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

ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHARACTERS

Chou (Jit), Ship or boat: DE ww 人 Hu (az),

Pot, jug, or gS f § ¢ 分 $ os $.

tankard :

House : Ch‘iu (M), Prisoner : If (2 t- A man in jail. CA‘ (if), Worship : ey) @. A man kneeling in prayer.

Chieh (街 ) Street: » 站 a SE A foot walking in the street or by the side of the road.

These few examples of ancient Chinese characters are simply pictures or images of things. In the etymological study of them it is usual to look for three elements : image, sound, and meaning. But the meaning is derived from the other two: if you know exactly the image and sound, the meaning is necessarily plain. In the course of time both sound and image became considerably modified. It sometimes happens when comparing the ancient and modern forms of the same character that the reason for the meaning of the latter is not immediately obvious, because there seems to be no connexion with the original image. In these cases it is necessary to discover how the character was constructed and formalized.

As I have said, the invention of the notched stick is dated at about the 27th century B.c., and picture-characters were drawn up into some sort of rough system at the same time. Some thousand years later, about the 18th century B.c., during the Shang-Yin dynasty, most of these picture characters were engraved upon tortoiseshell or animal bones. These we call

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