How did Chinese characters evolve? How did Chinese characters evolve?

After more than 6,000 years of changes, the evolution process of Chinese characters is: oracle bone inscription (Shang) Yunlu Jin Wen (Zhou) small seal (Qin) Lishu (type quiet Han Buran) Kaishu (Wei and Jin) Xingshu, the above "Jiajin Seal Licao Kaixing" seven fonts are called "Chinese characters seven bodies."

Chinese characters are an ancient Chinese writing system whose evolution can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscription period in the 16th century BC. Since then, Chinese characters have undergone several evolutions and developments, resulting in different fonts and styles.

The original oracle bone script was engraved on turtle bones and animal bones, and was mainly used for occasions such as divination and religious sacrifices. Later, during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, these characters gradually developed into gold and bronze inscriptions, which began to be used in the production of utensils and inscriptions.

The basic structure of Chinese characters is composed of four categories: "pictogram", "signifier", "huiyi", and "shape and sound". Among them, the word "pictograph" is formed through the depiction of real objects or concrete things, such as the word "person" is to depict a standing human figure. "Referring to things" is formed by indicating or indicating things, such as the word "day" means the sun.

"会意" is the merger of two or more glyphs into a new character to express a more complex meaning. On the other hand, "shape sound" is the combination of a part that represents meaning and a part that represents syllables to represent a new glyph.

Over time, the glyphs of Chinese characters gradually changed, and many different fonts and writing styles appeared. Today, kanji has become one of the oldest and most widely used writing systems in the world, and is widely used in languages such as Chinese and Japanese.

1.Pictograms: The single-body word-making method is the most primitive word-making method, which uses the lines or strokes of the text to specifically outline the appearance characteristics of the object to be expressed. For example: sun, moon, horse, fish, turtle, etc.

2.Referring to things: The main difference between the monolithic word method and the pictogram is that the word contains things that are more abstract in painting.

3.Shape and sound: combined word formation, shape and sound words are composed of two parts:

Shape side (also known as "Yi Fu") and sound side (also known as "note").The form side indicates the meaning or generic of the word, and the sound side indicates the same or similar pronunciation of the word. For example:

The word "cherry" is next to the shape of "wood", indicating that it is a kind of tree, and next to the sound is "baby", indicating that its pronunciation is the same as the word "baby". The lower part of the word "tooth" is next to the shape, which draws the shape of the tooth, and the upper "stop" is next to the sound, indicating the similar pronunciation of the word.

4.Huiyi: Combined wording, Huiyi is composed of two or more independent characters, and the composition of the glyph or word meaning is combined to express the meaning of the word.

For example, the word "wine" is combined with the bottle "unitary" and the liquid "water" to express the meaning of the word. "Song" refers to the call of birds, so it is composed of "mouth" Lu Zhipei and "bird".

5.Transfer: It belongs to the "use of words", because of the different pronunciations in different regions, as well as geographical barriers, so that the same thing will be referred to differently.

When these two words are used to express the same thing and have the same meaning, they will have the same radical or part. For example, the words "test" and "old" both have the original meaning of the elderly; The words "upside" and "top" are both on the top of the head; The words "trick" and "emptiness" are both holes. These characters have the same radical (or component) and analysis, and there is also a phonetic relationship in pronunciation.

Qing Dynasty scholars Dai Zhen and Duan Yuju said that "transliteration" is mutual training, and words with the same or similar meaning are quoted and interpreted by each other.

6.Pretend: Pretending to be a homonym substitution.

It refers to borrowing existing words that are similar in shape and have the same sound, and express words with different meanings. There are words in the spoken language, but there is no corresponding textual correspondence. So he found a homophone with the same pronunciation as it to express his meaning.

For example, "self" was originally a pictogram for "nose", and later borrowed as "self" for "self".

Between the oracle bone inscription and the regular script, there are golden scripts, seal scripts, and official scripts. Chinese characters mainly originated from pictographic drawings of memorization, and pictographs are the basis for the formation and development of the Chinese character system.

The later evolution has gone through a long process of thousands of years, going through the stages of oracle bone inscription, golden script, seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script, line script, etc., and the regular script is used, but it is still not completely finalized. The "Seven Bodies of Chinese Characters" have been formed in the evolution of thousands of years from the most primitive stone inscriptions, namely: oracle bone inscription, golden script, seal script, official script, cursive script, regular script, and line script.

Characteristics of Chinese characters. Chinese characters are one of the oldest scripts in the world, and their influence on the surrounding area is also very huge, and they are the mother characters of other scripts. It is a written symbol that records the repentance.

In terms of form, it gradually changes from a figure to a square-shaped symbol composed of strokes, so Chinese characters are generally called "square characters". It evolved from pictographs (ideographs) to phonetic ideographs, but the general system is still ideograms.

Therefore, Chinese characters have the characteristics of integrating image, sound and word meaning. This characteristic is unique among the world's writings, so it has a unique charm. Chinese characters are the treasure of thousands of years of Han culture, and they are also our lifelong mentors and friends, and everyone's spiritual home.

Chinese characters can often arouse our wonderful and bold associations and give people the enjoyment of beauty.

From the Shang Dynasty's oracle bone inscriptions engraved on the tortoise shells and animal bones, to the gold inscriptions carved on bronzes during the Zhou Dynasty, to the large seals that evolved in the later years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and then to the small seals that appeared after the unification of the Six Kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang.

Later, the small seal was gradually replaced by the more convenient and simplified official script, which later evolved into cursive script, and at the same time appeared in regular script and cursive script. At this point, Chinese characters have been basically stereotyped, and they are presented in front of the world's noisy lead along with China's brilliant civilization.

Chinese characters are one of the oldest scripts in the world and a symbol of Chinese cultural heritage, with the Yinxu oracle bone inscription dating back more than 3,000 years.

There are seven stages in the evolution of Chinese characters: one is oracle bone script, the second is golden script, the third is seal script, the fourth is official script, the fifth is regular script, the sixth is cursive script, and the seventh is line script. Chinese characters have undergone many changes since the oracle bone inscriptions.

Based on historical facts, these changes can be broadly divided into two main categories: reform and natural flow. The reform of Chinese characters is generally non-continuous, drastic, and completed in a short period of time; The natural flow of Chinese characters is continuous, slow, and long-term.

Oracle. <>

Oracle Chinese characters are one of the three oldest writing systems in the world. Among them, the sacred script of ancient Egypt and the cuneiform script of the Sumerians in the two river basins have been lost, and only Chinese characters are still used today. The oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties were already a relatively complete writing system.

Of the more than 4,500 oracle bone inscriptions that have been discovered, nearly 2,000 have been recognized.

Regular script. <>

It gradually evolved from the official book, and it became more simplified, horizontal and vertical. Cihai explains that it has "a square shape and straight strokes, which can be used as a model". This kind of Chinese character font is upright, and Hongchun is the handwritten orthographic character of modern Chinese characters.