The origin and evolution of Chinese characters, the concern of Xinying Primary School 1.

Chinese characters are the characters that record Chinese. It has a history of more than 6,000 years. It is the most populous language in the world and one of the oldest scripts. It is an ideographic syllable, and there are 4,000 to 8,000 commonly used words in modern times, most of which are pictophonetic characters. The fonts of modern Chinese characters are all evolved from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, inscriptions on bronze, seal script and official script.

In the long-term practice, human beings have not only created splendid history, but also accumulated rich cultural knowledge, and their characters have been preserved to this day. As a tool for recording, preserving and disseminating knowledge, writing has made indelible contributions to the progress of human civilization and the progress and development of society.

English: Chinese characters

From the ancient legend of word-making in Cangjie to the discovery of Chinese characters in Oracle Bone Inscriptions more than 65,438+000 years ago, scholars in China have been working hard to uncover the mystery of the origin of Chinese characters. Regarding the origin of Chinese characters, there are many sayings in China ancient literature, such as "knot rope theory", "gossip theory", "picture theory" and "calligraphy contract theory". Ancient books also generally recorded the legend of Cang Xie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor who created Chinese characters. Modern scholars believe that systematic writing tools cannot be completely created by one person. If Cang Xie really exists, he should be a text organizer or publisher.

The earliest carved symbols were more than 8000 years ago.

In recent decades, Chinese archaeologists have published a series of unearthed materials about the origin of Chinese characters earlier than Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Anyang Yin Ruins. These materials mainly refer to the carved or painted symbols that appeared on pottery in the late primitive society and early historical society, and also include a few symbols engraved on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, jade and stone tools. It can be said that they provide a new basis for explaining the origin of Chinese characters.

Wang, a doctoral supervisor of Zhengzhou University, made a systematic investigation and comparison of the carving symbols on pottery pieces unearthed from more than 100 archaeological sites in China, and thought that the earliest carving symbols in China appeared in Jiahu site in Wuyang, Henan Province, with a history of more than 8,000 years.

As a professional worker, he tried to comprehensively sort out these original materials by comprehensively using scientific methods such as archaeology, ancient Chinese character configuration, comparative philology, scientific archaeology and high-tech means, so as to compare some clues about the occurrence and development of Chinese characters before Shang Dynasty.

However, the situation is not so simple. In addition to the existing small-scale data of Zhengzhou Shangcheng site and Xiaoshuangqiao site (in recent years, more than 10 cases of Zhu Shutao's early characters of Shang Dynasty have been found), other symbols before Shang Dynasty are scattered and lack of contact with each other, and most of them are out of touch with Shang Dynasty characters. There are also some symbols with heavy regional colors and complex backgrounds.

The 500 most commonly used Chinese characters

Yes, yes, in, no, no, yes, harmony, people, this, China, big, for, on, a country, I, with, want, he, when, come, use, students, health, want, do, land, in, out, on, points. For example, water, culture, height, ego, second, reason, start, small, material, now, reality, addition, measurement, both, body, system, machine, when, make, point, from, industry, this, go, deal with, sex, good, should, open, it. Or, Dan, quality, qi, first, direction, Tao, destiny, foundation, change, rule, talent, no, conclusion, solution, topic, meaning, construction, month, public, no, Ministry, army, love, people, the most, standing, generation, thinking, being and communication. Compare, general, group, look, plan, don't, her, hand, angle, period, root, theory, transportation, agriculture, finger, number, nine, area, strength, freedom, determination, west, quilt, dry, do, must, fight, first, back, and then take. Power, acceptance, certification, reform, openness, self-interest, beauty, recovery, culture, change, singleness, wind, cutting, beating, white, teaching, speed, flower, belt, safety, field, body, car, example, truth, service, equipment, everything, sight and destination. Lin, Fa, Hu, He, Yan, Guan, Yue, Weaving, Clothing, Shadow, Calculation, Low, Holding, Sound, Public, Book, Cloth, Complex, Capacity, Zi, Xu, International, Business, Non-test, Lian, Broken, Deep, Difficult, Near, Mining, Thousand. Save, wait, be friendly, be quick, be effective, be careful, be in hospital, check, be in river, be in shape, be in eyes, be in king, be in news, be in grid, be in cultivation, be in change, be in position, be in school, be in position, be in film, be in start, be in position, be professional, be in shape, be educated, be in factory, be in Beijing.

The Chinese character system was formally formed in the Central Plains.

Wang believes that the formal formation of the Chinese character system should be in the Central Plains. Chinese characters are a writing system of independent origin, independent of any foreign language. However, its origin is not single. After many times and long-term running-in, probably in the early summer, our ancestors creatively invented the writing symbol system of recording language on the basis of extensively absorbing and using early symbols. At that time, the Chinese character system matured rapidly.

According to reports, according to the written materials unearthed from archaeological excavations, China had a formal written language at least in the Xia Dynasty. For example, in recent years, archaeologists found the word "Wen" for writing brush and bamboo calligraphy on a flat pottery jar unearthed from Taosi site in Xiangfen, Shanxi. These symbols belong to the basic configuration in the early writing system, but unfortunately such unearthed writing materials are still rare.

Characters first matured in Shang Dynasty.

As far as the written materials of Yin Shang Dynasty are known and seen at present, there are many kinds of written carriers. At that time, in addition to writing on simplified Chinese characters with a brush, other main writing methods were carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, and pottery, jade and Tao Zhu were carved on bronzes. Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze ritual vessels used in Yin Ruins are the earliest mature written materials found in China.

The Shang dynasty characters reflected in Yin Ruins are not only reflected in the large number of characters and rich materials, but also in the way of creating characters that has formed its own characteristics and laws. The structural characteristics of basic characters in Shang Dynasty can be divided into four categories: based on the physical characteristics of human body and a certain part of human body; Based on labor creation and labor object; Taking the images of animals and livestock as the basis of word formation; Taking natural images as the basis of word formation. Judging from the cultural connotation of the configuration, the objects selected by these early mature hieroglyphs are quite close to the social life of our ancestors and have strong realistic characteristics. At the same time, the content described by these hieroglyphs involves all levels of people and nature, so it also has the characteristics of extensive sources of configuration.

1. Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a written language in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, which was only used by a few divination historians. Mainly carved on the tortoise shell bone with a knife. Because the tortoise shell bone is hard, the strokes are mainly straight and rarely round. Because Oracle Bone Inscriptions was carved with a sharp knife, the lines were thin and even. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the earliest Chinese character, which has the characteristics of early Chinese characters: strong imagery, no stereotyped writing, different sizes and great randomness.

Guess what the six ancient characters in the picture below are:

Answer:

Zhenxiyu

(knowledge) (pictograph) (pictograph)

Today's disease

(Know) (Pictograph) (Know)

2. Jinwen

Bronze inscriptions, also known as Zhong Dingwen, prevailed in the Western Zhou Dynasty. This is a kind of writing carved on bronze wares. The shape and structure of bronze inscriptions are similar to those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Because the inscriptions on bronzes are carved on a mold and then cast, it is easier to write. Therefore, its strokes are characterized by rounded shape and uniform size. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the pictograph is lower, and the stereotyped characters are improved, but there are more variants.

3. seal script

There are two kinds of seal script: big seal script and small seal script. Dazhuan is a kind of writing in Zhou Xuanwang in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, also known as Wen Shu. During the Warring States Period, Shi Guwen and Zhou Xuanwang used a literacy textbook, Literacy Articles. The physical features are generally consistent with the inscriptions on bronze, with the characteristics of many strokes. Xiao Zhuan is a unified font issued when the same writing policy was implemented in Qin Dynasty. Li Si and others revised the font after finishing the text. Because it is a unified font issued by the government, after finishing and simplifying, the variant characters are greatly reduced, and the font is rectangular, which lays the foundation for the "square characters" of Chinese characters. Xiao Zhuan's strokes are more symmetrical and neat, the lines are even in thickness, more rounded, more symbolic, and the meaning of the picture disappears greatly. Because Xiao Zhuan is simplified on the basis of Da Zhuan, it is generally said that Xiao Zhuan is a simplification of Da Zhuan.

Xiao Zhuan calligraphy: The pine beside the wild crane's nest is the oldest, and the rain, rivers and mountains are dry. In the palm of the giant's hand, thousands of feet has broken the shore.

4. Official script

Lishu originated in the Qin Dynasty and prevailed in the Han Dynasty. The parallel of official script and seal script in Qin dynasty is a convenient font for official document copying by official script. Small seal script is difficult to write, which can't meet the needs of official documents in Qin Dynasty. Often used in more formal occasions. In order to write conveniently and quickly, Li Shu changed the circle of Xiao Zhuan into a straight stroke with square folds. Change the vertical cohesion structure style of Biography to horizontal extension; At this time, the official script has become a Chinese character symbol that is no longer pictographic. Official script has greatly changed the font of Chinese characters, so "official script change" has become the boundary between ancient and modern Chinese characters. The Chinese characters before Xiao Zhuan are ancient Chinese characters. Their similarity is characterized by strong pictograph and poor rigidity. Chinese characters are composed of lines, without any word-formation element-strokes. The Chinese characters after Lishu are modern Chinese characters. Nowadays, Chinese characters are characterized by strong symbolism and stereotypes, and the characters are composed of limited types of strokes. The official script of Han Dynasty replaced Xiao Zhuan as a formal writing form, also known as "Han Li". Han Li's writing styles are diverse. First, Fang Bi is the main one, such as Zhang Qianbei; One is mainly round pens, such as Cao Quanbei.

Edit the principle of word formation in this paragraph.

Liu Shu is the basic principle of Chinese character combination, which is mentioned in Zhou Li, but the specific content is not explained. Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty expounded the structural principles of the Chinese character "Liu Shu" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: pictographic, ideographic, comprehensible, pictophonetic, phonological, transliteration and borrowing.

Pictographic characters: This method of creating characters is described according to the appearance characteristics of an object, so it is also true to draw it as its object. Such as the sun, the moon, the mountains and the water, originally depicted the patterns of the sun, the moon, the mountains and the water, and then gradually evolved into the present shape.

Refers to things: this refers to the expression of abstract things, and so does the so-called "each refers to its thing". If you write "up" on it, people will write "down" on it.

Shape and sound: this is a unique sound expressed by a specific shape (root) in the text. For example: Hu, the word can also be a root, combined with different attribute roots, can be synthesized into: butterfly, butterfly, lake, gourd, Hu, gas and so on. And use the same pronunciation to express different things (some only have initials). However, due to the phonological changes of ancient and modern languages, many similar ancient pictophonetic characters have no homophones in today's Mandarin.

Understanding: This method of word formation is to combine two radicals and derive new meanings. For example, when the sun and the moon merge into one, the sun and moonlight become "bright". The word "people" and "words" together is the word "faith", which means what people said before; There is a letter that this man abides by what he says.

Note turn: this is used to annotate two words, which are synonymous but have different shapes. Xu Shen explained in Hanshu: "Building a class, agreeing to accept each other, and taking the test as usual." , how do you say this? In ancient times, the word "test" could be used to mean "longevity", and "old" and "test" had the same meaning, that is, the so-called old people took the test and the candidates were old. Is The Book of Songs elegant? Bai Pu also said, "Zhou Wangshou test. "There are also some immortal ancients in Su Shi's poem Qu Yuan Tower. Why do you want to compare them? In a word. Among them, "Kao" means "Lao", and it is particularly noteworthy that later generations of philologists have also made a lot of explanations on the aforementioned definition of Xu Shen. Among them, there are three types, namely, shape shift theory, sound shift theory and meaning shift theory. But some people think that these three statements are not comprehensive enough. Jelly Lin, a contemporary archaeologist, also explained that "Zhuan Zhu" is a form (root) to record two words with completely different pronunciations and meanings. Such as "broom and woman" and "mother and daughter" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Borrowing: In short, the word borrowing is used to express something else. Generally speaking, there is a new thing that can't be described, so we borrow a root with similar pronunciation or attribute to express this new thing. For example, "You" originally meant the right hand (first seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions), and later it was disguised as "You". Smell means to listen to things with your ears. For example, in the seventh chapter of "University", there is a sentence "Turn a blind eye, listen but don't smell, eat but don't know its taste", but it was later used as an olfactory verb (although some people think it is misused).

Summarize the above six books, the first two items, "word-making method" also; Second, the "combination method" is also; The last two items, "using Chinese characters", are the same. These six principles are philological theories summarized by ancient philologists. The rules of Chinese character creation included in it have evolved over a long period of time, and are not created by any one person.

Edit the structure of this Chinese character.

Chinese characters are formed by arranging one or more radicals (one-dimensional characters in European languages) into a square in a specific space, so they have another name for square characters. Structurally, Chinese characters have the following characteristics:

There is a high information density in a word. When you express the same thing, you can express the same information in a shorter space than phonetic notation, so the reading efficiency of Chinese characters is very high.

A Chinese character consists of more than 400 pictographs such as gold, wood, water, fire and earth, which are combined together like building blocks.

The meaning of an unknown character can be separated, and its meaning can be inferred from the composition of the root and the configuration of the space. When new things are difficult to express in the evolution of the times, new words can be synthesized and used according to the principle of radical combination. For example, the Chinese word uranium is a new word created in modern times to express a newly discovered chemical element.

The spatial configuration of Chinese character roots has an influence on the meaning: if it is the same combination of "dead heart", the left and right rows of "busy" and the upper and lower rows of "forgotten" are arranged differently, which leads to different meanings; The part with the word "Ai" on the right side of the text indicates that the right hand (left hand means left hand) is holding something and doing something to the left root (bronze inscription and Oracle Bone Inscriptions discovered in archaeology). If the right hand holds something on it, it becomes "Ai". Almost all people with this root are aggressive or use violence to achieve a certain purpose, such as attacking, defeating, knocking, collecting and so on.

Edit this paragraph font

(China's Calligraphy): The strokes of the Chinese character "Guo" are written in different ways, that is, the fonts are different; Different fonts have different fonts.

Chinese characters written in regular fonts (such as regular script, Song style, official script, seal script, etc. ) is a kind of square character, and each character occupies the same space. Chinese characters include letter combination words and combination words, and letter combination words can't be separated, such as "Wen" and "Zhong". Combined Chinese characters are composed of basic components, accounting for more than 90% of Chinese characters. Common combinations of compound words are: upper and lower structures, such as "smile" and "tip"; Left and right structures, such as "word" and "family"; Semi-closed structure, such as "similarity" and "inclination"; Fully enclosed structure, such as "group" and "meeting"; Composite structure, such as "win" and "point". The basic components of Chinese characters include single words, radicals and other non-word-forming components.

The smallest constituent unit of Chinese characters is strokes.

When writing Chinese characters, the direction and order of strokes, that is, the order of strokes, are relatively fixed. The basic rules are: first horizontal and then vertical, first left and then down, from top to bottom, from left to right, first outside and then inside, then sealed, first in the middle and then on both sides. The stroke order of Chinese characters with different writing styles may be different.