Chinese Characters
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The origin of the Chinese antique script is very long and there is not
enough documentary resources about it history. Chinese characters can be
traced to a time when people making records in their daily life by tying
knots in ropes or strings. The most acceptable legend of the inventor of
Chinese writing was a minister named Ts'ang Chieh
, who records the history in the court of Emperor Huang Ti, the first
king of China.
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Ts'ang Chieh
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People in different regions of China speak differently, including such
dialects as Mandarin, Min Nan, Hakka, Cantonese, etc. The written Chinese
words are the same for everyone. Hence, to have a better understanding
about Chinese people is to understand the written Chinese. The elements of forming a Chinese character are three: image(form), sound, and meaning. There are also six principles that used to define and explicate the Characters:
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1.  Pictographs: |
Words formed from things which can be drawn (animal, person, object.) | ||
2.  Indicatives: |
Words formed from things cannot be drawn (directions, numbers.) | ||
3.  Ideatives: |
Words formed to be understood easily after the pictograph and indicatives were formed. | ||
4.  Harmonics: |
Words formed with the fact taken as the basis for pronunciation in simile and add other signs or words to form a new word. | ||
5.  Transmissives: |
Words that are under one heading and in the same idea are jointly receptive. | ||
6.  Borrowed Words: |
Words formed by taken from other word according to its sound and meanings that the original word is lacking. | ||
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A FOOTNOTE: TsÕang Chieh invented the Chinese script was inspired by an extraordinary occasion. He observed the footprints of birds and animals that lines and shapes were perceptible and distinct. TsÕang Chieh then drew pictures of the objects according to their shapes and forms. In time these pictures were reduced and simplified to a few lines and highly stylized.
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This page was last updated on Monday, February 24, 1997
