China News Service, Beijing, September 16th: Why is the ancient Chinese national script a symbol of cultural exchanges between China and the East and the West?

  Author Sun Bojun Researcher, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

  China is the country with the most abundant types of characters in the world. From ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 40 kinds of minority languages ​​appeared on the land of China. Together with Chinese characters, they formed a hundred gardens of Chinese characters.

  According to the relationship of genetics, the academic circles generally divide the ancient national characters into five categories:

  The first is the Alamaic alphabet, including Kalu, Yanqi-Kuizi, Khotan, Tibetan, Ba Siba, Xishuangbanna old Dai, Xishuangbanna new Dai, Dehong Dai, Daibong, Jinping Dai, Turkic, Sogdian, Uighur, Mongolian, Tote-style Mongolian, Manchu, and Xibe.

  The second is Chinese characters, including square white, square Miao, square Zhuang, square Yao, square Bouyei, square Dong, square Maonan, square Hani and other imitation Chinese characters; Khitan large characters, Khitan small characters, Jurchen Chinese characters, Xixia characters, etc. are changed into Chinese characters.

  The third is Arabic script, including Chagatai, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kirgiz, Uzbek, Tatar and so on.

  The fourth is the Latin alphabet script, including the old Lisu script, the old Miao script in northeastern Yunnan, the Bora script Lisu script, and the Sala Wa script.

  The fifth is the original script, including Yun-Gui-Chuan Lao Yi, Naxi Dongba, Geba, Shuishu, Ersu Shaba, Lisu syllable script, etc.

  Language is a tool for communication. Through language exchange, borrowing of words, and mutual translation of documents, the ancient Chinese ethnic groups and the eastern and western ethnic groups promoted exchanges between China and the eastern and western ethnic groups in cultural systems, customs, religious beliefs and other aspects. In the process of bringing in culture, we deepened our understanding of world civilization and enriched the connotation of Chinese culture.

Visitors visit the Chinese Character Museum in Anyang, Henan.

Photo by Wang Zhongju

  Most of the ethnic writings in China were formed during the process of communication with the surrounding ethnic groups. The spread of religions, trade exchanges, etc. all had an important influence on the creation of ancient Chinese ethnic writings.

Except that the creation of Chinese characters is influenced by the Confucian culture and legal system represented by Chinese characters, and the creation of the Southern Ziyuan characters is created by the nation for the purpose of "mnemonicing" primitive religious content, the creation of other systems of characters or Influenced by Buddhism in Central and South Asia, such as Aramaic scripts such as Kalu, Khotan, Tibetan, and Dai, or influenced by Islam in West Asia, such as Chagatai and other Arabic scripts, or by European Christianity. Influence, such as the old Lisu script, the old Miao script in northeastern Yunnan, and the Bora alphabet Lisu script and other Latin alphabet scripts.

  The introduction of Buddhism into China was divided into two routes, the northwest and the southwest, from the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty.

In the northwest, with the introduction of Buddhism, the Kalu script based on a certain Aramaic font in West Asia appeared, the Yanqi-Kucha script and Khotan script based on the Brahmi script, the Sogdian script based on Uighur script; in the southwest, with the introduction of Buddhism, Tibetan and several variants of Dai script based on a certain Brahmi script in South Asia appeared.

  During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, these scripts created under the influence of Buddhism in Central and South Asia continued to spread eastward, among which the Uighur alphabet was successively borrowed by the Mongolians and Manchus to record their languages ​​after the Yuan Dynasty.

With the acceptance of Tibetan Buddhism at the upper levels of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan ordered his master Phagpa to design a set of official texts for transliteration in multiple languages ​​on the basis of Tibetan.

Under the influence of Buddhism, various ethnic groups have translated the numerous Tibetan, Uighur, Phashiba, Mongolian, and Manchu Buddhist classics with these ethnic languages ​​throughout the Central Plains and along the Silk Road.

The translations of these Buddhist scriptures are either published in the Tripitaka and handed down, or engraved in Juyongguan coupon cave, or externalized as statues and preserved on cultural relics such as Dunhuang caves and Hangzhou Lingyin Temple Feilai Peak.

Tourists visit the stone carvings of Buddha statues in the Feilai Peak Scenic Spot of West Lake in Hangzhou.

Photo by Wang Gang

  Also during this period, the Buddhist scriptures recorded in Tibetan, Uyghur, and Xixia scripts, together with Confucian scriptures, were used as educational tools to enlighten the minds of the Han, Dangxiang, Uyghur, and Mongolian people. "Steel" said: "There was a monk Gaosha Shiba in Hexi, who proposed to the court, thinking that 'Confucius would enjoy the temple worship in the world by cultivating and describing the merits of literature and education. And the Master of Emperor Guang, Decheng represented the holy teacher as one person, and made a calligraphy book for the information. The use of culture and governance, and the changes made by the saints, have great and far-reaching merits. But the title has not been pursued, and the temple enjoyment is not as good as that. How can the country honor morality and repay the merits?' A treat for the ages.”

  Beginning in the 13th century, Islam was introduced to China from the Western Regions on a large scale, and soon replaced the original dominance of Buddhism in Xinjiang, causing many ethnic groups there to abandon their original scripts and use the alphabetic records of Islamic classics instead. own language.

The Chagatai Khanate at that time accepted this new alphabet earlier. Later, with the wide dissemination of a large number of literary works, the Chagatai script formed on the basis of the Arabic and Persian alphabets was recognized by many ethnic groups in Xinjiang. , and developed into Uyghur, Kazakh, Kirgiz and so on in modern times.

Students from Xinjiang Islamic Institute recite the Koran in the mosque on campus.

Photo by Tomita

  After the 18th century, a group of missionaries from the European Jesuits entered the minority areas in southern China.

For missionary needs, they learned the local language, and some people also designed a new type of script for the local ethnic group, and compiled it into a book and printed it for dissemination.

Most of the texts used by missionaries were the Latin alphabet, some of which were quickly accepted by the local people and remained in use until the end of the 20th century.

  There are also some languages ​​in Chinese history that were brought in by foreign merchants and immigrants, such as Sogdian, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Latin, Korean, etc. These merchants and immigrants later integrated into other ethnic groups, Some, as an independent nation, become a member of the big family of the Chinese nation.

  The three dynasties of the Liao Dynasty, Xia Dynasty and Jin Dynasty that appeared successively in northern China were all ordered by the government to implement new scripts designed after Chinese characters - Khitan, Xixia and Jurchen.

The most fundamental reason why the glyphs of these ethnic characters are imitated Chinese characters is that the Liao, Xia, and Jin dynasties all inherited the Confucian culture and laws and regulations of the Central Plains Dynasty.

After these scripts were created, rulers often used them to translate Confucian classics first and make them a tool for educating the people.

Nevertheless, the creation of Khitan small characters was inspired by the Turkic characters other than Chinese characters. According to the "Liao Shi" Volume 64 "Prince Table" records: "Diela, the word cloud Dukun. . . . . . . Uighur When the envoy arrived, there was no one who could understand his language. The Queen Mother called the Taizu: 'Diela is smart and capable.' "It can be seen that the small Khitan script was created by Yelu Diela inspired by the Turkic script, the phonetic script used by the Uighurs.

Visitors are visiting the "Dalian Khitan Exhibition" in the Inner Mongolia Museum.

Photo by Liu Wenhua

  The Chinese have always believed that the coexistence of multiple languages ​​is a symbol of the harmonious coexistence of various ethnic groups and the common prosperity of cultures.

At Juyongguan Pass in Beijing, there is a cloud platform built in the fifth year of Emperor Shun's reign (1345), and the two sides of the coupon cave are inscribed in six languages: Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Phashiba, and Xixia. "Buddha Top Dharani" and "Tathagata Heart Dharani".

The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang also have "Six Characters Mantra" stone carvings in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Ba Siba and Xixia written in the eighth year of Yuanzhizheng (1348).

The last five scripts are all scripts that have been widely used in China.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were many inscriptions in Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan.

And the RMB we use every day also uses Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur, Zhuang and other languages.

  The colorful ethnic ancient characters that appeared in Chinese history were produced in the process of China's contact with the cultures of various ethnic groups in the East and the West. They are also symbols of today's diverse cultures in China. The historical and cultural records recorded in their documents are an integral part of traditional Chinese culture , which can provide an important reference for the construction of the history of exchanges between various ethnic groups in China and between China and various ethnic groups in the world.

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About the Author:

  Sun Bojun, Researcher of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Director of Ethnic Script Literature Research Office, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Vice President and Secretary General of Chinese National Ancient Script Research Association, Director of Xixia Culture Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

National "Ten Thousand Talents Program" Philosophy and Social Science "Leading Talent", Chinese Academy of Social Sciences "Leading Talent", National Social Science Fund "Unpopular Secret" team project chief expert.

He has published nine monographs (including five co-authored) such as Jurchen Language of the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia Literature Collection, and published more than 160 academic papers in domestic and foreign journals such as Chinese Language, Ethnic Studies, and Ethnic Language. .