| Chinese characters seem the most difficult part | | | | written language and parsing words". In Shuo wen, |
| for foreign friends to learn the Chinese language. | | | | Chinese characters are classified into six |
| In my opinion, the main reason for that may be | | | | categories, namely pictogram, ideograph, logical |
| Chinese characters look very different from their | | | | aggregates, pictophonetic compounds, borrowing |
| quarter parts in the Roman languages: each | | | | and associate transformation. However, the last |
| character represents not only the pronunciation, | | | | twos are often omitted, for the characters of |
| but a certain meaning. Many a complaint comes | | | | these categories have been created before but |
| from that Chinese characters are so unlike each | | | | somehow borrowed to represent another |
| other that you have to learn them one by one, | | | | meaning, or detached into separate words. |
| and there are so many to memory, and that | | | | Generally, Chinese characters fall into four |
| when encountering a new character, the previous | | | | categories in view of their origin.Pictograms |
| knowledge of other ones helps little, you can | | | | (Xiang4 xing2 zi4) |
| neither pronounce it directly nor guess what it | | | | Pictograms are the earliest characters to create, |
| means. Actually, there really are some | | | | and they usually reflect the shape of physical |
| connections between Chinese characters, all | | | | objects. Examples include the sun, the moon, a |
| composed in a defined way. You are unable to | | | | woman, fire. From this picture-drawing method, |
| discover that probably because the numbers of | | | | the other character forming principles were |
| the characters you know are too limited, or you | | | | subsequently developed. Over a long history, |
| didn't learn them in the Chinese | | | | pictograms have evolved from irregular drawing |
| perspective.Chinese characters are the writing | | | | into a definite form, most simplified by losing |
| system to record the Chinese language. With a | | | | certain strokes to make ease of writing. |
| history as long as 8,000 years at least, it's | | | | Therefore, to see the actual picture of what it |
| perhaps the oldest surviving writing system in the | | | | represents, you must have a lot of imagination as |
| world. An old Chinese legend said that Chinese | | | | well as knowledge of the origin of the character |
| characters were invented by Cangjie, a historian | | | | and its evolution. However, only a very small |
| official under the legendary emperor, Huangdi in | | | | portion of Chinese characters falls into this |
| 2600 BC. Obviously, the fable cannot possibly be | | | | category, not more than 5 percent.Ideograph |
| true, for the creation of a great writing system | | | | (Zhi3 shi4 zi4) |
| made of so many characters are such a huge | | | | Also called a simple indicative, Ideograph usually |
| project, too huge to be one single person's | | | | describes an abstract concept. It's a combination |
| accomplishment. But perhaps Cangjie really made | | | | of indicators, or adds an indicator to a pictograph. |
| some contributions in the existing Chinese writing | | | | For example, a short horizontal bar on top of a |
| system: instead of the inventor, he might be a | | | | circular arc represents an idea of up or on top of. |
| collector and collator of scattered Chinese | | | | Another example: placing an indicative horizontal |
| characters in ancient China. Thanks to many a | | | | bar at the lower part of a pictogram for wood, |
| contributor like Cangjie and the common people | | | | makes an ideograph for "root". Like pictograms, |
| using and spreading characters, a complete | | | | the number of this category is also small, less |
| well-developed writing system had finally come to | | | | than 2 percent.Logical aggregates (Hui4 yi4 zi1) |
| birth. The indisputably evidence is Chinese | | | | It is a combination of pictograms to represent a |
| character inscriptions found on turtle shells dating | | | | meaning, rather like telling a little story. A |
| back to the Shang dynasty (1766-1123 BC), | | | | pictograph for person on the left with a pictogram |
| formally called Oracle bone script. Of the 4,600 | | | | for wood on the right makes a aggregate for |
| known Oracle bone logographs, about 1,000 can | | | | "rest". This story-telling formation is relatively |
| be identified with later Chinese characters, and the | | | | easier to learn, yet most of aggregates have |
| other unidentifiable ones are mostly the names of | | | | been reformed into phonetic compounds, or just |
| people, places or clans.In view of formation, | | | | replaced by them.Pictophonetic compounds (Xing2 |
| written Chinese is a script of ideograms. Xu Shen, | | | | sheng1 zi4) |
| in the Eastern Han Dynasty (121 AD), was a | | | | Also called semantic-phonetic compounds, just as |
| distinguished scholar who had attained unparalleled | | | | the name implies, it combines a semantic element |
| fame for his etymological dictionary entitled Shuo | | | | with a phonetic element, taking the meaning from |
| Wen Jie Zi, whose literal meaning is "explaining | | | | one and the phonetics from the other. |