The document discusses the history and development of Chinese characters from ancient scripts to modern usage. It describes how characters evolved from pictographs based on objects into more abstract shapes over time. Major scripts discussed include oracle bone script, bronze inscriptions, small seal script, clerical script, and regular script. The document also examines the debate around simplified vs traditional characters used in mainland China and Taiwan, noting efficiency but also the risk of losing the cultural history embedded in each character.

1. Chinese characters: a past, a
present, a future
Heqing Huang, Lin 1Y,
Summer Session 2
contents:
-how chinese characters are
created.
-how chinese characters
developed
-Is getting simplified a good
thing?

2. the rules how they
are composed
fundamental components: Strokes, instead of letters

3. the rules how they
are composed
radical

4. The development of
Chinese Characters
past present
fonts
tiger
elephant
deer
bird

5. The development of Chinese
Characters
Oracle bone script (14th-11th centuries BC)
---written on the bones of animals or turtle's shell.
---based on the shape of an object.
tiger pig dog elephant
?

6. The development of
Chinese Characters
Chinese bronze inscriptions
---written on metals like bronze.
---still looks like the object but more brief.

7. The development of
Chinese Characters
Small Seal script (220BC)
---a significant font in the development. The shape is getting a lot closer
to the modern version of Chinese characters.

8. The development of
Chinese Characters
Clerical script
---almost the same as the chinese
characters we are using right now,
but it looks flatter.

9. The development of
Chinese Characters
Regular script
---The font most of us are using today.

10. Simplified vs
Traditional
In mainland China nowadays, people are using simplified chineses characters
It has fewer strokes and it's easier and faster to write
Many people already forget how to write traditional chinese characters
Every character has its own story, If we only focus on the efficiency and convenience,
we are losing its spirit. It's necessary to pick them up again in the future.

11. Conclusion:
Chinese characters
are totally different
from English words
in the way they are
created. It will be fun
to learn those
characters because
each character is like
a story, or a painting.
Once you know the
rules well, it's not as
hard as it seems to
be.

12. Thank you for your time!