Editor's note:
"A piece of oracle bone shocked the world, and the last city shocked the whole world." The State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China held the "Archaeology China" major project progress work meeting in Beijing on the 10th, systematically introduced the important achievements of the discovery and research of oracle bone inscriptions over the past 120 years.
The discovery of the oracle bone inscriptions at the Yin Ruins is of epoch-making significance in the history of the development of Chinese civilization and even human civilization.
Oracle bone script is the earliest mature writing system discovered in China so far. It is the source of Chinese characters and the root of Chinese excellent traditional culture.
The study of oracle bone inscriptions has become an international academic topic and has played an important role in promoting the dissemination of Chinese culture and enhancing exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Where does the enduring vitality of Chinese characters come from?
What kind of beauty of Chinese civilization is reflected?
Huang Dekuan, director of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Documents at Tsinghua University, president of the Chinese Character Society, and curator of the Chinese Character Museum, previously accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions" for an exclusive interpretation.
Author: Chu Weiwei
As a three-in-one symbol system of shape, sound, and meaning, Chinese characters originate from the shape of the sun, moon, birds and beasts. As a symbol of Chinese civilization, they connect the history, present and future of the Chinese nation. The square is full of beauty.
Where does the enduring vitality of Chinese characters come from?
What kind of beauty of Chinese civilization is reflected?
How can the "beauty of Chinese characters" be "beautiful and beautiful"?
Recently, Huang Dekuan, director of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Documents at Tsinghua University, president of the Chinese Character Society, and curator of the Chinese Character Museum, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions" to answer this question.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: Chinese characters are the only self-originating classical writing system in the world that has been inherited and used today. Where does its enduring vitality come from?
Huang Dekuan:
Chinese characters are symbols of Chinese culture.
The world-recognized writing systems representing ancient civilizations, such as the cuneiform script in the Mesopotamia and the hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt, could not be continued in the end, and only Chinese characters have been used since its birth.
I think the main reason why Chinese characters can last forever is that the Chinese civilization, which is closely related to Chinese characters, continues inexhaustibly.
Chinese characters are closely related to Chinese civilization. The continuity of civilization determines the continuous continuation of characters, and the continuous continuation of characters maintains the continuity of civilization.
Although in the long history, the development of Chinese civilization has experienced some waves and twists and turns, but its inheritance has never been interrupted, which provides rich soil and sufficient conditions for the continuation and development of Chinese characters.
In the exhibition "Relics from the Collection of Chinese Characters Museum" held in Changchun, Jilin Province, more than 100 cultural relics tell the public the thousand-year history of Chinese characters.
Photo by Zhang Yao
In addition, the structure of Chinese characters and their powerful functions are the advantages of their sustainable development.
Chinese characters originate from the depiction of object images, and have experienced the development of pictographs and phonological configurations in the early days.
The phonological structure is convenient to create characters, which not only inherits the characteristics of early Chinese characters in terms of shape and meaning, but also opens up a broad space for phonetic representation, thus better solving the problem that the early character symbol system is difficult to adapt to the development of the recorded language. Keep the tree of life evergreen.
Therefore, the structural characteristics of Chinese characters and their harmonious development in harmony with Chinese have become the internal reasons for the longevity of Chinese characters.
The diversity of Chinese civilization is integrated, and the multi-ethnic groups live in harmony, jointly promoting the long-term prosperity of Chinese civilization.
Chinese characters and Chinese have always been the common language of the Chinese nation, and a common tool for people of different ethnic groups and dialects to communicate.
Classics written in Chinese characters have enabled the thought and wisdom of ancestors to be widely spread across different eras, regions and dialects, and their influence has been transformed into the world.
Chinese characters have played a huge historical role in inheriting and promoting the broad and profound Chinese civilization, and in maintaining and consolidating the community of the Chinese nation.
At the same time, the Chinese character system is constantly improving and innovating itself in the course of the development of Chinese civilization.
It can be said that the enduring vitality of Chinese characters is the result of the joint development of Chinese characters and Chinese civilization, Chinese characters and Chinese, and the development of the Chinese character system itself.
Zhonghua Book Company publishes "Shuowen Jiezi Teaching Book".
Photo by Ren Haixia
China News Service reporter: As the "root" of Chinese culture, what kind of beauty of Chinese civilization can Chinese characters reflect?
Huang Dekuan:
First, the beauty of elegance.
As the representative of classical writing, Chinese characters have undergone the evolution of various writing forms such as oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal script, official script, and regular script. The aesthetic thoughts and conceptual forms of the early Chinese civilization have created the depth and breadth of Chinese culture, showing the ancient and elegant beauty of Chinese characters and Chinese civilization.
The second is the beauty of the shape.
Chinese characters are shaped by drawing objects and describing objective objects. Their postures are varied and vivid; their configurations pursue symmetry and balance, which conforms to aesthetic principles.
The configuration of Chinese characters is a vivid record of the wisdom and ingenuity of the ancients. For example, the "character" of a Chinese character is recorded with "zi" and also has a meaning. The original meaning of the configuration of the word is to nurture children.
The ancients discovered that the derivation of Chinese characters is like giving birth to children and multiplying from generation to generation, so they called it "characters".
From the original configurational meaning of "character" to the use of "character" to refer to "character", it contains the ancients' understanding of the origin and evolution of Chinese characters and the relationship between shape, sound and meaning.
It can be said that the structure of each ancient Chinese character is the crystallization of the thought and wisdom of the predecessors, and its structure is both beautiful in form and ingenuity.
The third is the beauty of rhythm.
Early Chinese characters were mainly written with soft pens, but there were also inscriptions carved on oracle bones and inscriptions cast in bronze.
In the process of writing Chinese characters, due to the control of the pen and the knife, the change of strength, the ups and downs of the pen (knife) and the speed of the rhythm, comprehensively show a beauty of rhythm.
The pursuit of the beauty of Chinese character writing form and the awareness of aesthetic consciousness have promoted the sublimation of the beauty of Chinese characters, thus forming the unique art of Chinese calligraphy.
Compared with other writing systems in the world, only Chinese characters are not only practical tools for recording language and transmitting information, but also have the functions of artistic creation and aesthetics.
Chinese characters are not only a writing symbol, but also an aesthetic object.
In a sense, the beauty of Chinese characters is also the beauty of Chinese civilization.
The oracle bone inscriptions creative exhibition held by Guotu·Jinwan Cultural and Creative Space attracted many visitors to experience the evolution of oracle bone inscriptions into contemporary Chinese characters.
Photo by Tong Yu
China News Agency reporter: In ancient times, Chinese characters served as the only international communication language in Southeast Asia; before the 20th century, it was still the official written standard language in Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam and other places. What role does Chinese characters play in promoting the communication and development of human civilization?
Huang Dekuan:
I believe that Chinese characters are first and foremost a great contribution to the development of Chinese civilization.
One of the most important contents of Chinese civilization is the numerous classics recorded and written in Chinese characters.
The oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the bronze inscriptions of the two weeks, the bamboo slips and silk books of the Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, the stone carving classics of the past dynasties, the hand-copied scriptures, and the printed books have accumulated and preserved the glorious history of Chinese culture.
It is precisely because of the ideological and cultural achievements of the past dynasties recorded and preserved in Chinese characters that Chinese civilization can be better passed on and spread.
Ancient Chinese civilization is one of the most important civilizations in the world.
Chinese characters are the most important carrier for spreading Chinese civilization. Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Vietnam are all deeply influenced by Chinese civilization.
By learning Chinese characters, these countries have deepened their understanding of Chinese civilization and even adopted Chinese characters as their own writing system.
Chinese classics written in Chinese characters have been widely spread all over the world, such as "The Book of Songs", "Lao Zi" and "The Analects of Confucius".
After modern times, many Chinese classic documents were spread all over the world.
With the migration of Chinese to the world, wherever the Chinese go, Chinese characters will be taken, and Chinese culture will be taken.
In recent years, the cooperation and exchanges between China and the rest of the world in economy, trade, culture, and science and technology have become more frequent and extensive, thus promoting the formation of an upsurge in international Chinese language learning.
The "Chinese Characters - Exhibition of Cultural Relics from the Chinese Character Museum" held in Nanning, Guangxi attracts visitors.
Photo by Hong Jianpeng
China News Service: At present, more and more people from all over the world are learning Chinese. How can the "beauty of Chinese characters" be "beautiful and beautiful"?
Huang Dekuan:
Communication and mutual learning among civilizations is an inevitable choice for the development of human society.
As the second largest economy in the world, China has become an important "bridge" in the process of promoting international exchanges.
People from all over the world have a better understanding of Chinese culture through Chinese characters, which has promoted ideological, cultural and economic exchanges between China and the world.
We should strive to create conditions, actively support people of different countries and nationalities to learn Chinese characters, and provide them with assistance as much as possible. At present, many colleges and universities in China are striving to build platforms in this regard.
More and more people in the world are learning Chinese characters, and more and more people will understand Chinese culture. This will help Chinese civilization and world civilization exchange and learn from each other, and share beauty and beauty.
International students at the Confucius Institute at Anhui University learn to write with calligraphy and experience the "beauty of Chinese characters".
Photo by Zhang Yazi
How to spread Chinese characters better?
First of all, Chinese characters researchers must make correct interpretations of Chinese characters, and accurately and clearly express the cultural connotation of Chinese characters; secondly, high-quality Chinese characters reading materials and teaching materials are required; Pay attention to absorb the results of ancient philology research, better understand the knowledge of Chinese characters, and give more guidance and help to foreign friends who learn Chinese characters.
In addition, modern communication technology can be used to vigorously develop Chinese character textbooks and works adapted to the digital age, so that foreign readers and learners can more conveniently acquire knowledge about Chinese characters and better understand Chinese culture through the digital world.
Interviewee Profile:
Huang Dekuan, Chair Professor of Humanities of Tsinghua University, Director of the Research and Protection Center of Unearthed Documents of Tsinghua University, Member of the Department of Linguistics and Literature of the Social Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Advisory Member of the National Language and Character Work Committee, President of the Chinese Character Society, and Director of the Chinese Character Museum.
Chairman and chief expert of the Expert Committee of "Ancient Scripts and Chinese Civilization Inheritance and Development Project".
He used to be the president of Anhui University, secretary of the party committee, and director of the Anhui Literature and History Research Center.
Mainly engaged in teaching and research work in Chinese language and philology, ancient philology, unearthed documents and ancient Chinese civilization, etc., published "The Development of Ancient Chinese Characters", "Ancient Script Genealogy and Evidence", "Chinese Character Theory Series", "Ancient Philology" and other works, edited "Ancient Chinese Characters". Tsinghua University Tibetan Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period (Nine, Shi, Shi Yi), Anhui University Tibetan Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period (1, 2), etc.