Sophie Ma

The Origin of Chinese Characters - YUAN Sophie Ma

Travel back in time to understand the origin of some Chinese characters and how they evolve with this book. Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used writing system in the world. Over the time, the set of characters has evolved through various forms. Some representatives include: - oracle bone script (???), ancient Chinese characters used on animal bones or turtle shells from over 3000 years ago; - large seal script (??), a traditional reference to Chinese writing from before the Qin dynasty; - small seal script (??), the first set of characters that was standardized across China from over 2000 years ago. They finally become the regular script (??), the square-shaped Characters that are used nowadays. Some of the most common chinese characters were created from simplified pictures of objects, called pictograms (???). Most of the characters in this book are under this category, so it's easy to understand their meanings by just looking at the shapes. Three ancient scripts (oracle bone script, large seal script, small seal script) are included at the bottom left corner of each page to illustrate the evolutions. The regular script forms with their pinyin (Chinese pronunciation) are included at the bottom right corner as this is the form we are using everyday now. It is fascinating to see how these characters carry their core meaning while transformed into shapes that also align with the styles of different scripts. Sometimes, it needs a little bit of effort to recognize the connections between different scripts. Imagination is the key. I hope the book is fun for all readers, parents and children, teachers and students, chinese speakers and non-chinese speakers. Reading Chinese is easier and more interesting than you think