Chinese characters have changed for more than 6,000 years, and the evolution process is as follows: Oracle Bone Inscriptions → inscriptions on bronze → seal script → official script → regular script → running script (Shang) (Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei and Jin dynasties). The seven fonts of "Jia Jin Zhuan Li Cao Kai Xing" above the cursive script are called "seven Chinese characters"? It is well documented that China script, Chinese characters, came into being in the late Shang Dynasty, about14th century BC, when a preliminary stereotyped script, namely Oracle Bone Inscriptions, was formed. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is both an pictograph and a phonetic character. Up to now, there are still some pictographs in Chinese characters, which are very vivid.
The oldest characters we can see today are those carved on Oracle bones and cast on bronze wares in Shang Dynasty, which are called Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen. The characters of Shang dynasty are already very developed, and the era when characters first appeared must be far before Shang dynasty, that is, Xia dynasty or earlier. About four or five thousand years ago.
inscriptions on ancient bronze objects
In ancient times, copper was called gold, so the words carved on bronze ware were called inscriptions on bronze, also called Zhong Dingwen and inscriptions. Bronze inscriptions were first found in Erligang in Shang Dynasty, but only a few bronzes were found in Erligang in Shang Dynasty.
Bronzes unearthed in Yin Ruins have more inscriptions; By the Western Zhou Dynasty, inscriptions on bronzes had become more common. Most of the inscriptions on bronze in Shang Dynasty were pictographs and comprehensible characters synthesized from pictographs. These words are like pictures, vivid, vigorous and natural, and some are lumpy.
big seal character
According to legend, it was created by Shi Shu of Zhou Dynasty, so it is also called Shu Wen, Shu Zhuan, Shu Shu and so on. Shi Cheng is a historian in Zhou Xuanwang. Da Zhuan can be found in Shuo Wen Jie Zi and various Zhong Ding Yi wares collected by later generations, among which Shi Guwen made by Zhou Xuanwang is the most famous. Dazhuan is a kind of Chinese font which is the transition from ancient characters to Xiaozhuan.
lesser/small seal character
Small seal script is simplified from big seal script. Compared with Da Zhuan, Xiao Zhuan's physical structure is concise, regular and coordinated, and its strokes are even and neat, and its radicals also vary and merge to some extent. Compared with the big seal script, the picturesqueness of the small seal script has been greatly weakened, and the structure of each word has been relatively fixed.
Legend has it that Xiao Zhuan was sorted out by Li Si, the prime minister of Qin State during the Warring States Period. If Xiao Zhuan was really sorted out in a short period of time, there must be a reform process of actively promoting Xiao Zhuan and actively rejecting ancient characters including Da Zhuan in Qin State.
Likai
Shortly after the popularity of Xiao Zhuan, the people created a new book style that was simpler and more stereotyped than Xiao Zhuan. This is the official script. At the beginning of the official script, it was a sloppy and irregular seal script. By the time Qin Shihuang unified the characters, the official script had formed a fixed and standardized font. Li Shu changed the lines of seal script into square strokes, which complied with the needs of society for writing convenience and standardization.
The appearance of official script is an important milestone in the development history of Chinese characters. Before Lishu, Chinese characters were written with painting lines, while after Lishu, Chinese characters were composed of strokes such as left and right strokes. After the appearance of Lishu, the structure of Chinese characters was basically fixed, and there was basically no big change until the founding of New China.
With the collapse of the Qin dynasty, Xiao Zhuan quickly withdrew from the historical stage, and Lishu became the primary writing method and a model of calligraphy in society. Shortly thereafter, a more standardized regular script font appeared. After the Han Dynasty, regular script occupied an orthodox position.
simplify
1909 Lu Feikui published the article "Common Characters should be Used in General Education" in Education Magazine, which explained the superiority of simplified Chinese characters to Chinese people for the first time, and explained that simplified Chinese characters were not unsightly. This article is regarded as the beginning of the movement of simplified Chinese characters in modern times.
After the founding of New China, the simplification of Chinese characters was soon put on the agenda. 19491October 10, the China writing reform association was formally established, and Wu Yuzhang was elected as its chairman. 1952 The China Character Reform Research Committee was established, with Ma Xulun as its chairman. It consists of Pinyin Scheme Group, Chinese Character Arrangement Group, Teaching Experiment Group, Editing and Publishing Group and Secretariat.
1954 10, this Committee reported the draft simplified list of commonly used Chinese characters, which was studied and discussed by many parties and revised four times, to the central government for approval, and issued it to local governments for further review and preliminary experiments.
In the same year 10, the China Character Reform Committee was established, which is subordinate to the units directly under the State Council. 1956 the State Council adopted the Chinese character simplification scheme and the resolution on publication (Chinese character simplification scheme), and began to formally implement the Chinese character simplification scheme.