Chinese is the oldest writing system in the world that has remained relatively constant over history. A logographic language, the written language comprises of very visual symbols that represent various items and concepts without any sort of guide to pronunciation. Chinese is a very visually stunning script that can be affiliated with several writing mediums. The evolution of the Chinese script and some artistic pieces associated with each significant form are to be briefly presented in this paper and the accompanying presentation.
It all started with the Oracle Bone Script. This type of writing, which we have discussed in class, was invented out of a desire to have the power of divination, as the name suggests. The script itself is relatively pictorial – that is, the characters still visually resemble the things that they are representing to a strong degree. This is especially noticeable in the characters for animals. The Oracle Bone script can be traced as far back as 1500 BC, which pinpoints their historical position to the Shang Dynasty. This is how divination works: the inquiry is carved onto a turtle plastron, then the plastron is heated; the resulting cracks are then interpreted for an answer. Most of the relics found using this type of writing are indeed plastrons and other bones, hence the naming of this type of script.
Later in China’s history, during the Zhou Dynasty, writing had evolved to be cleaner –more symmetrical and simple. The Oracle Bone script, in comparison, is far more stylistically inconsistent than the new Bronze script. The name “Bronze” comes from the fact that most of the artwork in which this script was found is bronze ware (such as dings [cauldrons] and zhongs [bells]). These writings started to de...
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...erfected during the Tang Dynasty. The Regular Script is the standard typeface for all printed materials and is what children learn how to write. In 1955, the Chinese government simplified the written language further by dropping strokes and variants, which developed into what is known as Simplified Chinese. Traditional Chinese, which is system that directly precedes the simplification, remains in use solely in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The three-thousand-year-old written language of Chinese is the last logographic language in modern use. The various mediums in which things were written on, coupled with the visually-driven nature of the writing system, creates unique relics that can be considered artworks themselves, despite their relatively practical purposes. Like the vessels unearthed, written Chinese is a testament of a culture that has withstood the test of time.
This invention was a change to the Chinese because paper was invented in China around 105 CE. So the Chinese have paper and now it allowed an easy way for people to communicate. It caused a change in their culture because with paper they can now pass down culture easier than before. Before its invention the writing surfaces that were used were, bones, tortoise shells, and bamboo slips. But as the Chinese civilization started to grow they proved to themselves that these writing surfaces won’t work because of the bulk and weight.
I learned about many significant artwork and artist in this class. This class provided me with a better understanding of the history of the world Art, but also helped me understand the development of art style. However, among all of these precious pieces of artwork, there are two special ones that caught my attention: The Chinese Qin Terracotta Warriors and The Haniwa. Each of them represents the artist’s stylistic characteristics and cultural context. Although they represented different art of rulers, historical values, and scenes, there were visible similarities.
Chinese culture has been evolving for more than one thousand years with one of the most significant influences being the development of the Han dynasty. This paper analyses the ways in which the development of the Han dynasty influenced Chinese culture, to what extent, and why. Knowledge of the Han period’s impact on Chinese culture, is obtained through the analysis of written and archaeological sources depicting the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.–9 A.D) and Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 A.D).
Without writing, those sculpture will be inconspicuous, as time goes by this period of history will be faded away, fortunately, word on the stone have magic power which can make sculptures become meaningful. Second, the function of writing, words are a good media to let us leave traces, writing comes into being to retain information across time and across space, people in paleolithic age paint images in clay and on the cave wall. As we mentioned in class, writing has five forms. Pictographic, writing the picture with enough details. Ideographic, writing with general ideas, no detail exists. Logographic, writing the word, one symbol equal one word, take fish as an example, the word fish combine several triangles in different directions with two straight lines. Photographic, a writing linked with the syllable, and alphabetic, one symbol for one phoneme. These five forms reflect the progress of writing's development, the new civilization arising brought the alphabet to a high degree of perfection, and divergent routes led alphabets spread almost all over the world, expect Greece which doesn't need the alphabet to create literature. Third, the writing was entangled with speaking, sometimes the mixing of the visual and the auditory will create puzzles, to some extent, writing is a good way to stain human
Writing is one of the many factors which can lead to an unequal world. Writing was “One of the most important inventions in human history” (Prososki, “Writing”). It was believed to come from the Fertile Crescent called Sumer around 5,000 years ago. Over the years, writing has advanced as people created writing and printing systems, which were able to reach
The second part of the journey visits, ancient China in 1500 BCE, a thousand years prior to the formation of the Daoism school of thought. (Brodd, Little and Ny...
7. Jean, Georges. Writing- The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992.
Stepping into a museum, large or small, locating in east or west countries, as long as it exhibits ancient Asian artworks, one can hardly not find bronzes placed in the most prominent spot, shone by a beam of cold white light. Bronze Age is not as lackluster or icy-cold as this dark metallic alloy shown to us ostensibly; instead, it was full of creativity and innovation. It is amazing but not surprising that ancient Chinese are considered one of the most intelligent group of human-being, produced such remarkable amount of artifacts to either use in their daily life as necessities or decorations, or sacrifice their ancestors, or record important events. This paper will provide a specific description of two bronze vessels respectively from Shang and Zhou dynasties, giving interpretations of their production process and their roles in ritual performance.
Humans have been using written language to communicate ideas with one another since as early as 3200 BCE in Mesopotamia. Since then, every great civilization has had a written language, each with its own unique characteristics. However, it was the writin...
Chang, Kwang-chih 1968 The Archeology of Ancient China Yale University Press, New Haven & London
The most distinctive features of Chinese civilization were in the Song period. This was the scholar-official class certified through highly competitive civil service examinations. These elite were better educated than others in Chinese history. Aristocratic habits and prejudices largely disappeared when examination system was fully developed. This system came to be considered the normal ladder to success. The invention of printing should be given a little credit. The art of carving words and pictures into wooden blocks was developed by Tang craftsmen. They would ink the blocks then press paper onto them. An entire page of text and illustrations was held on each block. In the eleventh century movable type, on piece of type for each character, was invented. In China whole-block printing was cheaper. The spread of literacy was
Early on we see the emergence of civilization in China, where relatively isolated within geographical barriers, China’s early civilization developed with little contact with other cultures. During the Neolithic period, peoples living in environmentally distinctive zones—the Yellow and Yangzi River Valleys—mastered agriculture, animals became domesticated, the production of ceramics became more elaborate, built fortified towns, and developed better practice relating to the treatment of the dead. Later on during the Shang Dynasty, (ca. 1500–ca. 1050 B.C.E.), China entered the Bronze Age. Shang civilization was urban, its cities encompassing an aristocratic and religious core around which grew industrial and residential districts. Beyond these were farming settlements. The Shang practiced human sacrifice, and human remains compose some of the contents of the rich underground tombs. The Shang period saw the emergence of writing, the distinct logographic system that enabled centuries of cultural continuity.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is one the oldest and most interesting forms of written language developed. There is evidence of its use from before 3200 BCE and Egyptian hieroglyphs remained in use for over 3,500 years. The Egyptian name for hieroglyphs translates to “language of the gods,” although the term hieroglyph actually came from Greek words meaning “sacred carving,” which the Greeks used to define the writing found on Egyptian monuments and temples (Ancient Egypt, Hieroglyphics, n.d.).
...des us with a glimpse into the ancient culture using beautiful and detailed designs. The art form has been sustained in fired clay for thousands of years indiscriminately telling its story to the world and to history.