![]() The characters were originally pictures of people, animals, or things, but over centuries, hanzi have become increasingly stylized and no longer pictorially representative. Ancient Chinese is written from top to bottom and right to left.Ĭhinese characters are known as hanzi. Chinese characters are monosyllabic, and each character has a meaning. System? Chinese is the oldest continuously used writing system in the world. How? Characters incised onto turtle shells, ox bones, caste in bronze vessels You can read Chinese newspapers and magazines by knowing only about 3,000 characters. Today, with over 40,000 characters, the Chinese language has various levels of literacy. What? Displaying over 4,500 characters and symbols, ancient Chinese oracle bones ,which were used for predicting the future, are the earliest evidence of Chinese writing. Why? The Chinese needed a writing system for recording royal divination performances during the Shang dynasty, as well as for documenting events and activities, including hunting, warfare, the weather, and the selection of lucky days for ceremonies. Where? The earliest Chinese writing was found in archaeological excavations in the modern Xiantun village at Anyang in Henan province. New Beginnings – New ways of writing developed with new belief systems.Conquest – Invaders or new rulers imposed their own writing systems.Innovation – Newer, simpler systems replaced older systems. ![]() Change – Corresponding cultures died out or were absorbed by others.Preservation – Personal stories, rituals, religious texts, hymns, literature, and history all needed to be recorded.Recording – Bookkeeping tasks became important for counting crops, paying workers’ rations, and collecting taxes.Correspondence – There was a desire to send notes, letters, and instructions.Communication – Sounds and speech needed to be visually represented.Here you’ll also learn about the Rosetta Stone, the 19th-century discovery that gave scholars the key that unlocked the language of ancient Egypt. This gallery explores the early writing systems of four ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. Record keeping and communication demanded something beyond symbols and pictures to represent the spoken word. As early civilizations developed, societies became more complicated.
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