汉字的产生与演变

汉字的产生与演变Origin and Evolution of Chinese Characters

1汉字是怎样演变的?

How have Chinese characters evolved?

Chinese characters have a history of at least four thousand years．Throughout Chinese history，there have been different theories concerning how or when characterswere invented，but historians agree that before any writing system existed the ancient Chinesemade records by tying knots with a rope．According to the most famous legend concerning the origins of Chinese characters，Cangjie(仓颉)，an ancient legendary figure who worked as the Yellow Emperor's historiographer，often watched the footprints of birds and beasts as well as the appearance of stars．His careful observations inspired him to create the earliestwritten characters．

The earliest evidence of Chinesewriting appears on oracle bones discovered mainly in Anyang(安阳)，the late Shang capital．They appear as simple drawings of natural objects—trees，water，mountains，horses，and humans．These earliest pictographic characters are called the Oracle Bone Script(甲骨文)，used during the Shang or Yin Dynasty(1600 BC－1046 BC)．Towards the end of the Shang Dynasty，people tended to engrave the Oracle Bone Script on the ding(鼎)，a bronze cooking vessel; the gong(觥)，a bronze wine container; the gu(觚)，a bronze drinking vessel．One of the unearthed bronze vessels called Mao Gong Ding(毛公鼎) dates from the late period of the Western Zhou Dynasty(1046 BC－771 BC)．On its surface are 497 engraved characters．During the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC－256 BC)，people tended to engrave scripts on bronze wares，and this writing style was called the Bronze Script(金文)．The Large Seal Script(大篆) developed on the basis of the Bronze Script during the Zhou Dynasty．Legend has it that during the period of King Xuan of the Zhou Dynasty(周宣王)(827 BC－781 BC)，a historian named Zhou edited a text-book to help children learn characters．The book is named The Book by Historian Zhou(史籀篇)，and itswriting style is also called Zhou Script(籀文) or the Large Seal Script．The lines of the Oracle Bone Script seem thin，stiff and straight．Those of the Bronze Script seem thick，and characters are well rounded in form．

After the Warring States Period(475 BC－221 BC)，only seven states survived．The script used in the Qin State(秦国) fell into the category of the Large Seal Script．However，the scripts used in the other six states were different in their appearance．These scripts were called the Six-State Ancient Scripts(六国古文)．During the Qin Dynasty(221 BC－206 BC)，Prime Minister Li Si(李斯) collected all the different systems of writing used in different parts of the country in an effort to unify the writing system．He simplified the ancient zhuan(篆)and created the Small Seal Script(小篆)．These styled characters look more semiotic because they have fewer strokes and moved further away from earlier pictorial representations．Lishu(隶书)，the Clerical Script，came into being during the period between the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty．At that time，government offices employed a large number of liren(隶人)，low-grade clerks，to copy the huge flow of government documents．These clerks had to turn the curved and rounded strokes of the Seal Script into linear and square shapes to speed up the copying of documents．This script was thus called lishu，the Clerical Script．Initially，people used either the Small Seal Script or the Clerical Script．Gradually the clericalwriting style became more widespread until it replaced the Seal Script in the Han Dynasty(206 BC－220 AD)．

The common use of the Clerical Script marks a turning point in the development of written Chinese characters．According to etymologists，all the written scripts that are used before the birth of the Clerical Script should fall into the category of ancient style characters，which include the Oracle Bone Script，the Bronze Script，the Large Seal Script，and the Small Seal Script．The Clerical Script and other styled scripts born at a later date belong in the category ofmodern styled characters．

Notes:①knot(绳等的)结②legendary传说的③historiographer历史学家④pictographic绘画文字的⑤engrave雕刻⑥simplify简化⑦semiotic符号学的⑧linear直线的⑨etymologist词源学者

2你能告诉我一些今体汉字的情况吗?

Could you tell me something about the modern styled characters?

Themodern styled charactersmainly refer to the Clerical Script(隶书)，the Cursive Script(草书)，the Standard Script(楷书)and the Running Script(行书)．

In the Han Dynasty(206 BC－220 AD)，people commonly would prepare a rough draft first and then write formally using the Clerical Script style．They usu-ally executed strokes cursively in an attempt to speed up their draftwriting．Thus the cursive script evolved from the Clerical Script，and people called this new style caoshu(草书)，or“cursive script．”There are various cursive forms．One of these forms is named“the Wild Cursive Script(狂草)，”a script in which the writing appears to have been executed freely and rapidly so that parts of the characters are exaggerated．

The zhengshu script(the Square Script，正书) from the Jin Dynasty(265－420) developed square in form，and non-cursive in style．By the Tang Dynasty(618－907)，it started to be called Kaishu，the Standard Script．Modern calligraphy is generally written in the Standard Script because of its regularity and easy-tolearn strokes．There are eight different stroke patterns: the dot，the horizontal stroke，the vertical stroke，the falling to the left，the rising to the right，the falling to the right and rectangular hook right down．

Xingshu，the Running Script，is a semi-cursive script that developed out of the Han Dynasty．The characters of the Running Script are not abbreviated or connected，but strokes within each character often run together．The Cursive Script characters are hard to read and write，except among literati artists．The Running Script characters，however，remain comprehensible because the semi-cursive style develops naturally after writing daily formany years，as you write faster and faster．Before 1911，people would use a brush to write on a daily basis，and simply startwith the Standard Script．By the teenage years，one would have developed a unique writing style．The Running Script would have been perfected at about18 years of age．

Notes:①standard规范②execute制作③stroke(写字，绘画的)一笔④cursive草书的⑤exaggerate夸张⑥horizontal横的⑦vertical垂直的⑧rectangular直角的⑨literati (literatus的复数)文人⑩comprehensible可理解的

3汉字是怎样构成的?

What elements are used to define Chinese Characters?

Of all themajor writing systems in the world，Chinese is the only one thathas not developed a phonetic alphabet．Instead the Chinese writing system is a logographic script in the form of characters．Because there is a rich variety of dialects across the country，people who cannot orally communicatewith each other can communicate through written language．A commonly heard expression in China is“Qing xie xia lai(please write it down，请写下来)．”There have been debates about whether Chinese should abandon its charactersand adopt Romanization as its writing system．Howevermost Chinese people believe such arguments are fruitless as characters are the onlyway to distinguish words．Ten wordsmay be pronounced in exactly the same way，and at the same time be represented by different characters．

Chinese characters are often thought of as hieroglyphics，pictures representing objects and/or concepts．This idea may be true of the earliest Chinese writing．However，pictographswere soon found inadequate to represent everything，especially abstract ideas．Ideograms were then introduced to represent abstract and symbolic concepts．After centuries of different refinements and style transformations，the characters with pictographic images and graphic quality have almost all disappeared．

Mostmodern Chinese characters are referred to as square characters，composed of two parts，a left part and a right part，or a top part and a bottom part．In either formation，one part is called the radical thatusually appears on the leftor the top．Radicalsoffer clues to the semantic classification of the words such as person，food，metal，plant，animal and language．If you know the radical of a character，but do not know the character itself，you can still get a general idea of its meaning．Apart from above-mentioned elements，there are also six principles used to define and clarify Chinese Characters based on the way they are formed．They are called the “Six Categories of Chinese Characters(六书)．”The first four categories include“pictographs(象形)，”“indicatives(指事)，”“complex ideograms(会意)”and “semantic-phonetic characters(形声)，”indicating the methods of forming the characters．The final two are “associative transformations(转注)”and“phonetic loan characters(假借)，”which refer to the usage of characters．

Notes:①phonetic语音的②logographic语标;略字③dialect方言④hieroglyphic象形文字的⑤inadequate不适当的⑥refinement优雅;高雅⑦transformation变化;⑧graphic绘画的⑨radical偏旁;部首⑩above-mentioned上面提到的〇11 ideogram表意文字

4学习汉字难吗?

Is it difficult to learn Chinese characters?

All educated Chinese can read Chinese characters，regardless of the dialect theymay speak．However，the Chinese writing system is not nearly as easy to learn as other writing systems．Chinese characters are neither alphabetical nor phonetic．Each character represents a separate syllable，indicating both the meaning and the sound．Only after years and years of study can the proper amount of characters be memorized to achieve fluent literacy．There also exists a proper stroke order with regards to writing．Improper stroke order carries a stigma，and therefore Chinese teachers and parents keep a close eye on how children write，carefully correcting any strokes that fall out of sequence．

Why do foreign visitors learn Chinese characters? Chinese civilization has evolved for thousands of years around this remarkable and unique writing system．Moreover，traditionalwritten Chinese and diversity of spoken forms are important factors in the development of Chinese society．Some foreigners study the language to communicate better while touring the country; others study for business reasons．Nevertheless，the study of Chinese characters is a rewarding road which gives access to some of China'smost enduring cultural achievements．

Language learners often wonder how many characters are necessary for one to become literate．Estimates may range from 3，000 to 5，000．Statistics show that the majority of the 50，000 to 60，000 existing characters are not in common use．

Notes:①regardless of不顾②syllable音节③memorize记住④stigma特征;小斑⑤keep a close eye on仔细注意⑥sequence连续⑦diversity多样性⑧rewarding有益的⑨enduring耐久的⑩statistics统计

5拼音是什么时候出现的?

When was pinyin introduced?

Early Western missionaries in China devised a number of systems for writing Chinese phonetically in Roman letters．None of these systems was a true representation of the correct pronunciation of the language involved．By now one set，the Wade-Giles System，has come to be used fairly regularly by American and British scholars，but itgivesmisleading and undependable indications of the true Chinese sounds．TheWade-Giles system was designed around 1860 by Sir Thomes Wade，a British diplomat and professor of Chinese at Cambridge University，and was applied by Herbert A．Giles，another Cambridge scholar，in a basic Chinese-English dictionary．The system found its way into English-language reference book．

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949，a committee for reforming the Chinese written language was set up．Thousands of character forms underwent drastic simplifications to reduce the number of strokes and ease the difficult task of achieving literacy．In 1951，the committee began working on a new phonetic alphabet for the language．This new system was called pinyin，and in 1958，the pinyin system was introduced．In 1979，pinyin was put into formal use．

Although it is difficult for any system to render the sounds of Chinese in the Roman alphabet，pinyin in most cases comes closer than other forms．For instance，the Wade-Giles form is Peking，and the pinyin form is Beijing．The Chinese make only a few exceptions in their new Romanization of Chinese words like Sun Yatsen，China and Confucius．Anyhow，pinyin is to serve as a teaching aid in studying Chinese characters and in fostering the standard spoken language．It is also intended to provide a unified system of rendering Chinese names in Western languages，eliminating the various existing styles．

Notes:①missionary传教士②diplomat外交官③simplification简单化④literacy读写能力⑤exception例外⑥foster培养⑦eliminate排除