A Brief Discussion on Chinese Character Studies

Author: Zhang Guiguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Individuals are "individuals," and through the bond of language, they form human society and create the splendid and brilliant human civilization. It can be said that without language, humans would not have parted ways with animals, nor would there be human society today. Language is as essential as air and water—it is indispensable to humans, and its importance is self-evident. Since language is so important to human society, no evaluation of it would be excessive. Therefore, conducting in-depth and systematic research on language is highly necessary. This is a foundational project with significant scientific meaning and practical value, as the mysteries of humanity can be deciphered from the perspective of language.
Chinese is one of the many languages in the world, and it is also one of the most important. This is not only because Chinese has a long history, having inherited the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation for five thousand years, but also because it is very rich and has a vast number of speakers. In the earliest systematic linguistic materials of the Chinese nation—Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the Yin Ruins—one can easily find words and grammatical structures that are still in use today, because they are the precursors of modern Chinese. A Brief Discussion on Chinese Characterology is a comprehensive treatise on Chinese characterology written by a paleographer. Due to the author's profound expertise in paleography, his theoretical system of Chinese characterology is built on a solid foundation.