Chinese Character Culture in China

Chinese characters have changed for more than 6, years, and the evolution process is as follows:

Oracle Bone Inscriptions → Jinwen → Xiaozhuan → Lishu → Regular script → Running script

(Shang) (Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei and Jin Dynasties) cursive script

The above seven fonts are called "Jia Jin Zhuan Li Cao Kai Xing". Oracle Bone Inscriptions is both an pictograph and a phonetic character. Up to now, there are still some pictographs in Chinese characters, which are very vivid.

in the late western Zhou dynasty, Chinese characters developed into big seal script. The development of the seal script has produced two characteristics: first, the lines with uneven thickness in the early days have become uniform and soft, and the lines they draw with the objects are very concise and vivid; The second is standardization, and the glyph structure tends to be neat, gradually leaving the original shape of the picture and laying the foundation for the square characters.

Later, Li Si, the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, simplified Da Zhuan and changed it to Xiao Zhuan. In addition to simplifying the shape of the big seal, the small seal has reached a perfect level of lineation and standardization, almost completely divorced from pictures and characters, and has become a neat, harmonious and very beautiful basically rectangular square font. However, Xiao Zhuan also has its own fundamental shortcoming, that is, its lines are very inconvenient to write with a pen, so almost at the same time, it also produces an official script with a flat shape on both sides.

by the Han dynasty, the official script had developed to a mature stage, and the readability and writing speed of Chinese characters were greatly improved. After Li Shu, it evolved into Zhang Cao, and now it is grass. By the Tang Dynasty, there was a wild grass that expressed the writer's thoughts and feelings in the pen. Subsequently, regular script (also known as real script), which was a combination of official script and cursive script, became popular in Tang Dynasty. The print we use today is a change from regular script. Between regular script and cursive script is running script, which is fluent in writing and flexible in pen. It is said that it was made by Liu Desheng in Han Dynasty, and it is still the font we are used to in our daily writing today.

in the song dynasty, with the development of printing, block printing was widely used, and Chinese characters were further improved and developed, resulting in a new style of writing-Songti printing font. After the invention of printing, the carving knife used for lettering had a profound influence on the shape of Chinese characters, resulting in a kind of printing font with fine horizontal and thick vertical, which is eye-catching and easy to read, and later called Song Style. At that time, there were two kinds of fonts carved: fat imitation face, Liu Ti, thin imitation European style and dangerous style. Among them, Yan Ti and Liu Ti's brushstrokes are towering, and they have some characteristics of being horizontal, thin and vertical. In the Ming Dynasty, between Qin Long and Wanli, it changed from Song style to Ming style with fine strokes and square characters. It turned out that at that time, a kind of Hongwu style with very thin horizontal strokes and particularly thick vertical strokes was popular among the people, and this font was used in the title cards of official posts, lanterns, notices, private boundary stones, and god's main cards in ancestral temples. Later, some book carvers created a non-face, non-European skin silhouette in the process of imitating Hongwu style. Especially, because the strokes of this font are horizontal and vertical, it is really easy to carve. It is different from Zhuan, Li, Zhen and Cao. It is unique and fresh and pleasing to read, so it has been widely used and has become a very popular main printing font since the 16th century. It is still called Song Style, also called Lead Font.

in China, various fonts formed in different historical periods have their own distinctive artistic features. For example, seal script is simple and elegant, official script is quiet and dynamic, rich in decoration, cursive script is fast, compact in structure, neat and beautiful in regular script, easy to read and write, practical, diverse in style and different in personality.

The evolution of Chinese characters is from pictographic pictures to line symbols, strokes adapted to writing with brush and printed fonts convenient for carving. Its evolution history provides us with rich inspiration for Chinese font design. In character design, if we can give full play to the characteristics and elegant demeanor of various fonts of Chinese characters, we will be able to design exquisite works with ingenious application and unique ideas.

Since the reunification of the First Qin Emperor, China characters have gradually embarked on the road of development. China characters in different times have distinctive and unique ethnic and folk customs, and the wisdom and diligence of Chinese people are deeply engraved in the history of China characters. However, nowadays, some people know little about their own languages, but their enthusiasm for the languages of other countries is still half-toned. Writing is the soul of a country. In order to understand the changes, history and soul of the motherland, we chose this topic.

With the development of China characters, after the Qin Dynasty unified China, Chinese characters were simplified and arranged continuously, which made them gradually standardized. The development of Chinese characters can be roughly divided into four stages: ancient prose, seal script, official script and regular script. Among them, seal script is divided into big seal script and small seal script; Official script is different from Qin official script and han li official script. It can be seen that any new font in history has been gradually formed through long-term evolution. Generally speaking, after the formation of regular script, China characters have been basically finalized (Table 1).

(Table 1: Evolution of Chinese Characters)

1 Before Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Qin unified the characters, the Chinese characters in China were still confused in terms of font and application. In a broad sense, ancient Chinese includes the characters before Xiao seal, including Da seal. In a narrow sense, it refers to the characters before Da Zhuan in the history of China characters. Here, the narrow concept of ancient prose is adopted. Ancient prose includes Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze; Among them, the former is regarded as the earliest stereotyped writing in China.

Oracle inscriptions: written or engraved characters left on tortoise shells and animal bones in the late Shang dynasty, most of which are "Oracle inscriptions" and a few are "notes". Most of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's characters conform to the principle of pictographic and knowing, and pictophonetic characters only account for 2%. Its characters are carved with a knife, some filled with cinnabar, and some directly written in ink. Because the characters are mostly evolved from pictures and characters, they are highly pictographic, multi-character, and the strokes are uncertain. This shows that China's writing was not unified in the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

bronze inscriptions on images in the yin dynasty: in the pre-Qin dynasty, copper was called gold, so the characters carved on bronzes were called bronze inscriptions, also known as Zhong Dingwen and Yi Qi. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, inscriptions on bronze inscriptions are more pictographic, showing the ancient characters. The solid writing style of the bronze inscription makes the image vivid and natural.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a vulgar style written in Shang dynasty, and bronze inscriptions are the orthodox style, which shows that the orthodox style is numerous and the vulgar style tends to be simple (as shown in Table 2).

(Table 2: Comparison Table of Oracle Bones and Bronze Inscriptions)

Because most of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's bones are carved with knives, his writing has a hard brushwork (as shown in Figure 3). This knife-like brushwork has also been applied to modern graphic design (Figure 4).

2 Da Zhuan

In China's writing history, in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, in terms of its contribution to philology, Shi Shu was the most important. Shi Cheng is a historian in Zhou Xuanwang, so he should not innovate in order to be simple. Da Zhuan is also known as Shu Wen, Shu Zhuan, Shu Shu and history books. Because it was written by Shi Chuan, it is known as "Chuanwen". Da Zhuan can be found in Shuo Wen Jie Zi and various Zhong Ding Yi wares collected by later generations. Among them, Zhou Xuanwang's Shi Guwen is the most famous.

3 Xiao Zhuan

Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan, is a standard font compiled by Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty. It is simplified by Da Zhuan. Also known as Yujin seal, because it has the meaning of vigorous brushwork. The shape and structure of Xiao Zhuan are in harmony, and the strokes are even and neat, and the radicals have also been changed and merged. Compared with the big seal script, it has no pictograph. The change of characters from Da Zhuan to Xiao Zhuan is of great significance in the history of China characters.

4 Official script

The first step in the evolution from Xiao Zhuan to Official script, the most remarkable change is from graceful money bars to straight strokes, from angular to angular. Generally speaking, official script refers to a kind of official script with a wavy tail like a carving knife, which is just one of them. The official script mainly includes Qin Li and han li, and Qin Li is the early form of official script; Han li is a mature font of official script. The official script usually refers to the "eight points" in han li (Figure 6). "Eight points" came into being gradually after Qin transferred. The official script has developed to eight points, and it is already mature. The official script is square and thick, so it has a serious sense of integrity (Figure 7). Although Figure 8 is an English letter, it has a rhombic font and a taste of official script.

5 regular script

"regular script" is also known as real script, official script and official script. Such as Ou Yangxun, Liu Gongquan and other inscriptions. It includes the founder of ancient Li, the beauty of eight points and the simplicity of Zhang Cao. This font has been used up to now, and it is regarded as a standard font and is loved by the world. Regular script has a sense of stability and tranquility; Characters have different styles of the same font because of different personal writing styles and personalities (Figures 9 and 1). Figure 11, like Song Huizong's thin gold body, outlines the characters with thin lines, but it is presented in a sleek way at the turning point, showing a completely different visual sense from the thin gold body.

6 running script

"running script" is a kind of calligraphy (Chinese character) style which is between regular script and cursive script. Running script is different from official script and official script, and its fluidity can be freely used by writers. Running script shows a romantic and aesthetic atmosphere (Figure 12).

(fig. 12)

7 cursive script

"cursive script", also known as "broken grass" and "modern grass", is made up of seal script, bafen and Zhangcao, which follow a variety of ancient characters. The cursive script originated from Zhangcao, and Zhangcao has a strong taste of official script, so it is named because it is mostly used for memorials. Zhangcao further developed into "modern grass", which is commonly known as "a book". Most of today's grass tends to be simpler than zhangcao and running script. The cursive script gives the viewer a sense of freedom and fluency (as shown in Figures 13, 14 and 15).

8 printing fonts

after the invention of printing, in order to meet the needs of printing, especially the printing of books and periodicals, the characters gradually developed in the direction suitable for printing, and a horizontal, vertical and square printing font-Songti appeared. It originated in the Song Dynasty, the golden age of block printing, and was shaped in the Ming Dynasty, so the Japanese called it "Ming Dynasty Style". Song typeface is the main font used in publishing and printing because it is suitable for printing engraving and people's visual requirements when reading.

9 computer fonts

with the development of cultural undertakings and science and technology, under the influence of western writing styles, many new fonts have appeared, such as bold font, art font, etc., such as poster (POP) style, comprehensive art style, kiosk style, girl font, etc., and more variations of Song style, such as imitation Song and flat Song. And all kinds of Chinese characters are computerized, and the scope of application is wider.

As shown in the following figure (from left to right: overlapping circle, comprehensive art, ancient seal, pavilion and poster)

The origin of Chinese characters is an unsolved mystery. Speaking of Chinese characters, I have to mention Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, supported by archaeology, first appeared 3,3 years ago, which is nearly 2, years later than the ancient Egyptian characters and Sumerian characters in the two river basins. Up to now, * * * has discovered more than 5, Oracle Bone Inscriptions words, of which about 1,7 can be recognized. To some extent, China, as one of the four ancient civilizations, has no reason to lag behind others so much! At the same time, we found that the earliest Oracle Bone Inscriptions had a certain degree of understanding and pictophonetic components. Among these Oracle Bone Inscriptions, "knowing words" accounted for less than 8%, and pictophonetic words accounted for more than 2%. This is very different from other early hieroglyphics such as ancient Egyptians and Sumerians.

Some people think that the level of science and technology in ancient China is far less than that in ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. When the ancient Egyptians had already built great pyramids with huge stones, China only had rammed earth buildings. While the ancient Egyptians had carved exquisite hieroglyphics on hard stones, China could only carve rough scratches on animal bones or tortoise shells. But look at the abstract degree of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in China, but it is far higher than those concrete figures in ancient Egypt. It seems that Chinese characters have directly crossed the early stage of early hieroglyphics and entered a more abstract and advanced stage. There are almost no pictographic stages in the development of Chinese characters: the way of expressing meaning-pictophonetic sound, and the so-called pictographic characters have been highly abstracted in Oracle Bone Inscriptions stage. Later, with the evolution of Chinese characters, Chinese characters were no longer purely ideographic. When the Greeks built the exquisite sculpture of Parthenon and the Romans built the huge dome of the Pantheon, there were only the rammed Great Wall in the Qin and Han Dynasties and the pottery terracotta warriors and horses in China, but the small seal script of the Qin Dynasty was already a national unified standard, and the official script of the Han Dynasty was very close to today's Chinese characters. It can be said that it is a miracle whether it is the leaping forward writing culture or the huge and complex language symbol system of China Chinese characters.

in the early days of writing, hieroglyphics could work well. However, with the continuous enrichment of languages, some languages can't be expressed by images. The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians began to create symbols that only represented pronunciation to record these languages. China people chose another solution:

knowing words, such as "day+month = bright, woman+son = good";

Phonetic words, such as "A", have no meaning, and only represent one syllable;

generic words, such as "Shuo-Yue"; Began to appear in Chinese characters.

When it comes to Chinese, it is inevitable that people will think of English, which also takes up a large part in culture classes. At the same time, we also thought a lot. The highest level of learning a language is to think in this language, just like thinking in your mother tongue. However, it is the mother tongue that can give full play to personal creativity, not to mention that it takes great energy to learn a "foreign language" well. The ancient Romans did not change to Greek because they envied Greek civilization-although the two languages were very close. Arabs should also translate Latin and Greek into Arabic, instead of switching to Latin or Greek. Similarly, Europeans during the Renaissance did not switch to Arabic by themselves, but translated Arabic into Latin. During the Enlightenment, the national language was further translated and popularized.

for an individual with a good foreign language, it is not difficult to read the original foreign language directly. But it is much less efficient for him to translate it. But for the whole society, if everyone spends a lot of energy on learning foreign languages, it will be very inefficient. The most extreme situation is that, like those ethnic groups that have lost their own language and writing in history, they have completely disappeared. The best choice is to do a lot of translation work with a few people who are good at languages, like Arabs or Europeans during the Renaissance, and then spread and popularize them in their own languages. Only in this way can more people in this nation think and innovate efficiently in their mother tongue.

The dilemma that Chinese now faces in front of English is that the civilization based on this language is at its peak-unlike the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations faced by Arabs, it is in a lost static civilization; Unlike Europeans in the Renaissance, they were faced with the declining Islamic civilization. Nowadays, a large number of new scientific and technological achievements, new knowledge and new ideas are still produced in the English-speaking world. As the de facto international social language in today's world, English has achieved unprecedented success. As far as the population who use it is concerned, the number of English-speaking people is the second in the world after Chinese, with about 4 million people. However, the number of people who use English as a second language or to a certain extent is far more than this, which can be said to be distributed in all corners of the world and all ethnic groups. Therefore, we should not learn English simply because learning English consumes a lot of time.