Chapter 17 Section 5 Simple Laws and Differential Laws
In the process of use and development of Chinese characters, they have been restricted by two laws.One is called "Simplified Law", which means that writers want to write quickly and save time, so the shape of Chinese characters is required to be simple and easy to write, which leads to an evolution trend of Chinese characters - simplification.
Where is the simplified representation?
We know that Chinese characters come from pictures.Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty had already pointed out that Chinese characters were first created according to pictographs ("Shuowen Jiezi·Xu"), that is to say, characters were created according to the shapes of objects in nature.Since it imitates nature, the glyphs must be complicated and complicated. If it is really used to record Chinese characters, it must be very inconvenient. Therefore, in the earliest mature Chinese characters - oracle bone inscriptions, we can find many gradually simplified glyphs.For example, in the early oracle bone inscriptions, the word "horse" was written with a tail, and even the fur and hooves are also reflected, which is very detailed.It is conceivable that it is very troublesome to write, so in the later period of oracle bone inscriptions there were writing
, much simpler.This character was written in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty
, leaving only non-pictographic lines.written in Xiaozhuan
, written in official script
, written in regular script as a horse, and later simplified as a horse.It can be seen that the simplification of Chinese characters has changed from drawings to lines, from pictographs to non-pictographs, and from relatively complicated symbols to relatively simple symbols.
The font evolution of Chinese characters generally shows a tendency of simplification: Xiaozhuan is a simplification of oracle bone inscriptions; official script is a simplification of Xiaozhuan; regular script is a simplification of official script.Because, although the physical structure is similar, the shape and writing method of the strokes have been changed, and the writing speed has been accelerated.The simplification of regular script by cursive script and running script has both aspects of shape structure and writing speed.
Generally speaking, simplification is the main trend reflected in the development of Chinese characters.
Another law, called "distinction law", is that people who recognize and read hope that the shape of Chinese characters is clear, the sound and meaning are clear, and there must be differences between them, so that they can be recognized and understood, so as to achieve the purpose of expressing Chinese characters.This "law of distinction" has the effect of making Chinese characters more complex to some extent.On the one hand, it allows Chinese characters with relatively simple shapes to be distinguished by adding different components, either emphasizing the sound of the characters, or emphasizing the meaning of the characters.The generation of pictophonetic characters is mainly to distinguish the meanings (meanings) of the borrowed single-body Chinese characters, and the single-body characters are added with phonetic symbols or pictographs, and the structure is of course complicated.For example, the word "Qi" was written in the ancient writing stage
After the complexity caused by the law of distinction, the law of simplicity comes into play again.For example, the word "pi" was later simplified to "pi" and so on.
Chinese characters are like this. Under the interaction of the simple law and the different law, they continue to develop and evolve, and gradually form what they are today.
, much simpler.This character was written in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty , leaving only non-pictographic lines.written in Xiaozhuan , written in official script , written in regular script as a horse, and later simplified as a horse.It can be seen that the simplification of Chinese characters has changed from drawings to lines, from pictographs to non-pictographs, and from relatively complicated symbols to relatively simple symbols.
The font evolution of Chinese characters generally shows a tendency of simplification: Xiaozhuan is a simplification of oracle bone inscriptions; official script is a simplification of Xiaozhuan; regular script is a simplification of official script.Because, although the physical structure is similar, the shape and writing method of the strokes have been changed, and the writing speed has been accelerated.The simplification of regular script by cursive script and running script has both aspects of shape structure and writing speed.
Generally speaking, simplification is the main trend reflected in the development of Chinese characters.
Another law, called "distinction law", is that people who recognize and read hope that the shape of Chinese characters is clear, the sound and meaning are clear, and there must be differences between them, so that they can be recognized and understood, so as to achieve the purpose of expressing Chinese characters.This "law of distinction" has the effect of making Chinese characters more complex to some extent.On the one hand, it allows Chinese characters with relatively simple shapes to be distinguished by adding different components, either emphasizing the sound of the characters, or emphasizing the meaning of the characters.The generation of pictophonetic characters is mainly to distinguish the meanings (meanings) of the borrowed single-body Chinese characters, and the single-body characters are added with phonetic symbols or pictographs, and the structure is of course complicated.For example, the word "Qi" was written in the ancient writing stage
After the complexity caused by the law of distinction, the law of simplicity comes into play again.For example, the word "pi" was later simplified to "pi" and so on.
Chinese characters are like this. Under the interaction of the simple law and the different law, they continue to develop and evolve, and gradually form what they are today.