WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Early Chinese writing was in the form of picture-symbols. Over thousands of years, the characters gradually changed shape as new writing tools were used, paper was invented, and people simplified the writing style. Chinese calligraphy (beautiful writing) was an art form, and calligraphers were highly respected.

Detailed explanation-2: -Chinese ancient scripts include oracle bone inscriptions or Jiagu wenzi, large-seal script, known as dazhuan, small-seal script, and clerical script or lishu. There are two main characters in ancient Chinese writing: unit characters and compound characters. Shang’s writing system was logographic.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chinese characters do not constitute an alphabet or a compact syllabary. Rather, the writing system is roughly logosyllabic; that is, a character generally represents one syllable of spoken Chinese and may be a word on its own or a part of a polysyllabic word.

Detailed explanation-4: -By 1400 bc the script included some 2, 500 to 3, 000 characters, most of which can be read to this day. Later stages in the development of Chinese writing include the guwen (“ancient figures”) found in inscriptions from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1123 bc) and the early years of the Zhou dynasty that followed.