The origin of the evolution of Chinese characters, the origin and evolution of Chinese characters

Chinese characters have undergone more than 6,000 years of change, and their evolution process is as follows:

Oracle Bone Inscription, Jin Wen, Xiao Seal, Lishu, Kaishu, Xing Shushang) (Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei Jin) The seven fonts of "Jiajin Seal Licao Kai Xing" above cursive are called "Chinese Character Seven Bodies".

Oracle bone inscription, golden inscription, small seal, official script, regular script, line script.

There should still be words on the oracle bone inscription, such as the tadpole inscription of the Yu tablet, but it has not been deciphered.

The origin and evolution of Chinese characters are as follows:

Legend has it that Chinese characters originated from Cangjie characters. Cangjie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor, created writing based on the shape of the sun and the moon and the footprints of birds and beasts.

Chinese characters have a long history, but the exact age of their origin is still a historical mystery. The legend of Cangjie characters related to this has been passed down for four or five thousand years. The invention of Chinese characters was an earth-shattering event at the time, but it could not have been created by one or a few people, and it should be the crystallization of the collective wisdom of our ancestors.

The evolution of Chinese characters is a process of gradual standardization and stabilization of Chinese character glyphs and fonts. In all the countries in the world, only our Chinese culture has been passed down without interruption, and only our "Chinese characters" have evolved from ancient times without interruption.

Chinese characters are ideograms that are closely integrated with form and meaning, and the original characters were pictograms, and with the glyphs, you can know the specific things it refers to. Later, with the improvement of people's level of understanding, the increase of understanding of things, the popularization of culture, and the change of Chinese character writing materials, the shape of Chinese characters has undergone great changes.

The structure of the strokes became more and more simple, the shapes tended to be abstract and more regular, and the form of the squares gradually became fixed. From the Yin Shang dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the evolution of Chinese characters went through the stages of oracle bone script, Jin script, large seal and small seal, official script, regular script, cursive script, Xingshu, and Song style.

Human beings are social animals, and they cooperate with each other and work together. Human language plays an indelible role in this process. The spoken language of the initial form is spoken and fleeting, and cannot be preserved.

Moreover, due to the limitations of the physical attributes of human articulatory organs, the spatial penetration is small, and the scope of influence is limited.

Types of Chinese characters:

1. Oracle bone inscription, oracle bone inscription is the earliest form of Chinese characters found so far. It originated in the Yin Shang period and was named because it was engraved on the bones of tortoiseshells. More than 4,500 characters have been found on more than 100,000 oracle bones, of which about 1,700 have been cracked.

The oracle bone inscriptions are mostly pictographic signifiers, and under the influence of the recorded material blades and tortoiseshell animal bones, the glyphs are much simpler, which initially shows a trend of symbolization.

2. Jin Wen, Jin Wen is the abbreviation of "Ji Jin Script". The ancients regarded sacrifice as an auspicious ceremony, and the bronze ritual utensils used for sacrifice were auspicious gold. This kind of writing is commonly cast on bronzes, coins, and sigils.

Collectively referred to as "Golden Letters". Jin Wen first appeared in the early Shang Dynasty, prevailed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, evolved from the oracle bone inscription, and is not much different from the oracle bone inscription in structure, but there are obvious differences in form: the strokes are thick, and there are more fat brushes; Turn in a circle at the turn.

Chinese characters are a very old script, dating back to oracle bone inscriptions dating back more than 3,000 BC. Here is a major historical overview of the origin and evolution of Chinese characters:

Oracle Bone Inscription Period (14th century BC – 11th century BC): The earliest known form of Chinese characters is the oracle bone inscription, which developed from the ancient Shang Dynasty script. Oracle bone inscriptions are used to record production and sacrificial activities, mainly engraved on tortoise shells and animal bones.

Jin Wen period (11th century BC – 3rd century BC): After the end of the Shang and Zhou periods, China entered the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which was also the Jin Wen period. Jin inscription is a text that appears on metal vessels, which is more concise, more structured, and more aesthetic than oracle bone inscription.

Seal Script Period (221 BC – 220 AD): After the Qin Dynasty unified China, it unified the written language, allowing the different regions to unify the form and norms of the written language. At this time, there were many tokens and patterns that were often pre-printed on various items, so there was a basis for printing pins and making seals.

Lishu period (221 BC - 220 AD): Lishu was an important stage in the evolution of the Zhengshu style of Chinese characters, and during the Han Dynasty, Lishu gradually became the official written script.

Regular script period (Song Dynasty): Lishu is widely circulated, but its strokes are complicated, so folk writing often uses Xingshu and cursive script as a way of writing, and then gradually evolves into regular script, and regular script has become the most formal and standardized form of writing Chinese characters.

In short, the development of Chinese characters has been a long time, and after several evolutions, the standard glyphs of Chinese characters used today have been formed. Because of its unique charm and profound cultural connotation, Chinese characters have become one of the oldest and most active scripts in the world.

Origin: The Chinese archaeological community has released a series of excavated materials related to the origin of writing earlier than the Yinxu oracle bone inscription. The Jiahu inscription has been physically determined by carbon 14 and has a history of about 7762 years; There are also 7,000 years ago Shuangdun inscriptions, 6,000 years ago Banpo pottery symbols, more than 5,000 years ago Qingdun ruins inscriptions, Zhuangqiao tomb ruins text with words into sentences, Dawenkou pottery symbols, Yaoshun era Tao Temple ruins Zhu Wen, Xia Ruin water book.

The early bone inscriptions are rich writing systems, and the later ones belong to the initial maturity stage. These archaeological discoveries may be important clues to the origin of Chinese characters, or they may be different sources of the development of various scripts. In the early 80s of the 20th century, more complete writing was found on the pottery excavated at the Dengfeng Xia Cultural Site in Henan.

This is the earliest written language that has been confirmed by scholars to have an exact age in Japan so far.

Evolution: The later evolution of Chinese characters has gone through a long process of thousands of years, going through the stages of oracle bone script, golden script, seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script, line script, etc., and the regular script is widely used today, but it is still not completely finalized. Chinese characters from the paleographic stage, pre-Han scripts.

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