"Ancient text" here refers to "ancient characters", which corresponds to "modern characters" and "modern texts". The meaning of ancient characters generally refers to the Qin Dynasty characters including Qin Zhuan, Spring and Autumn and Warring States characters, Zhou characters, Shang characters, as well as various known and unknown pre-Shang characters, such as Banpo and Jiang in Shaanxi discovered by archaeology. Zhai pottery inscriptions, Hubei Yangjiawan pottery inscriptions, Qinghai Liuwan pottery inscriptions, etc. However, due to the special nature of Qin seal script, it was listed outside the ancient texts.
Referring to "Cangjie" as "the history of the Yellow Emperor" means that Cangjie's life was at the same time as the "Huangdi", that is, between 4300 and 4700 years ago. It is very possible that it refers to "Cangjie coined characters", but what characters did Cangjie create? Is it Yangjiawan pottery, Liuwan pottery, Banpo, Jiangzhai pottery, etc.? It cannot be said that all those pottery inscriptions from different regions and different styles can be counted as "Cangjie's creation of characters". In other words, judging from the historical fact that different pottery inscriptions have been found in various regions, it seems that there were early calligraphers from all over the world, and Cangjie was just one of them. The book "Shiben" of the Warring States Period contains two people, "Juyong and Cangjie", which already shows that there was more than one person who coined characters in the early period. So, why did the people of the Tang Dynasty only talk about being one person?
It is said that "Cangjie" is the "History of the Yellow Emperor". This is probably a myth fabricated by Confucians based on certain political needs. According to relevant ancient documents, "Cangjie" was one of the ancient "emperors" who existed at the same time or successively as the "Xuanyuan clan". For example, "Shangshu. Preface" records: "Cangjie, the king of ancient times." Another example is "Shui Jing Zhu. Luoshui" citing "Hetu Jade Edition": "Cangjie is the emperor." That is to say, the actual identity of "Cang Jie" is not a "minister", but one of the ancient emperors sitting on one side. According to the newly deciphered "Rongchengshi", a simplified book of the Chu State during the Warring States Period, there are 20 names of ancient emperors including "Cangjie": namely "Shen Nong" (named Yandi), "Xuanyuan" (named "Xuanyuan") Huangdi), "Zunlu family", "Hexu family", "Qiaojie family", "Cangjie family", etc. These emperors were all before "Yu" and "Yao and Shun". This discovery undoubtedly provides strong historical evidence from the earliest original documents for the above-mentioned records such as "Cangjie, the ancient king" and "Cangjie is the emperor".
It can be seen that "Cangjie" was not the so-called "History of the Yellow Emperor", and the earliest writing was not written by "Cangjie" alone, but by many people. As for whether the characters created by "Cangjie" have an inheritance relationship with the ancient writings of later generations, further research is needed to make a conclusion.
In addition, the word "cang" in "Cangjie" is different from the word "cang". Later generations were eager to rewrite "cang" into the word "cang". The author felt strange and thought it was inappropriate. Because "Cang"
means close to "green". In the ancient concept of "Five Elements", there are five directions (east, west, south, north, middle) and five colors (green, white, red, black, According to the theory that yellow) matches the five elements (wood, metal, fire, water, earth), "green" (pale color) and "wood" belong to the east. Therefore, was "Cang" used by the ancients of the Warring States Period to symbolize the ancient "Dongyi Tribe", and was the name given before "Jie"? That is worthy of doubt. That is to say, "Jie" is the name and "Cang" is the nickname. If this guess is true, then "Cangjie" may be a member of the "Dongyi tribe", and historically should be related to the "Liangzhu Culture", "Taihu Culture" or "Qujialing Culture" in archaeological concepts. There is some contact with the Southeastern culture of my country in the late Neolithic Age.
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(This article is based on the first section of Chapter 7 of my book "Criticism of Chinese Calligraphy")