Watch picture and learn character (28) Neat - 齐

 The evolution of the Character Neat

 

From Left to Right: Shell Bone, Big Seal, Small Seal, and Clerical Scripts, Simplified Song Typeface

 

 

Pinyin of character Neat: Qi1.

 

Explanation 

 

Shell Bone Script: Depicts three rhomboid leaves of the same height, representing the scene of bean sprouts emerging from the ground.

 

Big Seal Script: Still shows three leaves, but the middle one is noticeably taller. This representation is less uniform.

 

Small Seal Script: The top part shows three leaves, with the middle one being taller. If you interpret the side leaves' stems as continuing downward while the middle stem is blocked by two horizontal lines, it seems strange. More likely, the top shows three sprouts and the bottom represents a long, oval pot. This makes sense as during the Small Seal Script period, productivity had greatly improved, and flower pots were more commonly used.

 

Clerical Script: Similar to the Small Seal Script but the left leaf turns into "刀" (dao1, meaning "knife") and the right into "氏" (shi4) with one horizontal stroke removed, essentially opening up the two rhomboid shapes. The left vertical line at the bottom turns into a slant, making it less like a flower pot.

 

Simplified Song Typeface: The top part is replaced by "文" (wen2), which slightly resembles the middle leaf but eliminates the other two leaves completely. The bottom part becomes a slant and a vertical line, losing its pictographic quality.

 

Watch picture and learn character (27）Heart - 心

 The evolution of the Character Heart is 

 

 

From Left to Right: Shell Bone, Big Seal Script, Small Seal, Clerical Scripts,

 

Heart

 

Pinyin of character Heart: Xin1.

 

Explanation

 

Shell Bone Script: Depicts the shape of a heart. This indicates that even in ancient times, people had a keen interest in the heart, possibly that of animals such as pigs.

 

Big Seal Script: The bottom part represents the heart, with a dot in the middle serving as an indicator to emphasize the location of the heart. The two curved lines on each side likely represent the blood vessels connected to the heart.

 

Small Seal Script: Similar to the Big Seal Script but without the central dot, and the bottom part is asymmetrical.

 

Clerical Script: The U-shape of the heart transforms into a rightward stroke (捺). The dots on the left and right represent the blood vessels, with the middle dot corresponding to the indicator dot from the Big Seal Script.

 

Song Typeface: Similar to the Clerical Script. The U-shape changes to an L-shape, with the three dots' arrangement resembling the Big Seal Script more closely.

 

Understanding the evolution of the character "心" helps in grasping the historical and cultural significance of Chinese characters, aiding in a comprehensive learning experience.

Watch picture and learn character (26) Well - 井

 The evolution of the Character Well

 

From Left to Right: Shell Bone, Big Seal, Small Seal, Clerical Scripts

 

 

Four-sided Well

 

Pinyin of character Well: Jing3.

 

Explanation

 

Shell Bone Script: Represents the shape of a four-sided well. In ancient times, the well's mouth was likely framed with wooden guardrails, which is depicted in this character. Later, stone replaced wood, and the corners became right angles. Four-sided wells are now rare in China but can still be found, especially in the south. In my hometown of Zhijiang, Hunan, these wells were common during my childhood, although the well edges were lower than shown in the pictures. Few remain now. In the north, round wells with smaller openings at the top are more common. Four-sided wells might be scarce in the north due to deeper water levels and loose soil, making vertical four-sided wells more prone to collapse. In the south, where water levels are higher, wells are usually found within two to three meters, and the soil is more compact, making open four-sided wells feasible. These wells are wide enough for multiple people to draw water simultaneously. The four-sided wells in Zhijiang had wide stone surroundings and cement platforms, convenient for washing clothes and vegetables.

 

Big Seal Script: Similar to the Shell Bone Script but includes an extra dot in the middle. This dot serves as an indicator to clarify that it refers to the well itself and its water, not just the mouth. This likely corrected misunderstandings from the Shell Bone Script depiction.

 

Small Seal Script: Resembles the Big Seal Script. Both Big and Small Seal Scripts are indicative characters due to the middle dot. However, the Shell Bone Script, Clerical Script, and Song-style characters are not indicative. The reason why there are fewer indicative characters in Song-style is due to simplification, which removed the dot, transforming indicative characters into non-indicative ones. Understanding the evolution of Chinese characters provides a comprehensive grasp of their meanings, aiding in learning.

 

Clerical Script: Returns to the shape of the Shell Bone Script.

 

This translation explains the evolution of the Chinese character "井" across different historical scripts and provides context about its cultural and practical significance in ancient and modern China.

Watch picture and learn character (25）Nest - 巢

 The evolution of the Character Nest

 

 

From left to right: Big Seal, Small Seal, Clerical Scripts, Song Typeface

 

Illustration: A bird’s nest in a tree.

 

Pinyin of the character: Chao2

 

Explanation

 

Big shell script of Nest: The top part represents bird feathers, the middle part is a bird's nest, and the bottom part is the character for wood (木), which signifies a tree.

 

Small Seal Script of Nest: Similar to Big Seal Script.

 

Clerical Script of Nest: The top part has transformed into "巛", which means a river and is not related to the original meaning. The middle nest part has changed to "田", and together with the "木" at the bottom, it now forms "果", which is unrelated to the original meaning. The pictographic nature is mostly lost.

 

Song Typeface of Nest: Similar to Clerical Script.

 

Watch picture and learn character (24）Teach - 教

The evolution of character Teach

 

From left to right: 

Shell bone, bronze, big seal, small seal, clerical scripts

 

 Private School teach punish the student who didn't do well.

Pinyin taught: Jiao4

 

Explanation 

 

Shell bone script: The two X's on the upper left are small sticks for counting, and the "子" (A round head and small body) on the lower left is a child. Below on the right is a hand holding a stick. When children learn to count, if they do not do well, they will be punished by their teachers or parents.

 

Bronze script: The two Why use divination instead of stick? Not sure.

 

Big seal script: Much more beautiful than bronze inscriptions. In fact, bronze inscriptions and most Big seals are cast on metal (bronze). Bronze script is earlier than big seal, which are hundreds of years later. Generally, the characters in bronze scripts are few and unsightly. The reason was mainly due to the poor casting technology at that time.

 

Small seal script: similar to big seal script.

 

Clerical script: On the left side is the word "土" plus a stroke, which is the transformation of two X's. Think of "十" as an X, and the remaining "one horizontal + one stroke falling left" is another X.

 

You may ask: Why such a big change? Who did it? People from the Han Dynasty. The people of the Han Dynasty were the boldest in Chinese history, so the Han Dynasty was a great dynasty. Not to mention other aspects, but in terms of Chinese characters, the curves of the seal script are straightened. How bold is that change? Historically known as the "Clerical Revolution", it was a watershed in the development of Chinese characters, from pictographic ancient Chinese characters to horizontal and vertical modern Chinese characters. Think this could happen today? Absolutely impossible. In a calligraphy competition, if you write a typo, you will immediately lose. Sometimes it’s not a typo, but a variant of the character, that is to say, there is such a way of writing, and even great calligraphers have written it, but the judges may not know, and think you have a typo, and you are finished. And you don’t know yet, because they don’t tell you the reason for your loss, you may think that your level is not good enough.

 

Watch picture and learn character (23）Silk - 丝（絲）

 The evolution of character Silk 

From left to right

Shell bone, bronze, small seal, clerical scripts, 

and simplified song typeface

 

 

Silk threads

 

Pinyin of character Silk：Si1

 

Explanation

 

Shell Bone Script: Two bundles of silk threads, with both ends tightly bound.

 

Bronze Script: Two bundles of silk threads, with the top end unbound and the bottom end tightly bound.

 

Small Seal Script: Two bundles of silk threads, with the bottom end tightly bound. The script is very symmetrical, with shorter bundles and a longer bound end. It looks good but is somewhat distorted.

 

Clerical Script: Both sides of the silk bundles are similar at the top. They no longer look like rounded bundles of silk threads. The left bound end has become a dot, and the right side is longer. The two dots on both sides are not connected to the silk threads, losing the pictorial nature.

 

Watch picture and learn character (22）Learn - 学（學）

 The evolution of character Learn

 

From left to right

 

Shell bone, bronze, big seal, small seal, clerical scripts, 

and simplified song typeface

 

Learn counting

Pinyin of character Learn：Xue2

 

Explanation

 

Shell Bone Script of character Learn: The top sides are two hands, two X on the middle are sticks for counting. 

 

Bronze script of character Learn: The top is same as shell bone script, the door-like part is two legs of an adult, the bottom is character Child who is learning how to count.

 

Big seal script of character Learn: Similar to bronze script.

 

Small Seal Script of character Learn: Similar to big seal script.

 

Clerical Script of character Learn: The top is similar to small seal script, the door-like part is smaller, the bottom is character Child of clerical script.

 

Simplified song typeface of character Learn: The top become three dots, lost the pictography. The middle and bottom are similar to clerical script.