What are the advantages and disadvantages of ancient Chinese writing materials

In the course of human history, people need to inherit their ancestors' knowledge of the world, their experiences, and various inventions through a medium. In the era before the invention of writing, it was necessary to memorize by mouth, and although people also invented knots to keep records, errors often occurred because they could not identify what the knots represented. After the invention of writing, humans experimented with various natural objects to record writing.

Historically, the earliest written records appeared in China about 6,000 years ago. Initially, people recorded on animal bones, tortoise shells, or stones, and later gradually developed to use silk, and more commonly bamboo slips and wooden slabs.

Bamboo slips.

The oldest books in China were made from bamboo slips or wooden slips threaded together. However, due to the heavy weight and heavy volume of books made of this material, it is very inconvenient to read and carry. It is said that the Jin Jian Shu submitted to the emperor by Dongfang Shuo of the Western Han Dynasty was composed of 3,000 bamboo slips, and two strong guards had to be carried to the main hall.

The so-called at that time"Learn to be rich in five cars"In fact, the university scholars of the book have not read many books, but they have only seen five carts of bamboo slips and wooden slips. The amount of information it contains is difficult to compare with a thicker book nowadays. The people of the Jin Dynasty excavated the tomb of King Xiang of Wei during the Warring States Period, and obtained 15 ancient bamboo slips from it, about 100,000 words, loaded dozens of cars.

It can be seen that this kind of book is bulky.

Silk Book Silk Book.

In order to reduce the weight of writing materials, people began to use silk as a new writing material. However, due to the high cost of silk itself, it is difficult to be promoted. In the Han Dynasty, a horse (Han ruler wide, Han ruler long) was worth six stone (720 Han jin) of rice, which only a few royal nobles could enjoy, and ordinary people could not afford it at all.

In the Western Han Dynasty, a new type of school education was booming like never before, and both schools and students needed cheaper and more convenient writing utensils. As a result, a better writing material, paper, was born.

Ancient Chinese Writing Materials and Their Influences:

The earliest written records are available. Originally, people recorded the bones of animals, tortoise shells.

or on stone, which later gradually developed into silk, and more commonly bamboo slips and wooden slips. Later, paper was introduced.

The widespread use of paper not only promoted the rapid increase of books and documents and the spread of science and culture, but also promoted the development and prosperity of calligraphy art and the change of Chinese characters. Writing on a narrow and hard piece of paper, the pen is limited by the space and texture of the writing material.

The development of writing materials in the world and China:

The ancient Egyptians took advantage of the Nile.

papyrus to tell history; In ancient Europe, people also used animal skins, such as sheepskins, to write for a long time.

And China, in papermaking.

Before the invention, oracle bones, bamboo slips and silk silk were used for writing and recording in ancient times. But the oracle bones and bamboo slips are relatively bulky, Qin Shi Huang.

Reading the cantata in a day alone requires a whole car; Although silk silk is lightweight, it is very expensive and not suitable for writing. In the Han Dynasty, due to the rapid economic and cultural development of the Western Han Dynasty, oracle bones and bamboo slips could no longer meet the needs of development, which prompted the improvement of writing tools - paper was invented.

Papermaking is an important chemical process, and the invention of paper is a very valuable contribution made by China in the spread and development of human culture, a major achievement in Chinese history, and has also had an important impact on Chinese history.

The above content reference: Encyclopedia - Paper.

Ancient Chinese writing materials were Jiance, silk calligraphy, and paper.

1. The earliest Chinese book is Jian Ce, which is also the earliest formal form of book we know. The foundational works of ancient China were all written on Jian Ce.

Bamboo and wood chips made from bamboo and wood are called Jane. However, as a writing material, a single piece of Jane cannot hold many words. Therefore, a longer text or a work must be written on many pieces in succession.

In order to prevent distraction and to read in an orderly manner, it is necessary to link these many compendiums in an orderly manner, and the concatenation of these compendiums becomes the "book".

There are two kinds of materials: bamboo and wood (bamboo is used where bamboo is produced, and wood is used where bamboo is not produced). Those made of bamboo are called bamboo slips, and those made of wood are called wooden slips. However, the volume of wood is larger than that of bamboo, and it can also be made into plates, and each plate can hold more words than bamboo slips, and it does not need to be braided and connected, and can be used separately.

version, also known as square. The version on which the text is written is called 牍. Therefore, many written records in ancient times were called "plates" or "prescriptions".

2. Expensive silk books are a supplement to Jian Ce.

Silk book refers to a kind of literature that uses silk as the carrier of written words. Silk is a common name for silk fabrics.

China is the first country in the world to plant mulberry and silkworms and weave silk fabrics. Legend has it that in 3000 B.C., the ancestor had invented silkworm weaving. But originally this silk fabric was used for clothing and ornaments, and it is not known when it was used for writing and writing.

3. The invention of paper changed the face of books.

Paper is one of the four great inventions of ancient China, and it is also one of the outstanding contributions to world civilization. The invention of paper has become a major event in the history of the book industry in China and even in the world.

According to the unearthed paper-like objects or original forms of paper in the Western Han Dynasty, it shows that there was already paper in the Western Han Dynasty; At the same time, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Biography of Cai Lun recorded that the Eastern Han Dynasty had used waste and cheap things such as hemp and cloth as raw materials to produce paper. According to this, it can be shown that paper and papermaking methods have been invented in the Han Dynasty in China.

Bamboo slips, tortoiseshell animal bones, bells, silk cloths, steles, paper, etc.

1. Bamboo slips. Bamboo slips, bamboo pieces used for writing in ancient times, also refer to bamboo pieces for writing words. Writing materials from the Warring States period to the Wei and Jin dynasties. It is a long and narrow piece of bamboo (there are also wood chips, called wooden slips), which are wider and thicker than Jane, and the bamboo is called bamboo slips, and the wooden ones are called wooden slips. All are written with brush and ink.

2. Tortoiseshell animal bones.

Tortoiseshell beast bone book, tortoiseshell beast bone inscription is also known as oracle bone inscription, deed inscription or tortoiseshell inscription. It is the earliest and more complete ancient script found in China, and it is the most primitive book in China. It originated in the late Yin Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago.

Characters were carved with knives on tortoise shells and animal bones to record divination.

3. The earliest paper was 2200 years ago, and there was paper in the early Western Han Dynasty, but it was still very rough and not widely used. In 105 AD, after the improvement of Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is considered to be the originator of modern papermaking.

4. Silk and silk. In ancient China, silk fabrics were used as the carrier of recorded knowledge. It is generally called silk book, and some people call it silk book; Because of its white color, it is also called a plain book. Silk literature originated in the Spring and Autumn Period, prevailed in the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, and coexisted with the writing carriers that followed it for a long time.

The silk is soft and lightweight, wide in size, and suitable for drawing, which are all advantages that Jian Mu does not have.

There are three types of writing materials in ancient China, one is bamboo and wooden slips, the other is silk, and the other is paper. Books with simple ropes as a volume become compilations; If you make a book with silk curvature, it becomes a volume.

More than 3,000 years ago, the Shang Dynasty already had a brochure. The Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties were all used in combination with simplicity and silk. However, the value of silk is high, and it is far less common than that of brochures. Therefore, before the popularity of plant fibers, brochures became the main writing material.

Jane is a long and narrow bamboo, wood chips, generally only one line of words, the joy is generally about centimeter---1 centimeter, the length often varies depending on the use. A wide wooden board on which a few lines of characters can be written becomes a "square" or "牍". Letters are often written on a one-foot-long wooden block, so they have the name of "ruler".

The compendiums are linked together to form a volume.

The compendium is cumbersome, the silk is expensive, and it is not a suitable writing material. And so came the invention of paper.

The use of writing materials and writing instruments has a lot to do with the invention, use, and development of writing. Chinese characters (pictographs) have generally gone through the development stages of knotted rope records, river charts, Luo scripts, Fuxi Wenwang painting gossip, oracle bone inscriptions, Jin inscriptions, Zhong Ding inscriptions, large seals, small seals, official scripts, line scripts, cursive scripts, regular scripts and other development stages. Knotted rope can also be regarded as an ancient writing material and writing method.

Before the invention of papermaking, it was used:

Tortoiseshell animal bones: oracle bones;

Bell and pottery: seal script, gold text;

Stele, slip (wooden slip, bamboo slip): seal script, official script, Wei tablet, regular script, line script, cursive script, etc.;

Silk cloth: seal script, official script, regular script, line script, cursive script, etc.

After the invention of papermaking, paper was generally used as a writing material, except for special needs. But it's not just about using paper. To this day, seals, inscriptions, street signs, advertisements, signboards and many other aspects do not use paper. Most of them are inherited from ancient times.

The main writing instrument in ancient China.

Knife pen. It is necessary to use a knife to engrave words on oracle bones, and the words written on bamboo and wood in the early days were also carved with knives, but because bamboo and wood are not easy to preserve, people today cannot see the originals. Chisels used in steles and cliff lettering can be classified as knives and pen tools.

The brush is a writing tool that has been used for a long time in Chinese history.

After the invention of printing, printing was also a form of writing.

Traditional tools still need to be used.

The earliest is the knotted rope record, then the use of stone animal bones, then wooden slips, bamboo slips, bronze, and then silk silk, mixed with a small amount of paper. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was Cai Lun paper.

There are many tortoiseshell animal bones (such as oracle bone inscriptions), cloth silks, stones (such as stone drum inscriptions, stone tablets), bamboo pieces (such as bamboo slips), and paper.

First there are bone bronzes, then silk and bamboo, mixed with a small amount of paper. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was Cai Lun paper.

Tortoiseshell bones, cloth, bamboo slips, bronzes, sheepskins, and finally paper.

Tortoise shells, bamboo slips, silk, paper. Wait a minute.

Animal bones, oracle bones, bamboo and wood slips, silk, silk, Caihou paper.

a tortoise shell; Animal bones b bamboo and wood tablets c bronze d paper e pottery When it comes to writing tools for Chinese characters, people often think of the four treasures of the study first, namely pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Among them, paper is the carrier of words, and the pen is the main writing tool. In addition to pen and ink, there are also writing tools for Chinese characters, such as a carving knife and a metal tool for carving characters on gold and stone.

According to research, on the pottery inscriptions found in Xi'an Banpo, Shandong Dawenkou and other places about six or seven thousand years ago, there are several patterns, such as human face patterns, swimming fish patterns, etc., which are depicted with pens or similar tools, indicating that the brushes that were widely used later have had a prototype very early. The oldest existing brush is the brush of the late Spring and Autumn period of Chu State, the pen barrel is a solid bamboo pole, the pen barrel is split into several at one end, the pen hair is sandwiched in it, wrapped tightly with a fine silk thread, and then painted with a layer of lacquer outside, the pen hair is the best rabbit shear, about centimeter long. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there were also those who used wood to make pen barrels.

After the Han Dynasty, the production process of the brush has basically not changed, in the selection of the pen tube, there are mainly ivory, glaze, bamboo, jade tube, rhino horn, as well as rabbit hair, sheep hair, deer hair, wolf hair, children's fetal hair, tiger hair, horse hair, mink hair, etc. When writing on characters with a hard texture, smooth surface, and poor hygroscopicity, such as gold and stone, oracle bones, etc., it is necessary to use a harder engraving tool. In pottery inscriptions dating back 6,000 years, the carving tools used may have been made from jade or animal teeth.

In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin Shang period, scholars generally believe that the lettering tools of that time were most likely copper knives. Similar writing tools include chops, knives, and later iron pens. The carving knives used in seal carving today were produced at least during the Warring States period.

Because it is very inconvenient to write Chinese characters in the way of deed, it is difficult to write a relatively long text, or to cope with a large number of writing records, it is difficult to be competent. In modern times, with the improvement of the material and cultural level of society, brushes have gradually been replaced by hard pens such as fountain pens and ballpoint pens. As the main writing tool of the art of calligraphy, the brush is still used by calligraphers, and this will not change with the times.

In the Qin Dynasty, bamboo slips were widely used. At that time, the civil official in charge of writing was called a "sword and pen officer", and he was equipped with two special objects, a copper knife and a whetstone. The words written on the bamboo slips needed to be revised, so the handwriting on them was scraped off with a copper knife and rewritten.

And often scrape bamboo slips, copper knives are easy to dull, so whetstones are also a must-have for knife and pen officials.

Shang Dynasty: oracle bone inscriptions, text engraved on tortoise shells, animal bones.

Western Zhou: Jin Wen, the text is engraved on bronze.

Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period: The text is written on bamboo slips with a brush.

Western Han Dynasty: Paper began to appear.

Eastern Han Dynasty: Cai Lun transformed papermaking, and paper became popular.

Our ancestors originally carved words on tortoise shells.

on or on the bones. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, people cast the characters that needed to be preserved on bronze or carved them into stone.

Silk silk, the general term of ancient silk fabrics, has been used as an important writing and painting material before there was no paper.

Bamboo slips and wood chips used in ancient Chinese writing are called uncompiled books. In fact, it is a general term for several things, referring to bamboo slips, wooden slips, bamboo slips and wooden slips. Before the invention of paper, it was the most important form of Chinese books, which had a profound impact on the book system in later generations.