Chinese characters have undergone changes for more than 6,000 years, and their evolution process is:
Oracle bone inscriptions → bronze inscriptions → small seal script → official script → regular script → running script
(Shang) ( Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei and Jin) cursive script
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The evolution process of Chinese characters can be briefly summarized into five stages: sound, shape, image, number and reason.
⑴ "Sound" is an essential component of any language. In the distant and long ancient times, human beings gradually differentiated into their own characteristics from the instinctive "crying, laughter..." or imitating nature's "birdsong, insect, beast roar, wind, thunder, rain..." A "sound" that has a certain meaning and represents a certain thing. This is the evolution of speech. For example: "ma, ba" used to represent "mom, dad" may be derived from the cry "ah...". Speech has evolved to modern times and has become a very complex system. There are approximately 4×400=1600 sounds in Chinese. The differentiation of speech sounds must have its own rules, and some clues can be discerned from modern languages. For example:
Poultry and livestock such as "geese, chickens, ducks, cats..." may be named based on their cries.
Sounds such as "Ha, oh, shush, ouch..." directly represent the natural vocalizations of human beings under different emotions.
"五→武", "Miao→Miao", "Wood→Mao"...the sounds are connected and the meanings are connected.
The original word is wood, which means risk. It rises out of the ground and travels to the east, starting from the ground and descending like its roots.
⑵ "Shape" is the second important component of language, but it is not necessary. In ancient times, the main problems humans faced were survival and racial continuation. In the process of fighting against nature and ferocious beasts, poisonous snakes, etc., sometimes it is necessary to use "shape" or "painting" to represent things. For example, if you go hunting far away, you may make some marks on rocks or tree trunks so as not to lose your way. When humans hunt, they also pay attention to the footprints of wild animals to identify their characteristics. In addition, human beings may also draw images such as "sun, moon, people, mountains, trees, beasts, animals, ancestors..." on cave walls out of worship of the mysterious nature or pursuit of beautiful things.
"Shuowen Jiezi" said, "Cangjie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor, saw the footprints of birds and animals, understood that shapes could be used to distinguish things, and began to create characters."
Original History of the Emperor Cangjie saw the traces of the hoofs of birds and beasts (háng: the traces left by wild beasts after passing by), and knew that principles could be distinguished from each other, so he first wrote books.
"Shen (trial)→倀fan→倀Caitian", "Fan" refers to the footprints of wild beasts in the field. "Cai" is also distinguished, like the fingers and claws of animals. "Trial" means knowing.
The original literary talent means identification, like the fingers and claws of animals, means distinction. The animal's feet are called fan, from Cai and Tian, ????like its palm. Examine, learn about it, know the truth of examination, Conghu, Congcai. Learn in detail, from the heart and from the collection. Interpretation, solution also, Congcai. Take its distinction.
From "pictures" through a simplification process, the main characteristics of things were taken, and the evolution process of "words" began. Pinyin text develops from original images to letters representing sounds, with speech as the main body. Chinese characters have developed from original images to "images, numbers, and principles", using different images to express various meanings.
⑶ "Xiang" is the main method of creating Chinese characters and explaining things in "Yi". "Sun, moon" and so on are hieroglyphics and are the basic components of character creation. These basic components are combined with each other to produce various "images" and create more characters. Basic components and words can also be combined at a higher level to produce many words used to express various things and various ideas.
The original text was written by Cangjie at the beginning, and it was based on pictograms, so it was called Wen. After that, the shape and sound complemented each other, which is called the word.
For example: "Ming → Sun and Moon", "Yi → Riwu → Sun and Moon", "Dan → Riyi" (the "one" below means "earth", and the "?" hexagram is Sanyang The lines are like "heaven, man, and earth" are connected), "show → day industry" ("karma" means there are dense trees on the ground, and the "sun" has already reached the treetops, which is too bright to "show").
These words can also form more words. For example: "Alliance → Mingpan", "Kick → Yi", "Shi → Xian", "But → Dandan"...
Ciology and Yili are completely connected here, that is, the so-called fuzzy thinking of "image-taking physiology" and the dichotomy principle of "interaction of yin and yang".
⑷ The concept of “number” was gradually formed during the long-term evolution of human beings. The first concepts that humans may grasp are "nothing" and "being". If there is no water to drink, you will be thirsty; if there is nothing to eat, you will be hungry. In the character "有→?月", "?" means hand, and "月" means meat. The original meaning of the word "you" is "having meat under your hands". If you have meat to eat, you will not starve. "You" further differentiates into concepts of numbers such as "one, two, three, many".
"Shu" evolved in the direction of Yi Fu, and gradually separated from the text, forming Bagua, and formed the "Book of Changes" ("Lianshan", "Gui Zang") in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in history. ", "Book of Changes"). For example: odd numbers (one, three, five, seven, nine) and even numbers (two, four, six, eight, ten) are two sets of numbers with different properties. If the odd number is yang, the even number is yin. In "He Tu" and "Luo Shu", they are represented by "black, white" or "solid, hollow" respectively. "Yi" is represented by "Yang Yao, Yin Yao" (,). Among the numbers "one, two, and three", if we follow the thinking of "Yi", "one" is regarded as Yang Yao "", "two" is "", and "three" is "?". According to the principle of overlapping of yang and yang, if yin and yin also overlap, it is ",,?". If you combine the "," symbols again, all the easy symbols will be generated.
Study the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of "numbers" as arithmetic. Studying the "xiang" of "number" and using "xiang" to explain "reason" is a deduction from the Book of Changes. In Chinese characters, the phenomenon of overlapping radicals abounds, which is a concrete manifestation of "numerology" in character creation. For example:
Chan→kouchang→ckv ("sing", from the sound of mouth, Chang)
Cry→充狗→kv ("cry", from the sound of 充, prison province )
Noise → Kuo → Kou Pinmu → zkv/zkvm ("忿 → Pinmu" means there are many birds chirping on the tree. "Taste" three mouthfuls, and you will be satisfied. )
剌→page→xvy ("剌", from, from page. Page, the first page)
Tu→Eleven→ti ("Shuowen Jiezi", Earth → Er丨, from two, two is the negative number, like the earth. In the fuzzy yuan code, it is intuitively divided into "eleven", which is the same as "Shi → Eleven")
Original text two, earth. The number also comes from even. Earth is what the earth spits out living things. It is like the things under and in the earth that take shape. Scholars, things. Counting begins with one and ends with ten, from one to ten. Confucius said: If ten people are combined into one, they become a scholar.
Bad → soil is not → ht (Bad, one means that the tiles have not been burned, which means they are destroyed.)
The original text is broken, and the hill is built again. One said: The tiles are not burned, they are from the soil, and there is no sound.
Gui (gūi) → Tutu → gtt (Gui, auspicious jade, the upper circle and the lower part.)
Original text Gui, auspicious jade, the upper circle and the lower part. The Duke holds the Huan Gui, nine inches; the Hou holds the Xin Gui, and the Bo holds the Gong Gui, both seven inches; the son holds the Grain Bi, and the male holds the Pu Bi, both five inches. To seal the princes and protect the land.
垚 (yáo) → Tugui → ytv/ttt (Yuanma Dictionary) (Yao means high soil. For example: Yao → Yaowu, high, from Yao on Wushang, high and far away.)
The original text is Yao, Gao Ye, from Santu. Yao is high, Congyao and Zaiwu are high and far away.
There are many similar examples. Another example: gold → Xin, wood → forest → forest, water → Miao, fire → flame → Yan, and → double, people → follow → crowd, Yi → Yao... Usually, the triple root means "many" and the triple root means "many".
⑸ "Li" is the expansion of "Xiang and Number". The evolution of the denotation of Chinese characters is mainly expanded through "Li", that is, things that are similar to "Xiang" are also connected to "Li".
For example: "Ming" originally means bright, which extends to "eyes can see clearly, heart understands, things become obvious..." etc.
The above-mentioned five stages of the evolution of Chinese characters "sound, shape, image, number, and theory" are essentially the five basic methods of creating Chinese characters. Here is an example to illustrate:
The word "cat→犭miao→犭艹田", "犭,屮,田" are all pictograms, and the sound of cat meowing is "miǎo", so the sound of "cat" is determined as "māo", the voice part was represented by the word "Miao" when the word was created. "Miao→艹田" sounds like "miao", which means "little grass in the field". Cats may have been domesticated during the agricultural farming period of Shennong to deal with rats that damaged crops and food. The twelve zodiac signs may have been determined earlier than this period, which may be the reason why cats were not included. When making Chinese characters, if two overlap, it means more. "艹→屮屮" means there is a lot of grass, which is the concept of "number" in the creation of Chinese characters. The original meaning of "Miao" is small seedling, and the word "Miao" is also extended to mean "cultivable talents". Children and small seedlings are similar and share the same principles. In this way, the denotation of the word "Miao" is expanded. This is an example of "Li". From the anatomy of the character "cat", we can see the five basic character creation methods of "sound, shape, image, number, and reason", and we can also see the historical evolution of Chinese characters.
Answer: Zou Guangkun - Vice President Level 11 11-27 12:13
The evolution of Chinese characters
The evolution of Chinese characters
The evolution process of Chinese character fonts can be roughly divided into six types of fonts according to the era and fonts, as follows:
Ring cursive
Silk, paper
Regular script
Han, Tang
Bamboo slips, silk
Official script
Han
Stone
Xiaozhuan
Qin
Bronze, stone
Zhenwen
Zhou, Spring and Autumn, Warring States
Tortoise shells, animal bones
Oracle bone inscriptions
Shang and Zhou dynasties
Main carriers
Representative texts
Era of formation
Oracle Bone Inscriptions
Oracle Bone Inscriptions
The earliest characters discovered in my country are called "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" because they are carved on tortoise shells and ox shoulder blades. The content involves politics , economy, military, climate, customs and many other aspects, it is an important material for studying the history of that time. About 140,000 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions have been unearthed, with a total of about 4,500 single characters, and about 1,700 characters can be recognized. Oracle bone inscriptions are the "ancestors" of today's Chinese characters. About 3,000 years ago, my country's written history began at that time.
Bronze Inscription Display
Xiaozhuan
After Qin Shihuang unified the world, he implemented A series of reforms; among them, unifying the script is a very important policy. The unified script is called Xiaozhuan. This style of calligraphy inherits the inscriptions and stone inscriptions of the Qin Dynasty in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and is a blend of calligraphy styles from various places. It is the first in China. A unified font is the key to the transformation of calligraphy history. Qin Wen is a calligraphy style developed on the basis of "Jin Wen" and "Zhen Wen" (big seal script), so Qin Wen is also called "Qin Seal Script". Later generations also called it "small seal script" to distinguish it from "big seal script". In the Qin Dynasty, there were slightly more small seal scripts preserved on stone carvings, but still relatively few. Among them, the stones erected by Qin Shihuang were the most important, such as Langye Tower, Taishan original stone and rubbings. The remnants can best reveal its true nature. Some words engraved on the weights and measures of the Qin Dynasty reflect the natural and simple style.
Official script:
Official script is a simple way of writing Xiaozhuan , was first popular among the lower class people in the Qin Dynasty. It is said that Cheng Miao compiled it into a new font in prison. The picture shows the Qin official bamboo slips unearthed in Hubei.
Official script:
Official script developed greatly in the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC), changing irregular lines into regular strokes, laying the foundation for the glyph structure of modern Chinese characters. The picture shows Han Li.
Regular script :
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25--220) in China, a new Chinese character font: regular script appeared. The picture shows Zhong Yao, the founder of regular script.
Regular script:
The strokes of regular script are straight, the fonts are square, and it is easy to write. To this day, regular script is still the standard font of Chinese characters. The picture shows "Declaration Form" by Zhong Yao.
Cursive and running script:
The ancient Chinese also created two fonts that can be written quickly: cursive script and running script. There are three main types of cursive script: Zhangcao, Jincao and Kuangcao. The picture shows a Han wooden slip written in Zhangcao.
The "Lanting Stele Pavilion" in Zhejiang, China is a famous place. At that time, Wang Xizhi wrote the "Preface to the Lanting Collection" which is known as "the best running script in the world" here.
The picture shows "Lanting" A Tang copy of "Preface to the Collection".
cursive script
"Jincao" was created by Zhang Zhi of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25--220). The picture shows the cursive script written by Zhang Zhi.
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