Why did the ancients write from top to bottom, from right to left

The ancients wrote from top to bottom, in order to take the laws of nature, everything started from the beginning, so the writing was from top to bottom. From right to left, turn to take the earth; The earth turns to, from west to east, from right to left; The ancients regarded the right as the right way and the left way as the evil way. Therefore, the ancients wrote from the right, in order to take the righteousness of the right way.

The earliest bamboo slips were used to record, and the bamboo slips were rolled up, whether it was written, or later looked at from top to bottom, from left to right was the most convenient, so it became customary.

Ink doesn't get on clothes. Clothes don't rub the words out.

While writing, the right hand is dangling over the wrist and the left hand is placed on the table to stabilize the body. If you write from left to right in this position, the sleeve of your left hand will be stained with dry ink. Writing from right to left keeps the left hand white forever, while the right hand is in the air and is not easily polluted.

The ancients had a very high level of writing, so for them, writing small letters was not a big problem. Combined with the above points, the ancients had the habit of writing from top to bottom and from right to left. It seems that this is consistent with the ergonomics advocated by modern people.

When it comes to Chinese characters, this is the only form of writing in the world that has evolved continuously from ancient times to the present day. It embodies the great national character of the Chinese nation, and it is the uninterrupted inheritance of Chinese culture by Chinese characters.

In order to prevent your sleeves from getting wet, in order to be clean and hygienic. That's why there is such a writing style. Writing from left to right will not cause your sleeves to be soiled, and it can also make your clothes look neater, and it can also make the text look more neat and easier to read.

This kind of behavior, then I think it has been handed down from the past, after all, the previous letters, it has a corresponding format, and special attention is paid to the format and content of the letter.

Because the ancients wrote on bamboo slips, and bamboo slips are particularly thin, people have developed the habit of writing from top to bottom; Bamboo slips are particularly thin, so you have to write from top to bottom, bamboo slips are one by one, and after writing this one, you have to take the one from the left to continue writing, which also leads to the habit of writing from left to right.

Our current writing habit is to write horizontally from left to right, with one line full and then the next. However, the ancient writing habits in China are not like this at all, writing vertically from right to left, from top to bottom. Why is that? There are several reasons for this.

1. It was first written on bamboo slips.

In ancient times, before there was no paper, people wrote on bamboo slips, and most of the tools were brushes. We can imagine that when the ancients took out the bamboo slips, they first opened the first piece of the bamboo slips with their right hand, and then slid the bamboo slips left and right, reading them one by one. Obviously, writing from right to left is easier to read.

In the same way, when it comes to writing, since humans generally write with their right hand, they play an unshakable position. The bamboo slips are threaded together, so when the right hand holds the brush to write, the left and right sides open the bamboo slips one by one, the process will be very natural, and the bamboo slips after writing will be dried in turn.

Before the advent of papermaking, the writing tools at that time were mainly bamboo slips, which were long and narrow, which limited the direction of writing from top to bottom. Then people at that time mainly held bamboo slips in their right hands, and opened them with their left hands for easy reading, so they wrote from right to left.

2. The writing habits of Chinese characters.

As we all know, Chinese characters belong to square characters, and the order of strokes when writing is from top to bottom, from left to right. Imagine that if you write horizontally from right to left, the left half of the previous word is very likely to be invaded by the right half of the next word, and the two stick together, which is not conducive to the layout of the text. And the last stroke of the Chinese character is almost the middle and lower, the middle right.

3. It is related to stone lettering.

Before the bamboo slips, people carved words on stone, and hammers and awls were used to carve words on stone. People generally use the right hand to hold the hammer, the left hand to hold the awl, the left hand to divide the labor, from the top down, from the right to the left has become a more convenient way.

4. The ancients respected the right.

Since the emergence of civilization, people have gradually formed the ideological concept of respecting the right and precious. The specific reflection is in people's little by little lives, such as the promotion of officials, which is generally called right migration, and depreciation is called left migration; When the guests come, when they are more honorable, they should leave the seats on the right vacant for them to sit; In addition, since ancient times, there has been a "upper hall and lower kitchen", reflecting the position of culture in people's lives. In the same way in the process of writing, it is the same reason, it is under the influence of this kind of thinking that the habit of writing from right to left is formed.

The above four reasons make our ancients develop the habit of writing from right to left, from top to bottom.

Because it's written vertically! And I use bamboo slips!

You can open it and read it at the same time!

I roll it up with the left-handed one and open it and am easy to read!