Chen Xuejing, Ph.D., a teacher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the deputy secretary of the Imperial Palace Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has published several books, representing the work of “Where to Look: About Painting”, “Red Letters from Home: Documentary on Paper”. He has served as a guest writer for CCTV cultural documentaries such as “The Imperial Palace” and “Dunhuang”.

Contents

Preface01

Introduction..05

Chapter IDevelopment of Chinese Characters

Section 1 Origin of Chinese Characters 002

Section 2 Inscriptions on Bones or Tortoise Shells in the Shang Dynasty010

Section 3 Inscriptions Carved on Bronze Ware021

Section 4 Seal Script: Emperor’s Characters.030

Section 5 Lishu Official Script: Turning Point of Ancient and Modern Fonts.043

Section 6 Cursive Script: Simple and Fast Writing..050

Section 7 Kaishu: Exemplary Script..058

Section 8 Running Script: Fall in Between Kaishu and Cursive Script..070

Section 9 Inclusive Chinese Characters..083

Chapter IIRules of Chinese Characters Invention

Section 1 Six Categories of Chinese Characters.090

Section 2 The Methods of Chinese Characters Invention.093

Chapter IIIChina in the Chinese Characters

Section 1 Heaven116

Section 2 Sun122

Section 3 Mountain128

Section 4 Water135

Section 5 Wood141

Section 6 Deities.147

Section 7 Ghosts.154

Section 8 Rites..159

Section 9 Music164

Section 10 Poetry168

Section 11 Art.176

Section 12 People..179

Section 13 Son184

 Section 14 Woman187

Section 15 Meeting..190

Section 16 Tea194

Section 17 Instruments.200

Section 18 Book.204

Section 19 See209

Section 20 Learn213

Postscript Salute to Chinese Characters and Chinese Culture218

Appendix

A Brief Chinese Chronology223