汉字形体源流
为什么会有汉字?汉字的起源是什么样子?这问题一直引发我创作的动机。汉字的来龙去脉,都有其历史深渊的意义。“汉字”美丽且充满神秘感,反映古代人民生活和环境的古老文字。
要了解汉字的起源,主要有两个来源,甲骨文和金文。甲骨文是用刀子刻在坚硬的甲骨上。金文则借助一把勺子在柔软泥土制成的模子烧注成形。
汉字的源头是图形文字。对简单物体抽象刻画,就形成了象形字。将两个以上的象形符号制成的复合体,就形成会意字。会意字是指构成文字的要素。
根据考古学家,今日的“鹿”字与最初的样子已经有佷大的距离。在甲骨文和金文“鹿”是长着角,身体很跳跃状,警惕地看着平原,把鹿的神态用线条刻画出。龙在一般意义上是神秘主义动物。象征着皇权、慈善、力量、丰收和变化。龙在甲骨文是爬行动作,充满力量,张着大嘴,体态健壮。简洁的龙形象随后几个世纪被加上新的细节。
随着历代世纪的演变,甲骨文、金文、古文、篆文、隶书、楷书等和今日所改革过的简文。都有其历史意义的价值。
The Origins of Chinese Characters
Chinese characters or Han characters (or 汉字 Hanzi in Chinese Pinyin) look beautiful and are mystical. Why are there Chinese characters? When did Chinese characters originated? How have Chinese characters evolved over time? These questions have become a rich source of inspiration that motivated me to create paintings of ancient and modern Chinese characters and bring their beauty to life.
The origin and development of Chinese characters may be traced back to the history of Chinese scripts. The earliest Chinese writing scripts were oracle bone inscriptions (or 甲骨文 Jia Gu Wen in Chinese Pinyin) where the ancient Chinese characters were inscribed with knives onto hard bones and tortoise shells. These characters have form the foundations for the development of modern Chinese characters. The next stage in the history of Chinese writing was the bronze inscriptions (or 金文 Jinwen in Chinese Pinyin) where the characters were cast or carved onto ancient bronze objects. Chinese characters underwent a gradual evolution over the centuries and evolved into different forms like Zhuanshu (篆书), Lishu (隶书), Kaishu (楷书) that are used fairly unchanged to this day.
Chinese characters appear to have originated from picture writing in which pictograms of person, animals and objects were drawn to represent characters. For instance, the sun was written as (日 Ri in Chinese Pinyin), the moon as (月 Yue in Chinese Pinyin) and so on. Chinese characters gradually developed to combine two or more elements, each with a meaning of its own, to represent a certain meaning. For instance, the sun and the moon were combined together to form the character (明 Ming in Chinese Pinyin), which means “bright”. Chinese characters can also be formed by combining one element that indicates meaning and the other that indicates pronunciation. Hence, the elements of forming a Chinese character are image (form), sound and meaning.
Throughout Chinese history the dragon (龙 Long in Chinese Pinyin) has been associated with power and status. It is a symbol of imperial power, strength, excellence and wisdom. It has become the most important symbol in Chinese culture. The Chinese dragon is regarded as a divine mythical creature that brings with it ultimate abundance, good fortune and prosperity.