Highlights of Chinese Civilization and
Local Culture
中国地方文化英语导读
00041010
School of Foreign Languages
Suzhou University
第三章
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汉语言文字（Language）
1、教学内容：
掌握汉语的起源、发展以及汉字特征及书画艺术。
讲授内容：
(1). 汉语言文字的起源和发展及其特征
(2). 书画艺术及其重要文化内涵
(3). 文房四宝
2、教学要点：
重点掌握汉语言文字的特征及其对中华文明发展的重
要意义。
Languages and Script of China
A threshold leading human from
ignorance to civilization
王羲之
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Origin
Development
Character
Four Treasure
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?
Methods to keep a record of
events in Ancient China
 1. Knots
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 )
A Comparision between
Dongba hieroglyphs and the oracle bone scripts
Changle bone inscriptions
--- Origin of the oracle bone scripts
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. Chinese character originated
from the logograph that was invented earlier
than the Oracle bone Script.
Cangjie 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
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.
The Development of Chinese
Characters
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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: pictographs, ideographs, logical
aggregates, phonetic complexes, associative
transformation, borrowings. (六书：象形、
指事、会意、形声、转注和假借。 )
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,
grace, sober, well-knit, prolix, rich,
exuberant, 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
Playful
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。