張宸碩

Hello， everyone！ My name is Simon. Today I want to talk about the origin and spirit of Han characters.

First， the origin. As you may know， Han characters originated from drawings. The earliest ones were drawings of the things people saw， whose total number is about 50，000 to 60，000. It is， of course， quite impossible to form so many characters by way of drawing. So with the development of civilization， Han characters underwent a very long course of development. Jiaguwen inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty is the earliest example we have of mature Han characters. Then the forms evolved through Dazhuan of Xizhou， Xiaozhuan of the Qin Dynasty， Lishu of the Han Dynasty， Kaishu of the Tang Dynasty. It sounds a little complicated and amazing， right？ Tracing the origin， I find one character I like most， that is “Long”. In form， we can still find the image of a dragon： the left part is its head， while “立” is its horns and “月” is its mouth， and the right part is its body.

Next， is there a spirit hidden behind？ The dragon does not exist. However， it can be truly called the “No.1 Totem” in China. In Chinese mythology， the dragon is a monster that plays an important role in agriculture， so people worship it. When the form of character “Long” becomes Jinwen and Zhuanshu， it becomes the symbol of power of emperors. And that’s why the emperor’s clothes always have the image of “Long”， while ordinary people could not use them. Nowadays， we are known as the “descendants of the dragon”. So we can see from ancient China till now that “Long” is a symbol of China.

In conclusion， Han characters are a cultural treasure in China， both from the formation and the spirit. Therefore， we bear the responsibility to study it， spread it and sustain it. Thus， more and more people will know China better and better in the future.Henan’s Traditional Culture

指導教師：趙付