Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

WO

THE ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE CHARACTERS

thousand or more years ago, and in tracing the origins of

Chinese characters we can only draw rough conclusions. Although there are no authentic records of the very early stages of the written symbols, it is evident that there must have been some primitive aids to memory before the invention of the picture-character Hui-T‘u-Wén-T2ii (4 繪 圖 交 “F), which we call Piao-Shih (# #), sign or symbol.

The first stage, as far as is known, was that of knotted strings or cords—Ch‘ieh-Shéng (4# #8) in Chinese. Before the time of Fu-Hsi ({k #) (28th century B.c.) those in charge of the administration used these knotted strings to remind themselves of matters which had already been dealt with and to remember those which had still to be done. Anything particularly important was indicated by a large knot, something less important by a small one.

Second in order of time, according to tradition, we have Fu-Hsi’s Pa-Kua (j\ #h), which I described briefly in my earlier book, The Chinese Eye. This is a much more advanced system, covering all natural phenomena. The Emperor FuHsi, in whose reign it was propounded, tried to bring all things

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