Chinese Characters
and Scripts
Warming up
---What do you know about Chinese characters
 When did Chinese characters come into
being?
 Are Chinese characters pictographs?
 How many types of structure of Chinese
characters? Can you name some of them?
 Can you say something about the origin and
development of Chinese characters?
Content
 Introduction
 I Chinese Characters
History of Chinese Characters
---A legend of Cang Jie
--- History of Chinese Characters
--- The General features of Chinese Character
--- Structures of Chinese Characters
Introduction
 With a view to examining the cultural traits
belonging to a certain nation it is
imperative to acquire a perspective
through a window of the language and
characters conceded. Language and script
function as a threshold leading human
beings from ignorance to civilization. Not
molded at random, the specific language
and script of each nation hinged on the
features and patterns of thinking that had
resulted in from its interior, bearing a rich
stock of the national cultural heritage.
 I. Square Chinese Character
 The Chinese characters, neat and peculiar in
appearance, occupy the same spacing in printed
paper, whether drawn in “一”(one), “二”(two),
“了”(already) and “又”(again) with one or two
strokes, or copied in “骤”(assembly) and
“罐”(jar) with over ten strokes. The characters
diversify in posture. For example, “田”(fields)
“非”(not) in upright and foursquare type, and
“戈”(dagger-axe) “夕”(night) and “瓦”(tile) in
crooked and askew style, all are printed out in
identical size. With respect to this trait, therefore,
Chinese script is figuratively referred to as
“Square Characters”.
When did the written language
come into being?
 Chinese is among the world’s oldest written
languages. Chinese characters evolved from
pictographs into characters formed of
strokes, with their structures very much
simpler.
 The written language came much later than
the oral language, it came into being about 5
thousand years ago.
 Ideograph is the original form of
Paleography古字体 . Chinese character
originated from the logograph略字 that was
invented earlier than the Oracle bone Script.
Cangjie仓颉 Created Chinese Script
There have been legends about the origin of the
Chinese script, with nearly all ancient writers
attributing it to a man named Cangjie .
Cang Jie was allegedly believed to be a
deity ([‘di:iti:]神) with four eyes on the face,
intelligent and touched in divinities 神; 上帝 , and
to be so profoundly enlightened by the beauty in
nature as to have invented Chinese characters.
Cangjie, according to one legend, saw a
divine being whose face had unusual
features which looked like a picture of
writings. In imitation of his image, Cangjie
created the earliest written characters
Another story says that Cangjie saw the
footprints of birds and beasts, which
inspired him to create written language.
History of Chinese Character
 Chinese is among the world’s oldest written
languages. Compared with the other systems
of scripts, Chinese characters emerged early
with an over 4,000-year history.
 Ideograph is the original form of Paleography
古字体 . Chinese character originated from
the logograph略字 that was invented earlier
than the Oracle bone Script.
 Chinese characters evolved from pictographs
into characters formed of strokes, with their
structures very much simpler.
History of Chinese Character
 As demonstrated by the archaeological findings,
only at Banpo-Yangshao Cultural（半坡仰韶文化）
Ruins in Xi’an of Shaanxi Province were
discriminated 113 samples in different simple
signs that had been carved on the outer part of a
vertical-cavity（立窑） pot decorated with wide
grains（纹理） or big inverse-triangular veins
（纹理）. The strokes（笔画） of the signs
looked simple in regular shapes, covering more
than thirty clans such as a horizontal stroke, a
vertical stroke, a bevel （斜角）stroke and a
cross stroke. The archaeological experts released
the textual research that these engraved symbols
could have been the primitive relics of Chinese
characters.
 At Dawenkou (大汶口) Cultural Ruins that
traces from 5,000 years ago were found
some pictographic marks that had been
carved on the grey pottery vessels and that
had virtually developed into the laterarriving pictograph.
Major Characteristics
 Hanyu (漢語), usually called Chinese
language in Hong Kong, belongs to the
Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan Family
（汉藏语系）. In comparison with other
languages, the major characteristics of
modern Chinese language are as follows -
General features:
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Square Characters
formed of strokes
occupy the same spacing in printed paper
Ideograph（表意文字） & Pictograph
Rich in Senses
Basically Using Monosyllabic（单音节）
Characters
 Chinese characters are the written symbol of
the Chinese language. Generally, a Chinese
character represents a syllable and carries a certain
meaning. For example, "水" (water), "人" (human), "狗"
(dog). However, not every character can be used
independently. In modern Chinese, some of the
characters must be used together with other
characters and form compound words, such as "習"
(study) in "學習" (learn + study) and "擊" (strike) in "
攻擊" (strike + attack). There are also some characters
that only have their meanings when grouped in words of
two or more characters, such as "葡萄" (grape), "蜻蜓"
(dragonfly).
Tonal
 Chinese language is tonal（音调）.
Chinese character has four tones. The
same syllable, pronounced with different
tones, will become different words and
have different meanings. For example, "剛
" [gang1] is different from "港" [gang3] while
"文" [wen2] is different from "問" [wen4].
Less Morphological Changes
 For example, nouns do not change according to
gender or quantity. A book is "書", a few
books are also "書". Verbs do not need to
change to match the subject. For example,
the verb "去" (go) in "我去" (I go) and "他去
" (he go) is totally the same. However,
Chinese verbs have tenses, such as "吃了飯
" ("eat perfective rice" for "finish taking a
meal") "吃着飯" ("eat continuous rice" for
"taking a meal") and "吃過飯" ("eat
experiential rice" for "have taken a meal").
Subject-verb-object Order
 The basic order of modern Chinese
language is "subject-verb-object" (SVO).
For example, we will say "我坐車" (I
sit car), but not "我車坐" (I car sit) and
"車坐我" (car sit I).
Use of Classifiers Obligatory
In modern Chinese language, the use of
classifier between a numeral and a
noun is obligatory. For example, we will say "
三隻貓" (three classifier cats)
instead of "三貓" (three cats).
The Modifier Placed Before the
Modified
 In modern Chinese, the modifier is to
be placed before the modified. For
example, we will say "慢慢喝" (slowly
drink) instead of "喝慢慢" (drink slowly);
"A red flower" is "一朶紅花" (a classifier
red flower), but not "一 朶花紅" (a
classifier flower red).
Only Single Consonants Tolerated
 Both in Cantonese or Putonghua, there
are only single consonants. For example,
in the initials of the two syllables "打破"
[daa2] [po3], there are single consonants
[d-] [p-] respectively. There are no
consonant clusters like [br-] in "break" in
English. Transcriptions like [sh], [ch], [ng] in
Hanyu Pinyin all represent single consonants.
Methods to keep a record of
events in Ancient China
 1. Knots (打结)
According to the records, Shennong, a
legendary emperor of China, recorded
information by means of knots as well.
 2. Inscriptions( carvings & pictures)
 3. Logographs (drawing pictures,
hieroglyphs象形文字/图像文字 )
Written Styles of Chinese Characters
 jiaguwen (甲骨文 oracle bone
inscriptions )
 jinwen （金文 bronze script）
 xiaozhuan or zhuanshu (小篆 seal
characer)
 lishu (隶书 official script)
 caoshu(草书 cursive Script ）
 xingshu(行书 semi-cursive script )
 kaishu (楷书 regular script)
Structure of Chinese Characters
Around 100 A.D. the scholar Xu Shen （许慎） wrote
the etymological dictionary (《说文解字》) which
differentiates six types of characters（六书）:
pictographs, 象形
ideographs (referential characters), 指事
logical aggregates (indicative characters),会意
pictographic-phonetic characters
（ phonetic complexes）, 形声
associative transformation, 转注
phonetic loan characters （borrowings）.假借
Traditional six styles-1
 pictographs (象形字) (illustrating the
shape of things)
 e.g. 山mountain, 鱼fish, 井well
Traditional six styles-2
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The referential characters/Simple
ideographs 指事字 (to form a new
word by adding a symbol to
pictographs)
e.g. 母（mother）: The character is
formed by adding two dots in chest of
a woman to indicate breasts.
Traditional six styles-3
 The indicative characters/Logical
aggregates 会意字(combine the
meanings of different characters to
create a new meaning)
 e.g. a female is 女, a child is 子， and
the two together is good 好
Traditional six styles-4
 The pictographic-phonetic
characters/Phonetic complexes 形声字
( combine the meaning of one
character with the sound of another)
 e.g. in the character 想 the meaning of
think is suggested by heart and the
pronunciation is nearly the same as
that of 相.
Other examples
 上形下声：景，草 (the upper part of the character
indicates the meaning and the lower part of it
indicates the sound.
 下形上声: 盒， 驾 （the upper part of the character
indicates the sound, and the lower part of it
indicates the meaning）
 左形右声： the left part of the character indicates the
sound, and the right part of it indicates the meaning）
啊，极
 右形左声：战，功
 外形内声：圆，府
 内形外声： 闷，问
Traditional six styles-5
 Associative transformations 转注
extend the meaning of a character to
related concept.
 E.g. 武(weapon) comprising 止(stop)
and 戈 (dagger-axe)
Traditional six styles-6
 The phonetic loan characters假借
 The phonetic loan characters are the
borrowed homophones.
 E.g. 西 (west)
Calligraphy
The four basic skills and disciplines of
the Chinese literati:
qin (a string musical instrument)
qi (a strategic board game)
shu (calligraphy),
hua (painting),
Calligraphy is an art dating back to the
earliest day of history, and widely practiced
throughout China to this day. Although it uses
Chinese words as its vehicle of expression, one
does not have to know Chinese to appreciate its
beauty. Because in essence, Calligraphy is an
abstract art. While viewing a Western abstract
painting, one does not ask, “What is it?” When
viewing Chinese calligraphy, one need not ask,
“What is the Chinese word?”
Tu Meng of the Tang dynasty (618-905)
developed 120 expressions to describe
different styles of calligraphy and establish
criteria for them. The first 15 from his list
are:
ability, mysterious, careful, carefree,
balance, unrestrained, mature, virile（阳
刚）, grace, sober, well-knit, prolix（冗长）,
rich, exuberant（生气勃勃）, classic .
A gracefully executed work has no peer.
Bold yet fluid
Formal
Balance
A carefree style has no fixed directions.
The character is Sui (to follow), in cursive style.
The movement of the strokes suggests
speed, by a dancing rather than a racing
speed. By Wang Xizhi.
Geometric（几何图形）
Playful
Languages and Script of China
A threshold（门槛/开始） leading
human from ignorance to
civilization
王羲之
A Comparison between
Dongba hieroglyphs(东巴象形文字) and the
oracle bone scripts
Changle bone inscriptions
--- Origin of the oracle bone scripts
Spoken Chinese
 The Chinese language: spoken by the
Hans, 94 % of China’s population.
 Different, non-Han languages: spoken
by the remaining 6 % the so-called
minority peoples
Eight major dialects in Chinese
language
 Wu dialect (spoken by 8.4 percent of
Han speakers),
 Xiang (spoken by 5 percent),
 Cantonese (5 percent),
 Min (4.2 percent),
 Hakka (4 percent),
 Gan (2.4 percent)
Putonghua
 The official or common language of the
PRC was based on the northern dialect.
 various names: Mandarin, Modern
standard Chinese, or Putonghua
(“common speech”).
 It is spoken in various sub-dialect
forms by 70 percent of Hans.
Chinese Pinyin
 In 1958 : a system of writing-- using the
Roman alphabet.
 Since 1979: all Chinese diplomatic
documents and magazines have used
the pinyin system for spelling names
and places.
English words with Chinese roots
 ginseng (人参), silk （丝）， dimsum
（点心）, oolong（乌龙）, fengshui（风
水）, kow-tow（叩头）, typhoon （台
风）, tao（道），yin and yang（阴阳）,
T’ai Chi （太极）, Kung-fu（功夫）, tofu
（豆腐）
Chinese character and calligraphy
 The writing of Chinese characters was
developed into an artistic form.
 In addition, the traditional seal carving
and engraving assumes a dainty
presentation of the graphs or strokes
in the characters.
 The following is the emblem of 2008
Olympics: “Chinese Seal, Dancing
Beijing”.
 Please ponder on the rich connotations
and charms of these Chinese
characters and the traditional Chinese
calligraphic art.
The Olympic emblem（奥运会徽）
for the 2008 Olympic Games
Simplification of Chinese
Characters
 Over thousands of years, Chinese
characters had been written in vertical
lines from right to left.
 In the interests of promoting universal
literacy, the Committee for Reforming
the Chinese Language was set up by
the government in 1954. Around 2200
Chinese characters were simplified.
Minority Nationality Languages,
and Characters
 21 own writing systems & Different
language families
 The most minority languages belong to
the Han-Zang family(汉藏语系)
 E.G. the languages for Zhuang(壮),
Zang(藏), Bu Yi(布依), Tai(傣), Tu Jia(土
家), Miao(苗), Bai(白), Yao(瑶)…
 the Indian Europe family(印欧语系)…
Four Treasures
Describe the “four treasure of the study”.
 Brush (Hubi)
The brush is the traditional Chinese
writing tool. Its tip is made of soft hairs
from a sheep, weasel(黄鼬) or rabbit. The
carefully selected hairs are tied together,
trimmed into a tapering shape and fixed
onto one end of a bamboo or wooden
holder(笔管). The hair is both soft and
elastic. The ourter layers of the brush are
shorter making it easier to absorb ink. The
tip end has longer hairs which come to a
tiny point, so that both wrinkle dotting and
line drawing can be done easily.
 Chinese Ink (Huimo)
Chinese ink is made by mixing soot(煤
烟) from burning tung oil(桐油) and pin
tar(松木炭) with gelatin(明胶), Chinese
herbs and spices. Ink is produced by
grinding the solid ink with water against an
inkstone. There is a saying that “black ink
has five colors,” because Chinese
painters use ink meticulously to produce a
number of subtle shades.
 Paper (Xuanzhi)
Xuan paper was originally produced in
Xuanzhou in Anhui province in the Tang
Dynasty. Xuan paper has a close texture,
making it pliable yet tough, and resistant
to ageing and insects.
 Ink Slab (Duanyan)
Ink slabs can be date back to the Han
Dynasty, and it is a sort of millstone on
which water is turned into ink by rubbing
an ink stick. Duan ink slabs produced at
Duanxi, Guangdong Province, are valued
for their fine, smooth surfaces which look
glossy with moisture. They are also good
for keeping left-over ink.
Questions to answer
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What did Emperor Qing Shihuang do？
Chinese calligraphy is an Oriental art. But
what makes it an art？
Why has calligraphy stayed popular since
ancient times?
What practical functions does calligraphy
still have? Do you think computer will lead
to the disappearance of Chinese
calligraphy?
 Emperors like Li Shimin and Qian Long
sponsored calligraphy.
 The Imperial Civil Service examinations were
focused on writing and provided a way for
ordinary people to achieve a better life.
 It had practical values because it was a good
way to make friends and was more presentable
as a gift rather than jewelry or money.
 Many people practice calligraphy as a way to
raise their cultural accomplishment.
 Older people use calligraphic writing as a
method to keep fit. They believe that when a
person concentrates on writing calligraphy, his
inner wellbeing is stimulated.
Assignment
 结合观看纪录片《中国艺术大观—水墨意
境》，讨论书画艺术的文化内涵以及在当
今社会的发展现状。