1. The earliest Chinese characters appeared on oracle bones and animal bones in the form of Oracle Bone Scripts. Traditional Chinese characters were later simplified by the Chinese government in the 1950s to make reading and writing easier. 2. There are four main categories in the formation of Chinese characters: Pictographs directly depict objects, Ideographs represent ideas, Associative characters combine simpler images, and Picto-phonetic characters combine a meaning component with a phonetic component. 3. Examples are given for each of the four categories including Pictographs like "人" for person, Ideographs like "上" for up, Associative characters like "看" which combines hand and eye, and Picto-phon

1. MANDARIN 1
Chinese Characters (1)
hànzì
汉字（一）
TAN POH EE
tanpe@utem.edu.my

2. At the end of the lesson, students should be able
to:
1. Identify the formation of Chinese characters.

3.  The earliest Chinese
characters appeared
on turtle shells or
animal bones, and
called as Oracle Bone
Scripts(甲骨文).
Chinese characters, also
known as Hàn Zì (汉字)are
one of the earliest forms of
written language in the
world.

4.  In the 1950s, the government of Mainland China ‘simplified’
the written forms of many ‘traditional’ characters in order to
help the learners to read and write better.
 Simplified Chinese is mainly used in mainland China,
Singapore, and Malaysia, while Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Macau are using Traditional Chinese.
Oracle Bone
Scripts
Traditional
Chinese
Simplified
Chinese
Syllable Meaning
馬 马 mǎ Horse
鳥 鸟 niǎo Bird
龜 龟 guī Tortoise
魚 鱼 yú Fish

5. The Formation of Chinese Characters
 There are four main categories in the formation of
Chinese characters:
① Pictograph
② Ideograph
③ Associative
④ Picto-phonetic

6. Pictogram
Chinese
character
Syllable Meaning
人 rén Human, people
木 mù Tree
子 zǐ Child
日 rì Sun
月 yuè Moon
山 shān Mountain
水 shuǐ Water
xiàngxíng zì
1. Pictograph ( 象形字 )

7. zhǐshì zì
2. Ideograph (指事字)
Ideograph
Chinese
character
Syllable Meaning
上 shàng Up, above
下 xià Down, below
三 sān Three
本 běn Root
末 mò Tip
刃 rèn Knife edge

8. huìyì zì
3. Associative (会意字)
Associative
Chinese
character
Syllable Meaning Explanation
从 cóng Follow
人 + 人
(A man follow another
man)
林 lín Woods
木 + 木
(Two trees become
woods)
看 kàn To see
手 + 目
(put hand above
eye to see)
明 míng Bright
日 + 月
(sun and moon shine on
everything)

9. xíngshēng zì
4. Picto-phonetic ( 形声 字 )
Chinese
character
Syllable Meaning
Explanation
Pictograph Phonetic
晴 qíng Sunny 日
(sun)
qīng
青
请 qǐng Please 言（讠）
(speak)
情 qíng Feeling 心（忄）
(heart)
睛 jīng Eye 目
(eye)
清 qīng Clean 水（氵）
(water)

10. Thank you
xièxie
谢谢