Characters Development

A recent discovery in Shandong province, China shows that the development of Chinese characters can be dated back as far as 4,500 years. A dozen pottery wine vessels were unearthed, and each vessel contains a character quite similar to the oracle inscriptions carved during the Shang Dynasty (16th to 11th century B. C.).

Here is a simple timeline of the development of Chinese characters.

Grapheme of Characters and Chinese Way of Thinking

Different from Western characters, Chinese characters are square and indicate either pronunciation or meaning or both. Chinese characters provide a convenient tool for imagery thinking.

For instance, Chinese characters indicate meaning with grapheme, which enable readers to interpret without real understanding. According to the pictographic radical of a character, people can approximately guess its meaning. If we see the radicals of  (tree), (bird) or  (grass) when reading, we may know that these characters indicate a kind of tree, bird or grass.

Chinese way of thinking features much experimentalism, and people tend to have an overall idea of an object based on experience. This way of thinking helps to handle the opposites in a contrary, making Chinese people get accustomed to antithesis. For instance, the prose and poesy in ancient China often matched both sound and sense in two poetic lines.

In ancient woodblock printing, some characters were engraved on a quadrate board, and arranged in the order from the upper to the lower, right and left. A character took up a small pane, and all characters were placed on a big pane. Chinese people regarded symmetry and rhythm as the criteria of beauty, and made the characters and the whole appear square. This characteristic of Chinese characters has much to with Chinese traditional way of thinking.

Most Chinese characters are phonograms, and their grapheme reflects not only the meaning but also the pronunciation of word elements. This kind of comprehensive word formation that indicates both pronunciation and meaning exerted much influence on the thinking patterns, and made Chinese people be more adept at synthesis. Ancient Chinese employed the golden mean to handle conflicts, that is, they conceded to each other and took the method of compromise and harmony to solve problems. The juxtaposition of pictographic and phonetic radicals embodies the golden rule of Chinese people.

Chinese Characters and Architecture

China 's ancient architecture is based on many different factors. Demons and evil spirit's influenced the curved and pointed roofs. China 's ancient architecture was also closely connected with the shapes of Chinese pictographs.

From many characters related to architecture that appeared in Jiaguwen (scripts written in tortoise shells and animal bones), we could see the development of the structure of ancient Chinese architectures.

For instance, from the original shape of the character ( gao , high) in Jiaguwen we can deduce that in the Shang Dynasty (17 th - 11 th century BC) there was a kind of architecture built on a terrene platform. The character ( gong , palace) looks like a rooftop with two empty rooms under it. The shape of the character  ( jia , home) looks like a rooftop with a (pig) under it, which means that a family raises a pig in the house.

In addition, many character components such as  ( xue , hole),  ( men , door), ( hu , door), ( mu , wood), ( wa , tile) and  ( tu , earth) and so on are also closely connected to architecture.

Chinese Characters and Calligraphy

The 5,000-year Chinese civilization and the unparalleled written records of it have been well accepted by the world. In the profound course of its development, the arts of Chinese calligraphy and painting, with their unique forms and language, have vividly represented the historical process.

Chinese characters evolved from graphics and symbols, and the writing and development of the characters gave rise to the art of calligraphy. There were great calligraphers in each dynasty of Chinese history, whose calligraphic styles represented calligraphy in particular times.

Calligraphy looks simple. It seems as if anyone capable of writing Chinese characters on paper with a writing brush can become a calligrapher, which is in fact not true. Calligraphy is an art form involving a great deal of theoretical knowledge and requiring many skills. Very few calligraphers have reached the highest realm of calligraphy.

Calligraphy is a constructive art. The calligrapher creates his work with his handling of the ink and the writing brush. The black strokes and white space on the paper create a sense of beauty. For calligraphers, the writing brush is the extension of their fingers: the rhythm and strength of their writings are all controlled by their moods, and their calligraphy works are expressions of their sensibilities. Calligraphy is an expressive art. In a work of calligraphy, we can see the character, education level and experience of the calligrapher. Calligraphy is a practical art form. It can be used to write inscriptions on paper or inscribe wooden plaques or stone tablets. Its many attributes show us that calligraphy is a comprehensive art, expressing the subjective feelings of the calligraphers.