Five English slogans about Chinese characters

As for the history of Chinese characters, according to the existing ancient literature records and archaeological discoveries that have been confirmed now, it has a history of at least four or five thousand years, and the origin of China's history is the beginning and history of China's ancient civilization, so we usually say that the Han nationality has a history of 5,000 years. Archaeology and literature show that Chinese characters originated in the Yangshao culture period around 4000 BC, and began in the Shang accumulation stage in 2000 BC, and the written font became a very large early writing system.

From Chang Jie intact.

The ancient legend hieroglyphics were discovered in Oracle Bone Inscriptions 400 years ago by Chang Jie BC/KLOC-0, and China scholars have been devoted to uncovering the mystery of the origin of Chinese characters in China. There are various opinions about the origin of Chinese characters in China ancient literature, such as "line", "gossip", "picture" and "calligraphy contract", etc. Generally, there is still a legend of Chang Jie, the emperor and historian of pictophonetic characters. Modern scholars believe that the tools for writing can't be completely created by one person. Indeed, if Chang Jie publishes words, it should be owned or owned by the text screener. The earliest peeling symbols were used to date the semi-clay symbols unearthed in more than 100 sites of 19 archaeological cultures in the whole continent through systematic investigation and 8,000 comparisons. Wang Yunzhi, doctoral supervisor of Zhengzhou University, believes that the earliest peeling symbols in China appeared in the ancient lake site in Wuyang, Henan Province, with a history of more than 8,000 years. The Shang dynasty matured in words. The written information of the Shang Dynasty was carved with bones for divination, and bronze ritual vessels were the main carriers, which was the earliest mature written language found in China so far. The basic characteristics of business characters can be divided into four categories: constitutive characters based on the characteristics of human body and a certain part of human body; Constitutive words based on labor creation and labor object; Based on the characters composed of animal images; Word-building based on natural objects.

characteristic

Chinese characters are the oldest characters in the world, and they are one of the symbols for recording events. Gradually, the figure has changed into a square symbol composed of strokes, so Chinese characters are generally called "Chinese characters". It is composed of hieroglyphics (fractal characters) (performance becomes the same meaning as ideographic), but the overall system sound writing is still ideographic. Therefore, Chinese characters have the characteristics of integrating image, sound and precept. This feature of the world text is unique, so it has unique charm. Chinese characters are the cultural heritage of the Han nationality for thousands of years, as well as our lifelong mentor and everyone's spiritual home. Chinese can often arouse our beautiful and bold associations and give people enjoyment.

Chinese characters have changed for more than 6000 years, and the evolution process is as follows:

Oracle Bone Inscriptions → bronze inscriptions → seal script → official script → regular script → running script.

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

The above seven fonts of Jin Jia Biography of Cao Li Xing Kai are called "seven-style Chinese characters".

The origin of Chinese characters is an unsolved mystery. Speaking of Chinese characters, I have to mention Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, supported by archaeology, first appeared 3300 years ago, nearly 2000 years later than the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian characters in the two river basins. Up to now, * * * has found more than 5,000 Oracle characters, of which about 1700 characters 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 elements. In these Oracle Bone Inscriptions, "knowing words" account for less than 80%, and pictophonetic words account for more than 20%. This is very different from other early hieroglyphics such as the 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 built great pyramids with huge stones, China had only rammed earth buildings. The ancient Egyptians had carved exquisite hieroglyphs on hard stones, while China could only carve rough scratches on animal bones or tortoise shells. But the abstract degree of China and Oracle Bone Inscriptions is far higher than that of those figurative 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 is almost no pictographic stage in the development of Chinese characters: pictophonetic characters, and the so-called pictographic characters have been highly abstracted in Oracle Bone Inscriptions stage. Later, with the evolution of Chinese characters, Chinese characters are no longer purely ideographic characters. When the Greeks built the exquisite sculpture of the Parthenon and the Romans built the huge dome of the Pantheon, there were only rammed Great Wall and pottery terracotta warriors and horses in China during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but the seal script of the Qin Dynasty was already a unified national standard, and the official script of the Han Dynasty was very close to today's Chinese characters. Whether it's a leap forward vocabulary.

1 Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Before the Qin Dynasty unified Chinese characters, China's Chinese characters were still confused in font and application. In a broad sense, ancient Chinese includes characters before Xiao Zhuan, including Da Zhuan. In a narrow sense, it refers to the characters before Dazhuan in the history of China characters. Here, the narrow concept of ancient Chinese is adopted. Ancient prose includes Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze; Among them, the former is considered as the earliest eight-part essay in China.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions: The characters left on tortoise shells and animal bones by writing or carving in the late Shang Dynasty, most of which are "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" and a few are "notes". Most of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's characters conform to the principle of pictographic comprehension, and pictophonetic characters only account for 20%. Its characters are carved with a knife, some filled with cinnabar, and some written directly in ink. Because Chinese characters are mostly evolved from pictures and characters, they are highly pictographic and multi-character, and the strokes are uncertain. This shows that China's writing was not unified in the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

Image Inscription in the Yin and Shang Dynasties: In the pre-Qin period, copper was called gold, so the words cast on bronzes were called inscriptions, also known as Zhong Dingwen and Qi Yi. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronze inscriptions are more pictographic, showing ancient characters. Bronze inscriptions have solid brushwork and vivid and natural images.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a vulgar script in Shang Dynasty, while bronze inscriptions are orthodox, which shows that the orthodox script is complicated and the vulgar script is simplified (as shown in Table 2).

(Table 2: Comparison Table of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen)

Oracle Bone Inscriptions's brushwork is very hard (as shown in Figure 3), because most of them are carved on tortoise shells with knives. This knife-like brushwork has also been applied to modern graphic design (Figure 4).

(Figure 3) (Figure 4)

2 big seal script

Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties made the most important contribution to philology in the history of China characters. Shi Cheng is a historian in Zhou Xuanwang, so he should not innovate for simplicity. Dazhuan is also called Wen Shu, Biography of Shu, Shushu and Shangshu. Because it was written by Ishikawa, it is called "Wen Chuan". Dazhuan can be found in Shuowen Jiezi and various Zhong Ding Yi wares collected by later generations. Among them, Shi Guwen in Zhou Xuanwang is the most famous.

3 biographies

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 figure structure of Xiao Zhuan is harmonious, the strokes are even and neat, and the radicals have also undergone changes and integration. Compared with Dazhuan, it has no pictographs. The change of characters from Da Zhuan to Xiao Zhuan is of great significance in the history of China characters (Figure 5).

(Figure 5)

4 official script

The first step in the evolution from Xiao Zhuan to Li Shu, the most remarkable change is from graceful money lines to straight brushstrokes, 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. Official script mainly includes Qin Li and Han Li, and Qin Li is the early form of official script. Han Li is a mature official script font. Official script usually refers to Han Li's "eight points" (Figure 6). "Eight points" was gradually formed after Qin was transferred. Official script has developed to eight points and is mature. The official script is thick and square, so it has a serious sense of integrity (Figure 7). Although Figure 8 is an English letter, it has the flavor of diamond font and official script.

(Figure 6) (Figure 7) (Figure 8)

5 regular script

"Regular script" is also called regular script, official script and regular script. Such as Ou Yangxun and Liu Gongquan. It includes the establishment of Gu Li, the beauty of all directions and the simplicity. This font has been used to this day and is regarded as a standard font, which is deeply loved by the world. Regular script has a sense of stability and tranquility; Due to different personal writing styles and personalities, characters have different styles of the same font (Figure 9, 10). Figure 1 1, Song Like Hui Zong's thin gold body, with thin lines to outline the characters, but because of the smooth expression at the turning point, it presents a completely different visual sense from the thin gold body.

(Figure 9) (Figure 10) (Figure 1 1)

A six-line script

"Running script" is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script, and it is free to write. 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 beautiful atmosphere (Figure 12).

(Figure 12)

7 cursive script

"Cursive script", also known as "broken grass" and "modern grass", consists of seal script, eight points and chapter grass, and follows a variety of ancient characters. The cursive script originated in Cao Zhang, and Cao Zhang has a strong taste of official script, hence the name, because it is mainly used to commemorate. Cao Zhang has further developed into a "modern grass", also known as a "book". Most grasses today are simpler than Cao Zhang and running script. Cursive script gives people a feeling of freedom and fluency (as shown in figures 13, 14 and 15).

(Figure 13)

(figure 14) (figure 15)

8 print font

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-Song Style 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 and engraving and people's visual requirements when reading.

9 computer fonts

With the development of culture and science and technology, under the influence of western writing style, many new fonts have appeared, such as bold fonts and artistic fonts. Poster (popular) style, comprehensive art style, pavilion style, girl font and so on have appeared. , as well as more genre variants, such as imitation song and peace songs. Moreover, all kinds of Chinese characters are computerized, which has a wider scope of application.