{"id":8441,"date":"2019-10-25T23:38:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T23:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/origin-and-evolution-of-chinese-characters-han-zi-de-lai-yuan-he-yan-hua\/"},"modified":"2019-10-25T23:38:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T23:38:47","slug":"origin-and-evolution-of-chinese-characters-han-zi-de-lai-yuan-he-yan-hua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/th\/origin-and-evolution-of-chinese-characters-han-zi-de-lai-yuan-he-yan-hua\/","title":{"rendered":"Origin and Evolution of Chinese Characters \u6c49\u5b57\u7684\u6765\u6e90\u548c\u6f14\u5316"},"content":{"rendered":"
As one kind of the most ancient characters, Chinese characters have played a significant role in the development of Chinese culture. Originally, ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian symbols existed, but o<\/em>nly Chinese characters remain today.<\/p>\n

ba<\/em>sed on pictographs, Chinese characters combine shapes with sounds and co<\/em>nnotations to form unique, block-shaped characters that carry meaning. Archaeological researchers discovered many such signs carved on earthenware excavated from Banpo Village in Xi’an City and Jiangzhai Village in Lintong. The etchings were carved during the Yangshao Culture Period some 6,000 years ago. More than 4,000 years ago, people living in the Tai’an area of Shandong Province also carved signs on earthenware. The character “\u65e6” (dan in pin yin, meaning dawn), for instance; the sun (\u65e5) rises upwards, crossing the mountains and passing through cloud layers to tell people a new day has begun. It is safe to say that the earthenware signs are the first Chinese characters, which originated from drawings.<\/p>\n

The most sophisticated and earliest Chinese characters are the ins<\/em>criptions on tortoise shells and animal bo<\/em>nes called Jiaguwen of the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BC) that resemble drawings. To date, China has unearthed 150,000 pieces of animal bone and tortoise shell, including more than 4,600 distinctive Chinese characters, among which more than 1,700 have been identified. The ins<\/em>criptions on bo<\/em>nes and shells co<\/em>nsist of phrases and simple sentences, providing much insight into the Shang Dynasty. Modern Chinese characters top 60,000, among which a<\/em>bout 3,000 are commo<\/em>nly used.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evolution of Chinese Characters  \u6c49\u5b57\u7684\u6f14\u5316<\/p>\n

Chinese characters have evolved from \u7532\u9aa8\u6587 Jiaguwen (ins<\/em>criptions on tortoise shells and animal bones) to today’s characters over a long process. \u7532\u9aa8\u6587 Jiaguwen of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1765-1122BC) is a group of Chinese characters that resemble drawings.<\/p>\n

In the Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty (1121-771BC), there were also ins<\/em>criptions on bro<\/em>nzeware called \u949f\u9f0e\u6587 Zhongdingwen, which also resembled drawings. After the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) unified China, he also unified Chinese characters and introduced \u5c0f\u7bc6 Xiaozhuan (lesser seal s<\/em>cript) — a very beautiful style of characters.<\/p>\n

Since the \u5c0f\u7bc6 Xiaozhuan s<\/em>cript was very time consuming, people of the Qin further improved the characters and created a new style, \u96b6\u4e66 Lishu (official s<\/em>cript). In the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD8), Lishu — including another type of calligraphy, \u8349\u4e66 Caoshu (grass s<\/em>cript), followed by \u884c\u4e66 Xingshu (running s<\/em>cript) — became the main general typeface. The official s<\/em>cript broke away from the pictographic element of ancient Chinese characters laying the foundations for \u6977\u4e66 Kaishu (regular s<\/em>cript).
 <\/p>\n

\u6977\u4e66 Kaishu came into being in the late Han Dynasty and was ba<\/em>sed on Lishu. After Kaishu appeared, the block-shaped Chinese characters were finalized and Kaishu has been used ever since. Kaishu is the standard calligraphy that has been used for the lo<\/em>ngest period of time, still today. For the students in Chinese schools, they are reqiured to write the Chinese characters in Kaishu as the regular s<\/em>cript.<\/p>\n

Here are the comparison for different Chinese s<\/em>cripts for some common Chinese characters:<\/p>\n

\"Origin<\/div>\n