CHINESE CHARACTERS.
By James B. Wong, B.A., of Nanking University.
TO learn the derivation and meaning of a sufficient number of Chinese characters to enable one to carry on a certain limited correspondence on ordinary topics in the Chinese language is not a formidable task, but to become proficient enough to read all sorts of written, or printed, documents or inscriptions requires years of diligent and patient study.
The derivation of Chinese written characters is a matter of extreme interest to philologists. The characters have undergone innumerable modifications through successive dynasties since the remote age in which they were first devised, and, as a consequence, the Chinese written language of the present day is very different in appearance, construction, and signification, from what it was when the inscriptions upon the innumerable relics of antiquity, such as metal utensils, tripods, stones, &c., that are scattered about so freely in almost every town and village of the Empire, were chiselled by the forgotten craftsmen who wrought them.
It was in the reign of Tai Hao, who is commonly regarded as having been the first Emperor of China, and who, according to the chronicles, died somewhere about the year 2963 B.C., that written characters were invented by Chuang Chi Sze, in obedience to a royal command, which laid upon him the task of devising a series of signs to represent ideas, so that matters of importance could be recorded. Chuang Chi Sze chose as the basis of his system a number of symbols, the shape of which was suggested to him by birds and other creatures. These symbols, to the number of two hundred and fourteen, are still retained in the written language, and are known to the modern student under the name of "radicals." Their form was not fixed all at once but underwent a series of modifications between the years 2953 B.C. and 331 B.C., when they finally took on the aspect which they now wear. It may be interesting to mention, that during that long period, no fewer than five dynasties occupied the throne of China.
In the beginning of the reign of Ching Chi Wang, these symbols were called Hsiang Hsing characters, and the difference between them and the modern Chinese characters will easily be seen by a glance at the following table:—
During the reign of the Emperor Chi Huang Ti, or Ching Chi Wang, from 331 B.C. to 209 B.C., the appearance and meaning of these characters were finally fixed. All the ancient books, with the exception of certain works on agriculture, medicines, and necromancy, were burnt to ashes at the suggestion of the prime minister, who also caused a great number of literary men—four hundred and sixty, it is said—to be buried alive.
From the inscription engraved on the imperial seal of the Emperor Chi Huang Ti, it is apparent that the characters which prevailed in the dynasty of Ching, were really derived from the original symbols. The imperial seal bore eight characters, as follow:—
A large number of very ancient Chinese characters have been discovered in the inscriptions on copper and iron cauldrons belonging to the dynasty of Shuang (1766 B.C. to 1154 B.C.). Here are a few examples:
These are the most ancient Chinese characters of which there is any record; they are contained in books dealing from before the dynasty of Ching.
The ancient Chinese characters are classified by Chinese scholars of the present century, as follow:—
- 1. Niaotsê, or the imitative symbols derived from the appearance of various kinds of birds.
