Carved symbols on pottery, from the remains of the Xia dynasty (c. 21st -16th century B.C.)
Where is the oldest Chinese script? It’s a mystery waiting to be solved -- possibly by you.
Carved symbols on pottery (replica of Dawenkou objects)
Unit 2. Structure of Chinese Characters
How is Chinese Characters formed?
―字‖ (character): The upper part ―宀‖ means house (roof), the lower part ―子‖ means children. ―Children in house‖ originally meant giving birth to children, and evolved to mean reproduction in general. The character ―字‖ now refers to word derivation.
How is Chinese script formed? There are six areas of morphology, according to Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Analytical Dictionary of Script) written by scholar Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.).
A portrait of Xu Shen.
Shuo Wen Jie Zi ---the first complete dictionary of Chinese script.
Liu Shu---Six types of Chinese morphology.
The composition of Chinese characters is unique and interesting. The six types of morphology summarized by Xu Shen are very helpful for learning about Chinese script.
Hieroglyphic Characters
The hieroglyph depicts the shape of objects line for line, just like photographs. It is the oldest and most exact type of morphology, and the easiest to understand.
This is the character for ―human‖ in oracle bone script. Doesn’t it resemble this picture?
This is a human with his arms and legs wide stretched, as if saying, ―Look how big I am!‖ This character also means ―big‖.
This is a bronze tomahawk on which is the carved figure of a human face. Its teeth resemble the character ―teeth‖ of the oracle bone script, don’t they?
A picture of rain, encapsulated in an oracle bone character.
The left character“女”means ―woman,‖ reflecting a kneeling woman with her hands crossed. Note the low social status for women in ancient China. When two points (breasts) are added, it becomes “母”, or ―mother‖.
The goat head in this picture comes from the ―Four-goat Bronze Vessel‖ dating back to the time of the oracle bones. The picture looks exactly the same as the character for ―goat‖.
On the left is a bronze knife of the Shang Dynasty; the right character mirrors its shape vividly.
Doesn’t this character look like the mountain in the picture? Yes, it means ―mountain,‖ too.
Indicative characters
Indicatives are characters denoting parts of objects, or abstract ideas.
The left is the hieroglyph for ―knife,‖ so how to indicate ―knife-edge‖? A dot on the original character will do (right).
The above is the oracle bone character for ―wood‖. When three circles are added at the bottom, it becomes ―roots‖.
How were abstract concepts such as ―up‖ and ―down‖ expressed? The Chinese used short bars over or under a longer bar for this representation.
Associative Compounds
An associative compound is the composition of two or more symbols or script into a new character.
“信”(trust) is composed of ―イ‖ (human) and“言”(word), meaning ―man must be true to his words‖.
This is“休”(rest), a human figure (イ) resting against a tree (木).
Seal character for ―compare‖ (比). Two persons standing side by side, as if comparing their height.
This is the inscribed character for ―look‖ (见), stressed by the extraordinarily wide eye.
A ―small‖ (小) above and a ―big‖ (大) below make a ―sharp‖ (尖) contrast.
What will happen when the ―Sun‖ (日)and the ―Moon‖ (月) meet? The sky will be extremely ―bright‖ (明) .
Phonetic Compounds
A phonetic compound is character made of both phonetic and ideographic side radicals. Most Chinese characters are formed this way because it meets the general need for word creation.
In the oracle bone script, the character ―chicken‖ was a pictograph. Later, a phonetic side radical was added to signify the pronunciation.
The proportion of phonetic compounds to all Chinese characters had risen from 20 percent at the time of oracle bones to 90 percent, as included in the Kangxi Dictionary published in the Qing Dynasty. This is a picture of the famous Kangxi Dictionary.
The above table shows the relation between ideographic side radicals (wood, water, metal) and the meaning of the characters.
―Life in the Chinese Primitive Society‖, a picture composed of ―side radicals‖ of Chinese
characters.
In Chinese dictionaries, characters are indexed according to their ideographic elements. These elements are called side radicals. Most side radicals are actually the first characters to be created. This picture explains how our primitive ancestors lived together with their basic creations.
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