How the word "bird" was created
1 Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty systematically discussed the development of writing in "Shuowen Jiezi": "In ancient times, the Paoxi family was the king of the world. , Look up and observe the phenomena in the sky, look down and observe the laws on the earth; observe the characters of birds and beasts and the appropriateness of the earth, take objects near and objects far away, and then start to make Bagua, starting from the phenomenon of hanging down and the knotting of Shennong's rope. To govern, to unify the affairs of the common people, and to create false pretences, Cang Jie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor, first saw the traces of the hooves of birds and beasts, and when he knew that the principles could be differentiated, he first wrote the contract."
2 Wei Heng's "Four Body Scripts" said: "In the history of the Yellow Emperor, he recited Cangjie, looked at the bird's tracks, and began to write deeds, chronicling the eternal history, and laying down the legal system...". ”
3 Wei Heng’s "Four Body Scripts" records: "In the past, when the Yellow Emperor created all things, Jusong and Cangjie began to write deeds to replace ropes, and to watch bird tracks to stimulate thoughts. Therefore, it is said that the word has six meanings.
4 "Emperor Century" contains: "Cangjie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor, took the traces of elephants and birds and began to write characters."
5 Literary Mind and Carving of Dragons written by Liu Xie (xié) of the Southern Dynasty: "
Since the bird traces replaced ropes, writing has begun to shine. Yan Hao's legacy is recorded in "Three Tombs", but he was young and old. In the Tang Dynasty, Yu's articles became more and more prosperous. Wei Ge, Honored Virtue and Immortality
6 "Xiao Jing Wei Aiding God Deed" says: "The three emperors have no writings. When I saw the hooves of birds and animals in the history of Huangdi, I knew that the principles could be different. , the first written deed was made. ”
7 "Lunheng": "You can know the book by seeing the bird tracks. Heaven did not order Cangjie with the bird tracks, but Cangjie caused the bird tracks." "He also said: "The creation is more advanced and has never happened before. It is like Cangjie writing books." "Heaven and earth are books, and Cangjie writes words. The work is the same as that of heaven and earth, which means that he is in harmony with ghosts and gods. ”
Book 8 of Later Wei Jiang’s “Lun Shu Biao”:
“When I heard that Fu Xi’s paintings were made, the Eight Diagrams listed his paintings; . In the ancient history, Cangjie read the two elephants, observed the traces of birds and beasts, created new characters, used them to tie ropes, and used books and deeds to record events. Three generations.
9 For example, ""Seal Script" says: 'The traces of birds are left behind, and the emperor follows them...'". Another example is "Li Shi" says: 'The changes in bird tracks are due to the help of Li...'". Another example is ""Cursive Script Shi" says: 'The rise of calligraphy began with Emperor Jie...'" and so on. 10 Taiping Guangji, Volume 26, Book 1
The ancient text is based on the ancient text and was created by Huangdi Shi Cangjie. The head of Jie has four eyes, which are connected to the gods. Looking up at the curves of Kuixing, looking down at the traces of turtles and birds, we can learn from all the beauties and combine them into characters, which is called ancient prose. 11 The "Book of Filial Piety" borrows from "Shenqi" and says: "Kui Zhu's article is the same as Cangjie's imitation." (published in "Shujuan")
12 Li Si's "Cangjie Pian": "Cangjie wrote the book , to teach the descendants."
The above-mentioned only select a small part of the literature records, all of which show that Cangjie was inspired by the traces of the hooves of birds and beasts, and created literature. That is, pictographs}
What inspiration did the traces of birds and animals give Cangjie? The traces of birds and animals have a fixed shape, a fixed meaning, and a fixed sound. These are the three elements needed for writing. They lack Not even one. The traces of birds and beasts are naturally formed, and they are very limited. They cannot represent everything. We must find another way of expression and invent and create a method that can combine fixed shapes, fixed meanings, and fixed sounds. Symbols integrated into one, this symbol can also transform the lines of bird tracks and animal tracks into strokes of symbols, showing the external characteristics of all things in nature and the human world, that is, pictographs, like the external shapes of objects. It is called text according to the pictogram. This was the first and most crucial step for Cangjie to create pictographs, laying a solid foundation for the creation of a writing system.