Chinese characters
2 min readChinese characters are written within a square framework，so they are sometimes referredto as”square writing.”Symbols inscribed on ancient pottery vessels excavated from Dawenkou in Shandong Province indicate that Chinese characters originated from pictographs，or symbolic drawings of objects.For instance，some scholars believe that the pictograph”&”is an early form of the character dan，which means dawn.The earliest form of the Chinese character ri，or sun，is a circle with a black dot in the middle，representing the sun.The modern character wang，or net，resembles interwoven rope.Pictographic writing，the use of symbols to directly represent objects，is the basis from which Chinese characters evolved.
In addition to simple pictographs，Chinese characters also utilize other several methods to express concepts.Associative compounds combine several pictographic components to form a word.For instance，to express the idea of”many people，”three”ren”（ren，person）componentsare combined to form the character“zong”（zhong，multitude）.Self-explanatory characters combine a pictograph and an emphasizing element.For instance，when the character“ren”（dao，knife），is combined with a dot，it becomes”dao”（ren，blade）.Pictophonetic characters use onecomponent to indicate meaning and one to indicate sound.For instance，the meaning component””which indicates”liquid，”and the sound component”you”which represents the sound “you，”combine to form the character”you”（you，oil）.Over 80%of all Chinese characters are of the pictophonetic type.
Over the course of thousands of years，both the form and meaning of Chinese characters have undergone many changes.But due to the unique way in which Chinese characters are constructed，their original meaning can often be deduced from their modern forms.This offers a glimpse not only into the origins of Chinese characters，but also into the thinking and customs of the ancient Chinese people.Chinese characters may be said to embody the continuity and development of Chinese civilization.
Different styles of Chinese writing and calligraphy also provide insight into human social development.The earliest form of Chinese characters was jiaguwen（oracle bone script），inscribed on tortoise shells and animal bones.This was followed by jinwen（metal script），inscriptions cast or sometimes engraved on bronze vessels；zhuanshu（seal script），written on bamboo slips，wood，and silk；and lishu（official script），which was commonly used during the Han Dynasty.Later developments included kaishu（regular script），xingshu（running hand semi-cursive script），and caoshu（grass style or cursive script），written on paper.Chines writing embodies not only the evolution of Chinese aesthetics，but also social and industrial progress.Modern Chinese writing includes two forms-simplified characters，introduced after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 to promote literacy，and traditional characters，which are still used in Taiwan，Hong Kong and many overseas Chinese communi ties.New computer coding systems for Chinese characters have ushered the written Chinese language into the information age.
