This is what Tai T'ung says with regard to the Chinese written character:
"Spoken sounds preceded written figures, and before the invention of written symbols, dealings by means of knotted cords came into existence. These were followed by cutting notches on wooden materials, which gave way, in turn, to figures representing natural objects, and forms indicative of actions, states or relations, cut out into lines to serve as counterparts of the spoken names of the same objects, actions, states or relations. With these came graving knives, and tablets for graving upon, and this was writing, the whole object of which was to make speech visible."
In tracing the evolution of the written character, Chinese scholars divide its progress into six marked stages:
- 1. Pictorial.
- 2. Indicative.
- 3. Suggestive compounds.
- 4. Deflected characters.
- 5. Phonetic.
- 6. Adoptive, or characters which are used in place of others.
Pictorial characters are those in which the forms of objects are copied, such as
now written
Indicative characters are those which are formed by indicating the essential features of physical action, state or relation, such as
now written
