Watch picture and learn character (8) Shell - 贝（貝）

Evolution of character Shell

 

From left to right: 

shell bone script, bronze script, big seal script, small seal script, clerical script

 

Shell

 

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Shell: an opened shell.

Big seal script of character Shell: a living shell, the bottom is the open mouth of the shell. 

Small seal script of character Shell: Similar to big seal script.

Clerical script of character Shell: similar to small seal script, except the bottom of the shell, the two sides of the mouth become two dots.

Song Typeface of character Shell: the shell is empty inside, and completely open on the bottom, lost most pictography.

The pinyin of the character Shell is Bei4.

 

Watch picture and learn character (7) Horn - 角

Evolution of character Horn

From left to right: 

shell bone script, bronze script, big seal script, small seal script, clerical script

 

Ox Horn

 

 

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Horn: It is just like a stubby horn.

Bronze script of character Horn: the long horn.

Big seal script of character Horn: vertical horn, the top is like deer horn. 

Small seal script of character Horn: Similar to big seal script.

Clerical script of character Horn: similar to small seal script, but the straight lines are away from the pictography of the older scripts.

The Pinyin of the character is Jiao3

Watch picture and learn character (6) Cloth - 衣

Evolution of character Cloth

 

 

From left to right: shell bone script, bronze script, small seal script, clerical script，song typeface.

 

 

Cloth of Shang Dynasty

 

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Cloth: The top triangle is the hat crown; the bottom is the cloth with collars.

Bronze script of character Cloth: The top hat crown, the cloth is formed by cloth placket on two sides. There were no cloth buttons, people just tie the plackets together.

Small seal script of character Child: Similar to the bronze script, except the bottom plackets cross together.

Clerical script of character Child: the top hat crown with horizontal wings, the bottom strokes changed dramatically, difficult to tell which is which in comparison with small seal script.

Song typeface: Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Yi1.

Watch picture and learn character (5) Child - 子

Evolution of character Child

From left to right

Shell bone script, big seal script, small seal script, clerical script.

 

Pinyin：Zi3，

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Child: The square of the top of character Child is the head, the middle vertical line is the body, the across line is two arms.

Big seal script of character Child: The top round is the head, the vertical is the body and legs, the upward curve is the two arms. 

Small seal script of character Child: Similar to the big seal script.

Clerical script of character Child: the top horizontal line is the head, the short turning line is the neck, the vertical with hook is the body, and the horizontal line is two arms.

The character Child – 子 is pronounced Zi3 (Pinyin). 

 

Watch picture and learn character (4) Fish - 鱼（魚）

 The evolution of character Fish

 

From Left to right

Shell bone script, small seal script, clerical script, simplified song typeface.

 

 

Pinyin: Yu2

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Fish (on the far left): It is a fish.

Small seal script of character Fish (on the second from left): The top is fish head, the middle is fish body, the bottom is fish tail.

Clerical script of character Fish (on the second from right): The top is fish head (not very like), the middle is fish body, the bottom 4 dots are fish tail.

The simplified song typeface of character Fish (on the far right): Similar to clerical script on top and middle, but the bottom 4 dots become a horizonal line to reduce the number of strokes but lost pictography.

Let kids use black marker to draw all the script three times, next day, draw again. Ask them the meaning of each line or stroke during drawing, explain again if any one still doesn’t understand until he/she complete understand.

Pinyin of character 魚is Yu2.

Watch picture and learn character (3) Fire - 火

 The evolution of character Fire

 

 

From left to right

Shell bone script, big seal script, small seal script, clerical script.

Pinyin: Huo3

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Fire: The shape of fire flame. It is a little bit like character Mountain, but the bottom is a curve, not a straight line as in character Mountain.

Big seal script of character Fire: The middle triangle support is firewood, the slashes on each side are fire flame. 

Small seal script of character Fire: The trifurcation in the middle is firewood, the slashes are the flame.

Clerical script of character Fire: The structure is similar to the small seal script, but the strokes are changed a lot.

The Pinyin of character Fire – 火 is Huo3. 

Watch picture and learn character (2) Sun - 日

 The evolution of character Sun

 

From Left to right

Shell bone, bronze, small seal, clerical scripts 

 

Pinyin: Ri4

 

Explanation

Shell bone script of character Sun: The character Sun is a round like cycle, plus a short line inside, which is the light indicator, same as the line(s) in characters Moon or Evening. The script is not very round because it was curved on shell or bone, difficult to make it smooth and round.

Bronze script of character Sun: It is smoothly round because the big seal script was casted with bronze, easy to make it smooth and round. 

Small seal script of character Sun: It is like a rectangle on the top and side, and a curve on the bottom, the inside line is connected with two vertical lines.

Clerical script of character: A rectangle with in horizontal line inside.

The Pinyin of character Sun – 日is Ri4.