468
suffice to make an accomplished graduate. An
official historiographer under the Han dynasty
was required to know 9,000 characters. In the
" Canonical Four Books " there are altogether
about 2,400, and with the five classics inclusive
the number only amounts to about 4,600. With
a ready command of 2,000 or 8,000 a person
may assume a very respectable status in the
literary scale. Gützlaff gives a computation
of 24,235 as the number now in use. -Had we
no historical data to guide us, an inspection of
the structure of this vast mass of characters
would naturally lead to the conclusion that
they were not the result of a simultaneous
effort ; and it becomes a question of some in-
terest to know by what incipient stages the sys-
tem began to shape itself, and on what principle
the gradual accretions have been going on
from age to age. In reply to such questionings
many of the natives have occupied themselves
in the most profound researches regarding the
characters; and according to the generally
received theory, the whole system may be
classed in six categories, i. e., the lŭh shoo, or
six classes of characters. The first of these is
called l'ēág-hîng, or hieroglyphs. These were
termed w&n, or figures, being the simplest
forms, and were intended to represent visible
objects, as ☉︎ jíh, the sun ; 👁︎ mŭh, eye ; (symbol characters)
k'òw, mouth. The earliest efforts of this kind
are probably all lost sight of for many ages
past ; but the most ancient examples that have
come down to us, in the grotesque figures on
the bronzes of the Shang and Chow dynasties,
give some faint resemblance to the objects
they are intended to represent. The second
class is termed chè-szé, or indicatives, and these
show the first tendency toward the expression
of abstract ideas, pointing to some property or
condition; as 丄 sháng, above; 丅 hēá, below ;
三 aan, three. In the third class, hwdy-S, or com-
posites, the first attempt appears to represent
figurative ideas, by the combination of two or
more hieroglyphs ; as (
symbol characters) ming, bright, formed
by the combination of sun and moon. These
were termed tsze, or derivatives, in contradis-
tinction to the simpler w&n, or figures. In the
fourth class, called //<>//-*//;//</, or phonetics, we
have a still further development of the graphic
art, and the first approach toward an alphabetic
symbolism. In this division one part of the
character is hieroglyphic or ideographic, and the
other merely represents the final sound, as in 江
ktang and 河 h6, both signifying river. The
same hieroglyph, 氵 thwuy, or water, is the
generic idea in both, and gives no clue to the
sound; while in the first the accessory 工
Icung, work, and in the second 可 V6, can, are
simply phonetic elements, and add nothing to
the meaning. The very inadequate resources
of the three previous classes to supply the
necessities of a moderately developed litera-
ture, may be seen in the fact that this class is
reputed to contain no fewer than 21,800.
These four classes indeed include the whole of
the written characters, and the two remaining
divisions are merely special applications of al-
ready existing forms. The fifth class, called
chuen~cho6, or deflectives, includes characters
which have come to be used for others of the
same sound, as 說 used for 悅 yue, pleased.
The sixth class, called ked,-tedy, or substitutes,
contains those characters which, besides the
primary and obvious meaning, have acquired a
secondary and metaphorical sense, as 長 cHang,
long and a superior ; 經 Icing, warp of a tex-
ture and classic. These classes, the tradition
of which dates back to a considerable anti-
quity, are not always arranged in this order,
which is adopted, with the explanations, from
Twan Yiih-tsae, one of the most erudite schol-
ars of the present dynasty. Some authors,
however, only make the first three classes to
affect the forms of the characters, and the
other three the sounds. Others again consider
all the six classes as referring to the forms.
Apart from the elementary composition of the
characters, there has been a great diversity in
the modes of writing the same, from ancient
to modern times. Some native authors enu-
merate as many as 86 different styles of wri-
ting; and the Yu-che-sMng Icing fob, an ode by
the emperor Keen-lung, in praise of his ances-
tral city Mookden, is printed in 32 different
forms of Chinese seal characters, and as many
of the Mantchoo ; but the greater part of these
are fanciful or imaginary. Some seven or eight
will include nearly all the styles that have been
in general use. The invention of the earliest
known, termed Icod-w&n, or ancient figures, is
attributed to a sage named Tsang-hee; and
under this term are included the semi-pictorial
forms found on the ancient bells and vases.
In the 8th or 9th century B. C. this was re-
placed by a different style, invented by one
Chow-she, termed the td-chuen, or greater
seal character; and this in its turn gave
way to the seadu-ehven, or lesser seal char-
acter, accredited to Le-sze, the minister of
the famous Che-hwang of the Tsin dynasty
(227 B. C.). In these two latter styles much
of the pictorial had disappeared. The SJtwo-
tedn is a dictionary of the lesser seal character.
"With the spread of literature, however, and
the gradual adoption of silk for writing on
in place of bamboo tablets, the seal characters
with their curved lines were found to be too
cumbersome. About the end of the same dy-
nasty (206 B. C.), the le-shoo or official char-
acter was invented by Ching Jklo. As the
name implies, this was probably used in gov-
ernmental documents; it is still sometimes
employed for prefaces to books. The hing-
shoo or running-hand is an elegant form of
manuscript, especially suited to the hair pencil,
which was already in general use at the time
of its introduction during the Eastern Han dy-
nasty (A. D. 56-220). The invention is as.
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/480
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