1. The physical evolution of Chinese characters
Counting from the system of Chinese characters, the physical evolution of Chinese characters has a history of more than 3,000 years. This evolution can be roughly divided into seven stages.
(1) Oracle. The earliest systematic Chinese character material we can see today is oracle bone inscriptions. The so-called "oracle bone inscriptions" refer to the characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones during the Yin and Shang Dynasties.
In 1899 AD (the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), oracle bone inscriptions were discovered in Xiaotun Village, Wuli Road northwest of Anyang County, Henan Province. According to archaeological evidence, the vicinity of Xiaotun Village was the capital of the Yin Dynasty. After eighty years of continuous excavation, approximately 160,000 to 70,000 oracle bones with inscriptions have been obtained. In the long-term research of archaeologists, a lot of research results have been accumulated. According to incomplete statistics, about 2,000 of the more than 3,500 oracle bone inscriptions have been discovered. Most of the unknown characters are names of people, places, clans, etc.
The Yin Dynasty in the slave era worshiped gods very much and always asked for divination whenever something happened. For example, when going out to hunt, setting up sacrifices to pray for good luck, conducting military expeditions, wind, rain, darkness, etc., you must ask for divination. It can be seen from the oracle bone inscriptions that have been discovered that the oracle bone inscriptions are mainly records carved on tortoise shells and animal bones used by the royal family of the Yin Dynasty, so people usually call them "divination inscriptions". Comrade Guo Moruo's "Yin Qi Cui Bian" and "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" are monographs on the study of oracle bone inscriptions.
The characters used in oracle bone inscriptions are very limited. Some characters can be said to have existed during the oracle bone inscriptions period. However, because it was not used in divination, it has not been published yet. For example, the word "民" has been seen many times on bronze vessels in the early Zhou Dynasty, which means to use an awl to blind an eye. Therefore, "民" represents the word "民" on the ancient slave bronze vessels: ■("Yu Ding")■("Ke Ding")■("Qin Gong Gui"). However, the word "people" has not yet been found in the oracle bone inscriptions.
There are three main characteristics of oracle bone inscriptions:
(1) The shape is not fixed, there are more and less strokes, and the writing methods are reverse and positive.
"Zhi": ■, ■, ■ (the pictogram of feet)
"LAO": ■, ■, ■ (the place where cattle and sheep are penned)
"Car": ■, ■, ■ (the pictogram of a chariot)
(2) The writing style is not uniform. There are some from left to right and from right to left, so it is quite difficult to read.
(3) Because the characters are carved on tortoise shells and animal bones with steel knives and stone knives, the strokes are thin and hard, and square pens are mostly used, and round pens are rarely used.
In addition, according to archaeological analysis, in addition to oracle bone inscriptions during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there must have been bamboo and silk scripts. Because there is already the word "book" in the oracle bone inscriptions, which looks very much like the bamboo slips compiled by Wei, the oracle bone inscription ■ (book), and there is also the word "dian", which looks like holding "book" in both hands, so later generations called it The important work is the "classic" Oracle ■ (Dian). So why haven’t we seen bamboo slips from the Yin Dynasty yet? This is because the bamboo wood has probably decayed long ago after being buried underground for more than 3,000 years.
(2) Bronze inscriptions. Bronze inscriptions refer to characters engraved on bronze vessels. Ancient people called copper "auspicious gold", so the characters on the bronze vessels were called "golden inscriptions". Among the bronzes, bells and tripods are the most famous, so the bronze inscriptions are also called "Zhong and Dingwen". There are also names such as "Bronze Inscriptions", "Jijin Inscriptions", and "Yi Ware Inscriptions".
The culture of the Zhou Dynasty was much more prosperous than that of the Yin Dynasty, with extremely rich classics and cultural relics. Zhou people did not believe in ghosts and gods like the Yin people, so oracle bone inscriptions gave way to bronze inscriptions.
Of course there are bronze inscriptions in the late Yin Dynasty, but after all there are very few, so bronze inscriptions mainly refer to the bronze inscriptions of the Zhou Dynasty. In the Zhou Dynasty, there were not only a large number of inscriptions, but also a large number of words on them. For example, the "Ling Yi" chanted by the second emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty when he became king has 187 characters; the "Da Yu Ding" by the third emperor Kang Wang Zhaoshi of the Western Zhou Dynasty has 291 characters; and the "Mao Gong Ding" by the twelfth emperor Xuan Wang Jingshi of the Western Zhou Dynasty has 291 characters. There are 499 words. Such arrogance did not exist in the Yin Dynasty now.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, bronze vessels were mainly royal vessels, and princes and ministers were not allowed to have the right to cast such vessels.
However, in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the princes dominated the government and bronze objects could be cast at will, while the royal utensils were almost extinct. Judging from the shape of the characters, there has also been great development. Especially during the Warring States Period, many decorative elements similar to birds and insects were added to the characters of the southern countries such as Wu, Yue, and Chu. This is the so-called "bird and insect script" and "Miao Zhuan", such as the word "Chu" and the word "王" The characters are Miao Zhuan ■ (Chu) and ■ (Wang).
From the content point of view, the texts on the bronze vessels mainly record who owns the vessel, and some record military exploits, sacrifices, and rewards received from the king.
From a physical point of view, bronze inscriptions were developed based on oracle bone inscriptions. It is simpler than oracle bone inscriptions in terms of strokes and structure. It has three main characteristics:
(1) There are more curved strokes, the lines are thick and natural, and the fonts tend to be neat.
(2) Bronze inscriptions are usually engraved on the mold first. If the engraving is not good, it can be modified, so the glyphs appear thick and simple. However, by the end of the Zhou Dynasty, they tended to be fluent and elegant.
(3) Fonts are often not fixed, and a word often has multiple ways of writing. For example, the word "shoot" is shaped like a bow and arrow. The third way of writing is followed by various ways of writing "shoot" with a hand: ■ ■■The word "bug" is shaped like a curved insect. The third way of writing has two eyes on it. Various ways of writing "worm": ■■■.
In addition, silk books were unearthed in the Changsha area before liberation, which were tombs of the Chu State. What is infuriating is that this national treasure was sold to the Americans by the scum of the Chinese nation in 1946, and was later hidden in the library of Yale University in the United States. As for the bamboo slips, seals, pottery inscriptions, currency inscriptions, weapon inscriptions, etc. , have been found many times in Changsha, Xinyang and other places after liberation, but most of them are hasty writing, far less neat than Zhong Dingwen.
(3) Seal script. There has always been controversy over the name "Seal Script". Comrade Guo Moruo said: "The seal script is the seal; the seal script is the official name." (掾, Yin Yuan, the collective name for the officials in ancient times.) This means that the so-called "seal script" is actually the "raff script", that is, "the seal script". Official letter".
In the era of Qin Shihuang, there were many official affairs and numerous official documents. There is such a record in "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang": "Everything in the world, big or small, is decided by the top, and the best is to weigh the stone to measure the book." The "stone" (dàn load) is one hundred and twenty kilograms, which shows that Qin Shihuang has one day. You must personally read the official document written in bamboo and wooden abbreviations of one hundred and twenty pounds. These "official letters" are "seal scripts". But there was no such name at that time. It was not until the appearance of the "official script" in the Han Dynasty that the "documents" previously used by officials were called "seal script". Therefore, "Seal Script" refers to "Official Script". Seal script can be divided into two types: "big seal script" and "small seal script":
(1) Big seal script - Xu Shen said: "Xuanwang Taishi Zhou (Yinzhou) wrote fifteen chapters of big seal script, which may be different from ancient prose. "("Shuowen Jiezi·Xu") Ban Gu also said: "King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty wrote fifteen seal scripts, and six of them were destroyed during the reign of Emperor Jianwu." ("Book of Han·Yiwenzhi") These statements are more reliable because King Xuan. He was the master of the resurgence of the Zhou Dynasty. During his forty-six years in office, he accomplished the task of "repairing political affairs internally and fighting off barbarians and dissidents externally." Therefore, there were good conditions for organizing and unifying the text at that time.
The authentic seal script is the "Shiguwen". In the early Tang Dynasty, ten drum-like stone pillars were discovered in Chencang (today's Baoji, Shaanxi). They were engraved with text, which people called "stone drum inscriptions". Its content records hunting events and is written in rhyme. From the glyph point of view, it is different from the ancient script of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, but it is very close to Xiaozhuan. For example, the writing method of the three characters "Yes", "Shu" and "I" in Shiguwen is similar to the writing method of Xiaozhuan: "Yes", "Shu" and "I" in Shiguwen.
Characteristics of large seal script: 1. The lineization has reached a complete level, and the lines are even and soft. 2. The structure is relatively neat, laying the foundation for square Chinese characters. 3． There are almost no different characters on the same utensil. 4. The strokes are complicated and writing is not convenient enough.
Shuowen Jiezi contains 223 "Zhenwen" (i.e. Dazhuan) based on the remaining nine pieces of Dazhuan. This is also an important material for our current study of Dazhuan.
(2) Small Seal Script - During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the writing styles of various countries were very different. This was related to the fact that "the princes were in charge of political affairs and were not unified by the king", which formed a situation of "speech with different sounds and characters with different shapes". situation.
Xu Shen said: "At the beginning of the Qin Shi Huangdi's reign, the Prime Minister Li Si was the one who agreed with the Qin Dynasty. He wrote the "Cangjie Pian", Zhongche Mansion ordered Zhao Gao to write the "Ai Li Pian", and Taishi ordered Hu Mujing to write it. "Bo Xue Pian" all adopts Shi Zhen's large seal script, or makes some minor changes, so-called small seal script." ("Shuowen Jiezi·Xu") This passage means that after Qin unified China, he also unified the writing system. Xiaozhuan is a "provincial reform" of Dazhuan. These views make sense. But it cannot be said that Xiaozhuan was written by Li Si alone. He probably presided over the unification of writing. There are three main ways to change large seal script into small seal script:
(1) Deformation:
(skin) (willow)
Large seal script: ■ ■
Small seal script: ■ ■
(2) False change:
(泽) (祴)
Large seal script: ■ ■
Small seal script: ■ ■
(3) Provincial changes:
(车) (祟)
Large seal script: ■ ■
Small seal script :■ ■
Among the above three changes, the province is the main one, which is in line with the development law of Chinese characters from complex to simple.
"Shuowen Jiezi" is a typical small seal script with regular lines and beautiful writing. For example, "Stone Carvings on Mount Tai", "Stone Carvings on Langye Terrace", "Stone Carvings on Zhifu (fúfu)", "Stone Carvings on Fengshan", etc. are said to have been written by Li Si.
(4) Official script. In the early years of the Qin Dynasty, official documents were all written in small seal script, but the popular among the people was the so-called "cao seal script" that could not be used for elegance. The characteristics of this kind of cursive seal are: the writing style tends to be straight, the strokes become simpler, and it is easy to write. However, the emperor Qin Shihuang at that time encouraged people to write the first developed character of official script - "cursive seal".
There is no doubt that official script evolved from cursive seal script. However, Jin Weiheng said in "Four Body Scripts" that the official script was written by Cheng Miao, a native of Xiadu. Li Daoyuan also affirmed in "Shui Jing Zhu" that the official script was created by Cheng Miao. In fact, these are all a kind of creation. The legend is unbelievable. It is very likely that Cheng Miao first submitted his text in cursive script and was rewarded by Qin Shihuang "
2. Simplification of Chinese characters is an inevitable trend in the development of Chinese characters
Simplified characters refer to the original complex structure and many strokes Later, when people used it, they transformed and simplified it. The resulting Chinese characters with simple strokes and structures are simplified traditional characters, which replaced traditional Chinese characters with simple stroke structures. It is complicated and has been replaced by simplified characters. Those Chinese characters that are no longer used in general situations. For example, "Ju, fear, Lou, Yu, Gui, Zao, Mie" are simplified characters, and the corresponding "Ju, fear, building" are simplified characters. ", Yu, Gui, Zao, Mie" are traditional Chinese characters. These traditional Chinese characters have been replaced by simplified characters in our daily writing work today and are no longer used. They are the targets of modern Chinese character standardization.
Simplified characters and Relative to traditional Chinese characters, they are a set of concepts that treat each other. Without one, there would be no other. Without traditional characters, there would be no simplified characters. Without simplified characters, there would be no traditional characters. Therefore, simplified characters are not necessarily structures. Simple Chinese characters, some Chinese characters, have been so simple from the beginning to the present, and there is no corresponding traditional Chinese character. They cannot be called simplified characters, such as "人, 一, 二,十,上,下,丁,手,inch," "Gong, Ge", etc. Chinese characters with complex stroke structures are not necessarily traditional Chinese characters. The connotation of traditional Chinese characters does not refer to Chinese characters with complex stroke structures, but specifically refers to those characters with complex stroke structures that have been replaced by simplified characters and have been discontinued. The structures of Chinese characters, such as "鹩, 驿, 迿, 鈨, 馕,銊, 江,鼀,鬻,退", etc., are very complex, but they cannot be called traditional Chinese characters, so simplified characters cannot be simply understood as stroke structures. Simple Chinese characters cannot be simply understood as Chinese characters with complex stroke structures.
Simplified characters and Chinese characters go hand in hand. They are the historical product of the development of Chinese characters and the inevitable result of the contradictory movement of things. Some of the simplified characters we use today have already appeared in the oracle bone inscriptions era. According to relevant statistics, 30% of the simplified characters originated from the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties. As of 1956, when the "Chinese Character Simplification Plan" was announced, the vast majority of simplified characters were developed in New China. It existed before the founding of China.
"Chinese characters have never stopped developing and evolving since the day they were born, including the rebirth and death of characters, the adjustment of the scope of use, changes in the shape and structure of characters, the simplification and multiplication of strokes, etc. The use of characters Changes in circumstances and the movement to adopt new ones are to adapt to social life in different periods; the evolution of glyphs and the simplicity of strokes are closely related to writing conditions, and are the embodiment of the principle of economical and labor-saving in the use of language and characters. " ① It can be said that as long as there are Chinese characters and as long as Chinese characters are still in use, Chinese characters will develop, there will be simplification, and new simplified characters will continue to be produced.
Ancient Chinese characters are ideographic characters. The tendency of phonetic notation to indicate meaning in the glyph structure makes the strokes and structure of Chinese characters increasingly complex, or because a character has changed from single meaning to multiple meanings. Therefore, Due to the need to distinguish different meanings in glyphs, elements are often added to the original Chinese characters. For example, "cloud" was originally a pictographic character for clouds. Later, the word "cloud" for speaking (such as people echoing clouds) was also represented by this character. In order to distinguish the meaning of the word, people added the radical "rain" to the original character to form the pictophonetic character " "Cloud" means the meaning of cloud, and the original word "cloud" means the meaning of speaking, such as "the ancients cloud". Another example is "yi". The original word means water on the vessel, meaning overflow. It is an understandable word. Later, it has the meaning of "geng", such as "keep improving and grow stronger", so the original meaning is another word "yi". means that the structure of Chinese characters becomes complicated. Some characters are stacked on top of each other, making them more and more complex and difficult.
As the saying goes, things must be reversed when they are extreme. When the structure of Chinese characters reached its peak of complexity, its disadvantages of inconvenience in use were fully exposed. So people began to abbreviate Chinese characters and omit strokes during use, forming a large number of abbreviated word. In fact, the simplification of Chinese characters has always been accompanied by the development of Chinese characters, from complex to simple. This is also the unique law of the development of world characters and an inevitable trend of the development of Chinese characters. This development trend is unstoppable and cannot be based on individuals. The will is transferred. From bronze inscriptions to large seal script, from large seal script to small seal script, from small seal script to official script, and then from official script to cursive script and regular script, every stage of the development and change of Chinese characters is accompanied by the simplification of the stroke structure. Most of the simplified characters we use today have a very long history, such as "Yun, Cai, Dian, Mian, Zhong," etc., which have thousands of years of history. Even the calligraphy books that standardize Xiaozhuan like "Shuowen Jiezi" , some secular characters, that is, simplified characters that are popular among the people, are also included. For example, the character "Li" was announced by the State Council in 1956 and gained formal status and can be used openly. However, in fact, in the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Shuowenjie" It has been included in "Words". It can be said that it has been struggling in the non-canonical position for almost two thousand years, and finally ushered in the final victory! Many cultural relics unearthed today, such as Juyan Han Bamboo Slips, Dunhuang Han Slips, Dunhuang Bianwen Anthology, etc., have many simplified characters. As for the Song and Yuan Dynasties, simplified characters are everywhere in various manuscripts, although they are not recognized by the government. , cannot enter the elegant hall, but it is very popular among the people, which is in sharp contrast with the official documents. The People's Government of the People's Republic of China has collected and sorted out these simplified characters that are popular among the people, and announced the "Chinese Character Simplification Plan", which has transformed the simplified characters that have never been elegant into the correct form and replaced the corresponding traditional characters, which conforms to the general trend of the development of Chinese characters. Trend, this scientific and realistic approach to the development of Chinese characters has won the hearts of the people and has therefore been welcomed by the general public.