The characters and stationery of China

Author: Tan Quanji (Compiler) / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Through Chinese characters, we can see the social conditions of ancient times and hear the Hundred Schools of Thought that flourished over 2,000 years ago; through Chinese characters, we can read the folk songs of the various states during the Zhou Dynasty, the romantic poetry of Qu Yuan, the works of the great historian Sima Qian, as well as the Tang poetry, Song ci, Yuan qu, the sheer volume of which is enough for any single person to read in a lifetime. Chinese characters are a name paired with the Chinese language. The language of the Han people is called Chinese, so the script used by the Han people to record the Chinese language is called Chinese characters. Before the names "Chinese language" and "Chinese characters" came into being, people used names like "Huayan" (Chinese speech), "Huawen" (Chinese writing), and "Zhongwen" (Chinese characters). These names were based on regional concepts, but they ignored the fact that other ethnic groups within the same region also had their own languages and scripts. The Xiaojia is a multi-ethnic country, with the Han people being the largest ethnic group and over 60 other ethnic groups. These ethnic groups all have their own languages, and some of them even have their own scripts, such as the Tibetan, Mongolian, Uyghur, and parts of the Miao ethnic groups. Although the Han people constitute the majority of China's population, they have merged with these ethnic groups into a large family, and each ethnic group has the right to use its own language and script. In such a situation, the former names like "Huawen" and "Zhongwen" are no longer applicable. Only the name "Chinese characters" can clearly indicate that it is the script used by the Han people to record the Chinese language. Chinese characters, like the Chinese language, are widely used across China. To which type of writing system do Chinese characters belong? People generally divide the writing systems of the world into two major categories: ideographic-phonetic scripts and alphabetic scripts. Due to differences in writing systems, the scripts of various ethnic groups and eras have developed into different systems. In ancient times, the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt and the cuneiform script of countries like Babylon and Assyria were ideographic-phonetic scripts. These included some pictographs, ideographs (which reveal traces of even earlier scripts), as well as some irregular phonetic symbols, which were the precursors of later phonetic scripts. In China, as early as 3,000 years ago during the Shang Dynasty, writing had already developed into the early stage of an ideographic-phonetic script. The scripts of this period combined pictographs, ideographs, and irregular phonetic symbols. Later, the ideographic system gradually developed, and other types of characters became secondary, eventually forming the Chinese characters that have been used for thousands of years. Among ideographic-phonetic scripts, Chinese characters are the most advanced. Because ancient scripts like those of Egypt and Babylon only recorded ancient cultures, Chinese characters have been used continuously until the modern era, remaining inseparable from our cultural heritage throughout the ages, and naturally representing a richer vocabulary. However, the West took the path of alphabetic scripts in ancient times. This script did not evolve directly from ideographic-phonetic scripts. Since ideographic-phonetic scripts were much more convenient than pictographic scripts, ethnic groups accustomed to using them found it difficult to change their writing systems. The Phoenicians, who engaged in commercial activities around the Mediterranean, were ancient peoples who spread alphabetic letters. They borrowed pictographic and ideographic symbols from neighboring countries' hieroglyphs or cuneiform scripts to write their language. This alphabet spread to Europe, giving rise to the Greek alphabet, which further branched into the Slavic alphabet and the Latin alphabet. The influence of alphabetic scripts also extended eastward, giving rise to other forms of alphabets such as the Arabic alphabet, the Indian alphabet, and so on. Scripts like the Tibetan alphabet and the old Mongolian alphabet were also influenced by this phonetic script. How did Chinese characters evolve into their current form?
The Oldest Chinese Characters
The oldest Chinese characters were found on pottery shards from the Dawenkou culture in Shandong, with a history of over 5,000 years. They were both inscribed and carved, with neat and regular strokes. From the unearthed artifacts, archaeologists discovered that a pot shard was inscribed with a symbol resembling the one drawn on the right, which should be interpreted as "huo," meaning a blazing fire or bright light. The circle represents the sun, the triangle represents the earth mound, and the pattern below the triangle represents flames. These symbols combined to depict a sunrise over the earth, with burning flames, and the pot was indeed used to preserve fire starters, which also reflects the value humans placed on fire at that time.
Oracle Bone Script
Oracle bone script was the writing system of the Shang Dynasty. Most of it was inscribed on turtle shells and the shoulder blades of animals, with only a few examples found on bronze artifacts. It is possible that some were also inscribed or written on other objects, but no traces have been found. Oracle bone script was used to record divinations immediately after they were performed, so the characters were mostly straight lines with few curves, thin lines, yet well-organized and aesthetically pleasing. Larger characters could be over half an inch in diameter, while smaller ones were as fine as sesame seeds, showing that the people who inscribed them possessed highly skilled craftsmanship and that the culture of that time had reached a high level of development. By the late Shang Dynasty, oracle bone script became more curved with fewer straight lines and thicker lines, indicating further advancements in engraving techniques. However, fewer oracle bones were found from the late Shang period compared to bronze artifacts, which had more inscriptions. During the late Shang Dynasty, the use of oracle bone script to inscribe inscriptions on bronze artifacts was not for divination purposes. It is likely that because the inscriptions were not urgent, they could be engraved slowly and meticulously, leading to even greater skill than in earlier periods. Many characters in oracle bone script were not fixed, with several variations for a single character. The writing order of oracle bone script could be from left to right or from right to left, not as fixed as the later right-to-left order.
Bronze Script
The Zhou people liked to record simple language and characters about sacrifices, wars, agricultural activities, and important court events on bamboo slips, which they then compiled into archives for preservation. At the same time, they also preferred to use longer inscriptions on bronze artifacts. Although we no longer see the bamboo slips of the Zhou people, fortunately, a large number of Zhou Dynasty bronze artifacts, such as bronze guē (wine vessels), bronze pán (bowls), and bronze dǐng (tripods), have survived to this day. People have thus been able to see the complete writing system of the Zhou Dynasty through these bronze artifacts. This script inscribed on Zhou Dynasty bronze artifacts is now collectively referred to as "bronze script." It is also called "jinwen" (bronze script) or "jijinwen" (golden metal script) because ancient people called bronze "jijin" (auspicious metal).
Archaeological excavations and research on ancient paper have shown that China already had paper made from plant fibers as early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE–25 CE). This is the famous Western Han Bajiao Paper, one of the earliest known papers in the world. How was the Bajiao Paper discovered? On May 8, 1957, an ancient tomb was found in Bajiao, located between Xi'an City and Chang'an County in Shaanxi Province. The tomb contained numerous ancient artifacts, among which the most notable were stacks of ancient paper placed below a bronze mirror wrapped in hemp cloth, totaling 88 fragments. The paper had a light brownish-yellow color and came in various sizes, with the largest measuring 10 cm square and the smallest about 3 cm by 4 cm. The discovery of such a large number of paper fragments in a single excavation is rare in archaeological history. Chemical analysis confirmed that the raw material of these papers was hemp fibers. Archaeologists concluded that the paper was "no later than the era of Emperor Wu of the Western Han (140–87 BCE)." Because it was found in Bajiao, it was named "Bajiao Paper." The discovery of Bajiao Paper provided important physical evidence for studying early Chinese papermaking technology. Additionally, since the 20th century, fragments of Han Dynasty paper have been found multiple times in archaeological excavations in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, such as the Lop Nur Paper and the Ejina Paper, both made from hemp fibers. In 1986, paper from the Western Han Dynasty was again discovered in Famaitan, Tianshui, Gansu, which experts named "Famaitan Paper." These ancient papers had smooth and flat surfaces, thin and soft textures, and were even decorated with fine ink drawings of mountains, rivers, and roads. Experts that this ancient paper originated in the early Western Han Dynasty, over 300 years before Cai Lun's papermaking. Pan Jixing, a researcher at the Institute of Natural History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that whether it is the "Bajiao Paper" from Shaanxi or the "Famaitan Paper" from Gansu Tianshui, both meet the criteria of paper and are true paper in the sense of the word.