Historic character of China's writing (2)

Origin of Chinese characters

According to legend, Chinese characters were invented by Cang Jie, an official historian of the Yellow Emperor (2697-2599 BC). This story gained popularity in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). According to legend, the Yellow Emperor who united 72 tribes in China, hoped to set up a shared code system among the tribes, and entrusted the work to Cang.

Another version has it that Cang's inspiration came from an unlikely source - tortoise veins, observed while hunting in today's Shanxi Province in North China. Then he studied the animals of the world, the landscape of the earth and the stars in the sky, and invented a symbolic system called zi - the first Chinese characters.

A portrait of Cang, the "ancestor of writing," features in the exhibition.

But there are many other stories about the origins of communication. It is also said that tribes used to tie knots to record events, such as wars, disasters, disease and celebrations. Some people claim characters were derived from these knots.

The exhibition features an oracle bone from the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC) about war divination and a cattle scapula recording divination results and ritual sacrifices.

These are the most precious exhibits, says Wang Shuangqing, director of the design division of the exhibition department of the National Museum of Chinese Writing in Anyang.

Oracle bone inscriptions are records of divinations said to have been performed in communication with royal ancestral spirits by means of scapulimancy (divination using scapula or broad shoulder blade bones).

"Ancient people revered nature and heaven and they relied on some medium to communicate with their ancestors," Wang says.

Kings sought guidance on weather, crops, disease, military success, natural disasters, ritual sacrifice and childbirth.