Language, Literature & Writing systemCHINESE CIVILIZATION

Language & Writing system•Old Chinese, sometimes known as

‘‘Archaic Chinese’’ was the language common during the early and middle Chou Dynasty (1122 - 256 BCE), texts of which include inscriptions on bronze artifacts.

Language & Writing System•The earliest form of Chinese writing is

called the oracle bone inscriptions, used from 1500 to 1000 BCE.

•It is inscribed on animal bones, horns and turtle shells.

•These served in a process of divination by the king and priests.

•Majority of the oracle bones contain no writing but some, the question was engraved on it after divination rite.

Oracle Bones

•During this period, writing brush and an ink made of soot had been invented. Writing materials included silk cloth and wood.

•Each of the Shang characters represented an entire word as it does in classical and modern Chinese, these characters are not only pictographs, but sometimes ideographs.

•A very common feature of the early Chinese script is that extensive use of ‘rebus writing’

•Another complexity in the ancient Chinese writing is ‘polysemy’

•To avoid confusion, the phonetic symbol was combined with a conceptual symbol in the same character.

Stages of Chinese Writing•After the early evolution during the Shang

dynasty, the script continued to evolved.

•The first four phases of Chinese writing trace the first 1500-year history of Chinese:

•Oracle Bone Script (Jiaguwen) Used from the Middle to Late Shang dynasty. This script was etched onto turtle shells and animals

bones, which were then used for divination in the royal Shang court. The shape of these characters are often described as ‘pictographic’.

•Greater Seal (Dazhuan) This stage of Chinese writing flourished from the

Late Shang to the Western Chou dynasties. Unlike Jiaguwen, which was carved on bones,

Dazhuan mainly appeared on cast bronze vessels.

•Lesser Seal (Xiaozhuan) This elegant script is the direct parent of the modern,

unsimplified Chinese script. This script has survived the passage of time and continues to be used in the present age in calligraphy and seals.

•Clerkly Script (Lishu) Appeared at approximately 500 BCE. Lishu became widely used in the Qin and Han

dyansties when the government bureaucrats needed a fast and efficient script to handle state matters.

Lishu is still occassionally used in the modern age.

Literature•Of the tremendous output of Chou

literature, only a few authenthic portions have survived.

•The most ancient work is the Book of Changes.- It was a divination manual during the period of

Western Chou.

•Document Classic- The collection of official documents, proclamations

and speeches from the early Chou period.

•Book of Etiquette- Dealing with ceremonial behavior, formal occasions

and preparation for adult responsibilities.

• Most interesting of all is the Book of Poetry- An anthology of about 300 poems covering a wide

range of subjects and moods. Some of the poems are religious, in the nature of prayers or hymns to accompany the rites of sacrifice. It also represents the perspective of the peasants not seen in the Zhou inscriptions.

Literature