However, I've chosen to write about a subject I love: Chinese characters. I had the opportunity to take a course in Chinese my senior year, and I absolutely loved it.
The fun thing about Chinese characters is their history. If one examines the evolution of the characters, one learns a lot about how written language changes over the course of history.
"Jiaguwen (甲骨文), or Oracle Bone Script. This is the earliest form of Chinese writing, used from the Middle to Late Shang dynasty (approximately 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE). This script was etched onto turtle shells and animals bones, which were then used for divination in the royal Shang court, hence the name "oracle bones". Consequently, scholars have been using oracle bones as historical documents to investigate the reigns of later Shang monarchs, and surprisingly confirming the veracity of the traditional list of Chinese emperors that was deemed mythological rather than historical. The shape of these characters are often described as "pictographic", in that they resemble stylized drawings of objects they represent.
Dazhuan (大篆), or Greater Seal. This stage of Chinese writing flourished from the Late Shang to the Western Chou dynasties (1100 BCE to 700 BCE). Unlike Jiaguwen, which was carved on bones, Dazhuan mainly appeared on cast bronze vessels. In fact, Jiaguwen and Dazhuan overlapped in time, and they might have been the same script but as they were inscribed on different materials their visual styles differ due to the quality of the surfaces.
Xiaozhuan (小篆), or Lesser Seal. This elegant script is the direct parent of the modern, unsimplified Chinese script. Not only are Xiaozhuan characters are more stylized and less "pictographic" like Jiaguwen and Dazhuan, but also exhibits systematic and extensive use of radicals much like modern Chinese. This script has survived the passage of time and continues to be used in the present age in calligraphy and seals.
Lishu (隸書), or Clerkly Script. As its name implies, this script was used by government bureaucrats. While it probably appeared at approximately 500 BCE, Lishu became widely used in the Qin (221 to 207 BCE) and Han (206 BCE to 220 CE) dyansties when the bureaucrats needed a fast and efficient script to handle state matters. The marked difference between this script and the Xiaozhuan is that Li Shu characters have less strokes and a more flowing style, therefore easily adaptable to brushes and pens. Lishu is still occassionally used in the modern age.
Kaishu (楷書), or Standard Script, is essentially the traditional script used today (except in the People's Republic of China). It is very similar to Lishu, but slightly more cursive and contains serif-like (hook or anchor-like) elements at the corners and end of strokes. Kaishu appeared toward the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE).
Xingshu (行書), or Running Script, can be considered a cursive version of Kaishu. Often several strokes are merged into one, especially sequential dots or two strokes perpendicular to each other. It also appeared shortly after the Han dynasty.
Caoshu (草書), or Grass Script, is the most cursive Chinese script. It appeared during the Qin dynasty. The shape of its characters often do not resemble the corresponding Lishu or Kaishu character, in that some strokes are merged into one and others are simply left out."
--http://www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html
Something else I love about Chinese characters is how each character is more of an idea or a figure than an actual word. Each whole character is made up of lots of other characters or elements. For example, the character for "devil" is made up of the smaller characters: motion + garden + man + privately. And if you take the character "devil" and combine it with trees + cover, you get the character of "tempter". The character that means "to create" is made up of the characters: breath + dust + walking + alive.Chinese characters are a perfect example of how written language changes according to the needs of each generation.
http://www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html
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Wow, who knew the Chinese characters could have biblical implications as well. The fact that the character for devil relates to "garden" and "man" and private really captures the idea of how the devil was a part of the fall.
ReplyDeleteAlso, creation relates to breath and dust. Man was created from the dust of the earth and the bible I think mentions how God gave man breath.
Interesting stuff, PS why haven't yon been in class?:)
Thanks for this, Morgan! It was really interesting. I got the impression that the scripts continued to get simpler as time went on - like our English going from really archaic to what we use when we text, or really formal Sanskrit that, when written down, was changed to be easier to write, read, and understand. It's all about communication.
ReplyDeleteI never realized how many different alphabets they used, and that they have cursive writing like the English alphabet. It's interesting that two cultures that developed pretty much isolated from each other would both create a quicker way to write like cursive.
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