters in bronze inscriptions, according to Rong Geng's "Inscriptions on Bronze Inscriptions", totals 3,722, of which 2,420 are identifiable.

The number of words in the inscriptions on the bronze vessels varies. The content recorded is also very different. Most of its main contents are to praise the achievements of ancestors and princes, and also record major historical events. For example, the famous Mao Gongding has 497 characters, covering a wide range of events and reflecting the social life at that time.

Big Seal Script

The Big Seal Script originated in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and was popular in the Qin State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The font is similar to Qin seal script, but the configuration of the glyphs often overlaps. The representative stone drum inscriptions that exist today are named after the writings written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. He carried out reforms on the basis of the original writing, which was named after it was carved on a stone drum. It is the earliest stone-engraved writing that has been handed down to this day, and is the ancestor of stone carving.

Xiao Zhuan

Xiao Zhuan is also called "Qin Zhuan". During the Qin Dynasty, Li Si was ordered to unify the script, and this script was Xiaozhuan. Popular in the Qin Dynasty. The shape is relatively long, evenly rounded and neat, and it is derived from the large seal script. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Shuowen Jiezi·Xu" [2] said: "The first emperor of Qin ruled the world at the beginning... let alone those who did not agree with Qin Wen." Li Si wrote the "Cangjie Pian", and Zhao Gao of the Zhongche Mansion wrote the "Yanli Pian" ", Taishi ordered Hu Wujing to write the "Erudition Chapter", "all of which are based on the large seal script of Shi Zang, or some minor changes, so-called small seal script." The remaining stones of "Langyatai Stone Carving" and "Taishan Carving Stone" are the representative works of small seal script. . The small seal script engraved on Qin Quan is said to be the result of Li Si's policy of "writing with the same text and carriages with the same track" and unifying weights and measures after Qin Shihuang unified China. Prime Minister Li Si was responsible for this. Based on the large seal script originally used by the Qin State, Simplify, cancel the variant characters of other six countries, and create a unified writing form of Chinese characters. It remained popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty, when it was gradually replaced by official script. But because of its beautiful font, it has always been favored by calligraphers. And because its strokes are complex, its form is ancient, and twists and turns can be added at will, seals were carved in seal script, especially official seals that required anti-counterfeiting, until the fall of the feudal dynasty and the emergence of new anti-counterfeiting technology in modern times. All characters in the Kangxi dictionary are also written in Xiaozhuan.

Official Script

Official Script basically evolved from Seal Script. It mainly changed the round strokes of Seal Script into square folds. The writing speed is faster. It is difficult to write with lacquer on wooden slips. Make round strokes.

Official script is also called "official script" and "ancient script". Based on the seal script, the fonts produced to meet the needs of convenient writing are simplified in the small seal script, and the evenly rounded lines of the small seal script are turned into straight and square strokes to facilitate writing. It is divided into Qin Li (ancient Li) and Han Li (modern Li). scribe). The emergence of official script was a major change in ancient writing and calligraphy. Official script is a common solemn font in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes. It pays attention to "silkworm head and swallow tail" and "twists and turns". It originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is known as "Han Li Tang Kai" in the calligraphy circle. It is also said that official script originated during the Warring States Period.

Official script is relative to seal script, and the name of official script originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The emergence of official script was another major reform of Chinese characters, which brought Chinese calligraphy art into a new realm. It was a turning point in the history of the evolution of Chinese characters and laid the foundation for regular script. The structure of official script is flat, neat and delicate. By the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, pointillisms such as strokes and strokes were transformed into upward strokes, with varying light and heavy pauses, and the beauty of calligraphy art. The styles are also becoming more diverse, which is of great value for artistic appreciation.

According to legend, the official script was compiled by Qin Weicheng Miao in prison. The complex was eliminated and simplified, the character shape was changed from round to square, and the strokes were changed from curved to straight. Change "continuous strokes" to "broken strokes" and move from lines to strokes, making it easier to write. "Liren" is not a prisoner, but refers to a "subordinate official", that is, a small official in charge of documents. Therefore, in ancient times, the official script was called "zuoshu". Official script became popular in the Han Dynasty and became the main style of writing. As the first Qin Li, many seal meanings were left, which were continuously developed and processed later. It broke the writing tradition since Zhou and Qin Dynasties and gradually laid the foundation for regular script. Under the unification of the idea of ??"deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", the official script of the Han Dynasty gradually developed and became the dominant calligraphy style. At the same time, cursive script, regular script, and running script were derived, laying the foundation for art.

Regular script

Regular script, also known as Zhengshu, or real script, began in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Its characteristics are: square shape and straight strokes, which can be used as a model, hence the name. There are many famous regular script fonts, and they have created many representative fonts, such as "Ou style" (Ouyang Xun, Tang Dynasty), "Yu style" (Yu Shinan, Tang Dynasty), "Yan style" (Yan Zhenqing, Tang Dynasty), "Liu style" (Liu style) (Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing) Liu Gongquan of the Tang Dynasty), "Zhao Ti" (Zhao Mengfu of the Song and Yuan Dynasties), etc. In the early stage of regular script, there are still very few official scripts left. The structure is slightly wider, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes. Among the handed down posters from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Zhong Yao's "Declaration Table", "Jian Ji Zhi Table", Wang Xizhi's "Le Yi Lun" and "Huang Ting Jing", etc., can be regarded as representative works. Looking at its characteristics, as Weng Fanggang said: "The wave painting of the official script is changed, and the horizontal and straight lines of the ancient official script are still retained."

After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the north and the south split, and calligraphy was also divided into two schools. The Northern style calligraphy has the legacy of the Han Dynasty. The writing style is clumsy and vigorous, but the style is simple and strict. It is better than the list book. This is the so-called Wei stele. Southern calligraphy is more sparse, elegant and subtle, and is better than rulers and tablets. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to regional differences, personal habits and calligraphy styles were very different. The northern books are strong and the southern books are borrowed from each other. Each one is perfect and there is no distinction between superior and inferior. However, Bao Shichen and Kang Youwei strongly praised the books of the two dynasties, especially the stele style of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Kang cited ten beautiful things to emphasize the advantages of Wei stele.

The regular script of the Tang Dynasty is like the prosperity of the country in the Tang Dynasty, which is truly unprecedented. The style of calligraphy has matured and calligraphers have emerged in large numbers. In terms of regular script, Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, and Chu Suiliang in the early Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing in the mid-Tang Dynasty, and Liu Gongquan in the late Tang Dynasty were all valued by later generations and regarded as models for calligraphy practice. Regular script is the standard commonly used in modern times.

Cursive script

Cursive script was formed in the Han Dynasty and evolved on the basis of official script for the convenience of writing. There are Zhangcao, Jincao and Kuangcao. Cursive script is a font created for the convenience of writing. It began in the early Han Dynasty. What was commonly used at that time was "Cao Li", that is, scrawled official script. Later, it gradually developed into a kind of "Zhang Cao" with artistic value. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhi changed "Zhangcao" to "Jincao", and the style of the characters was formed in one stroke. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xu and Huai Su developed "Kang Cao" with continuous and convoluted strokes and numerous changes in glyphs. Cursive script is commonly used by calligraphers.

There are rules to follow when making changes in strokes. Representative works include the Songjiang version of "Emergency Chapter" written by Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms period.

Jin Cao's writing is informal and smooth. Representative works include "The First Moon" and "De Shi" written by Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty.

Cursive script appeared in the Tang Dynasty, represented by Zhang Xu and Huai Su, with wild and uninhibited strokes. It became an artistic creation that was completely divorced from practicality. From then on, cursive script was just a calligraphy work copied by calligraphers. Representative works include Zhang Xu's "Belly Pain Tie" and Huai Su's "Autobiography Tie".

Running script was produced around the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is a font between regular script and cursive script. It can be said to be the cursive version of regular script or the regular script version of cursive script. It was created to make up for the slow writing speed of regular script and the difficulty of legibility of cursive script. The writing style is not as sloppy as cursive script, nor is it required to be as straight as regular script. Those with more regular script than cursive script are called "Xingkai". Those with more cursive than regular script are called "Xingcao". Representative figures: "Two Kings": Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.

Features

Chinese characters are one of the oldest scripts in the world and have had a huge impact on the surrounding areas. They are the alphabet of other scripts. It is a written symbol that records events. The shape gradually changes from graphics to square symbols composed of strokes, so Chinese characters are generally called "square characters". It evolved from hieroglyphics (graphic characters) into phonetic characters that also represent phonetic and meaning sounds, but the overall system is still ideographic. Therefore, Chinese characters have the characteristics of integrating image, sound and meaning. This feature is unique among world texts, so it has a unique charm. Chinese characters are the treasure of the Han nation’s thousands of years of culture, our lifelong mentors and helpful friends, and everyone’s spiritual home.

Chinese characters can often evoke wonderful and bold associations in us, giving people a beautiful enjoyment.

Chinese characters are the bond of the national soul. When making a living in a foreign country, Chinese characters are a kind of sustenance. Even if it is a plaque or a small piece of paper, the square characters on it will attract you like a magnet and make you feel happy. You feel the kindness from the motherland. Because the Chinese people's emotions have been condensed into the simplest horizontal and vertical expressions. Every stroke is written with Chinese blood.

Overseas, whether you are successful or famous, as long as you are accompanied by square characters, you will have a lot of comfort and sustenance, because whether it is a pictogram or a reference to something, whether it is a meaning or a phonetic sound, every word has a profound origin. Every Chinese person has become the soul of the square character with every stroke and stroke.

Advantages over Pinyin scripts

The scripts used in countries around the world are divided into two categories, namely non-Pinyin scripts (Chinese characters and Shuishu) and Pinyin scripts (other scripts). Among the scripts used in the world today, Chinese characters and Shui script are non-pinyin scripts.

In today’s writing, Chinese characters were used since the Shang Dynasty and have evolved to this day. Legend has it that the Sanskrit alphabet was created by Brahma, the god who created the universe, and was given to mankind ("The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty"). Many other texts borrowed from the four alphabet systems. The Brahmi alphabet, Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, and Arabic alphabet are known as the four major alphabet systems in the world. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Tibet in China use the Brahmi series of letters. English, French, Italian, etc. use Latin letters; Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc. use Kirill letters (or Slavic letters), which are modified from Greek letters; Latin letters are also modified from Greek letters. The ancestor of the Arabic alphabet, the Aramaic alphabet, and the ancestor of the Greek alphabet, the Canaanite alphabet, were not directly created by their ancestors, but borrowed from the writing of the Semites (small square Semites). Square Semitic alphabet). This alphabet was borrowed from the Sumerian cuneiform script and modified. Cuneiform script was created by the Sumerians, holy script script was created by the Egyptians, Chinese characters were created by the Chinese, and the water script created by the Chinese aquatic tribe are not pinyin scripts. Among the four, only Chinese characters and water scripts remain, and the other two have disappeared.

Another unique feature of Chinese is its supra-dialect and supra-language features. Linguists divide the dialects in various parts of China into eight major dialect areas. Some people say that without Chinese characters, China would have split into dozens of countries. The differences between Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian in Europe are much smaller than the differences between Chinese dialects, but they are never willing to admit that their respective languages ??are different dialects of "Romance languages" because they are all independent country.

In the history of the world, Chinese characters have been used as the alphabet of other later-invented scripts, such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan, which all used Chinese characters to record their languages. The Japanese still use a mixture of kanji and kana, using kanji, and another major invention is writing Chinese characters and reading Japanese words. Other countries can do the same if they want to. If this is really done, Chinese characters will become internationally accepted language symbols, just like mathematical symbols, which only represent meaning, not pronunciation.

Chinese characters are the most commonly used script in the world. According to statistics, the number of people using Chinese characters and Chinese language has reached more than 1.6 billion.

In the early 20th century, with the introduction of Western culture, some people believed that Chinese characters were the main culprit for China's backwardness and advocated the abolition of Chinese characters. In the second half of the 20th century, computer science developed rapidly, and some people believed that Chinese characters hindered the development of science. Square characters could not be input into computers, and there was another wave of agitation to abolish Chinese characters. Later, this aspect of the problem was resolved and the doubts dissipated.

Chinese characters are the oldest writing script still in use today. The earliest Chinese characters that can be seen and read now are oracle bone inscriptions more than 3,000 years ago. This is already quite mature and systematic Chinese characters. There is no writing in the world that has gone through many vicissitudes of life and stays young forever like Chinese characters. The ancient Egyptian holy script written 5,000 years ago is one of the earliest human writings. But it later died out, and the recorded ancient Egyptian culture was deeply buried. Sumerian cuneiform is also 5,000 years old. But after 330 AD, it also died. Famous scripts that have declined in history include Mayan, Brahmi and so on. Not only have Chinese characters been flourishing for a long time and stand alone among the world's writing systems, they have also continued to develop and their influence has become greater and greater.