What is the difference between the writing habits of the ancients and today?

According to the research of Mr. Qiu Xigui, a famous paleographer at Fudan University, Chinese characters originated around 2500BC and formed a complete system around 1500BC. The earliest recognized writing that has been discovered is the oracle bone inscription. Not all oracle bone inscriptions are engraved, and some contents, especially things that have nothing to do with divination, are written with a brush.

Similarly, he believes that the oracle bone inscription is a relatively casual font, and the orthographic script is a golden inscription cast on bronze ware (there was a Jin inscription in the Shang Dynasty, which was cast on bronze ware, and some of the gold inscriptions in the Warring States period were carved with iron knives). In addition, oracle bones and bronze ware are not the only writing materials in the Shang Dynasty, bamboo and wooden tablets existed at that time, and they are the main writing materials, but they are too old to be preserved until now (the earliest existing bamboo and wooden tablets were unearthed in the tombs of Chu during the Warring States Period).

Therefore, you can see that the writing methods of the ancients are not very different from those of today. (If you look at the calligraphy works of the Wei and Jin dynasties, you will find that the cursive prefix in the line script will be written like the upper half of the "front", which is also the way of writing the scribble characters of modern people.) For thousands of years, from the Shang Dynasty to the present, the brush has been an important writing tool.

But fonts have evolved over time and have a tendency to be simplified.

As for why the ancients wrote from right to left, from top to bottom, I don't know.

Modern people write from left to right, why did the ancients write from top to bottom, from right to left?

The main reason is that the materials of writing are different, the earliest characters were carved on tortoise shells or cow bones with knives, and later carved on bamboo slips, these materials are relatively narrow, not suitable for horizontal writing. Moreover, the earliest writing was carved with a knife, and the brush appeared later, but the writing habit has continued.

To use a brush, write vertically from right to left.

Ancient is traditional, modern is simplified.

In ancient times, the emphasis on literature and light on military affairs, civil officials generally looked down on military attachés, and in some periods, military attachés of the same grade even had to salute civilian officials, and most military attachés even had no interest in literature and the need to study, but still held a book of four books and five classics or something in their hands, showing their Confucian demeanor, a military attache did not train soldiers, and those who took books every day were also, such absurdity, it can be imagined that the importance of literature in ancient times.

The first thing you see in literature is not your writing, but your words. China's famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi's character is specially looking for Mrs. Wei (Wei Shuo, alias Mrs. Wei, name Shuo, the word Maoyi (AD 272-349), Hedong Anyi (now Xia County, Shanxi) people, is a famous calligrapher in the Jin Dynasty. Teachable.

And in ancient times, there were no entertainment facilities, it was very idle, and it was normal to write calligraphy to pass the time or something.

The ancients didn't have the Internet, they didn't get KTV, they didn't get the sauna... There is nothing left to play, only the old writer. So the writing is better than the modern one.

In ancient times, it was mainly written by hand, but today it can be used by computers, audio and video recordings, etc. The level of technology has changed dramatically.