How Chinese characters evolved | The Origin of Chinese characters | EXPLORE MODE
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- Опубліковано 13 чер 2024
- Chinese characters are beautifully designed and have an air of wisdom to them. But there’s more to Chinese characters than aesthetics - they’re a reflection of 3,000 years of cultural evolution.
In this Explore Mode, we dive into the history behind Chinese characters. We’ll also teach you how they are formed and how they developed into the logograms we see nowadays.
01:02 How Chinese characters work / How to read Chinese characters
01:54 Chinese Oracle Bone Script, explained
04:07 Chinese Seal Script, explained
04:44 Qin dynasty accomplishments
06:12 Chinese Clerical Script, explained
06:41 Traditional vs Simplified Chinese explained
Music:
All The Tea In China by Shane Ivers
www.silvermansound.com
Promoted by BreakingCopyright
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Imperial China Cinematic by Shane Ivers
www.silvermansound.com
Bumba Crossing by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Ceremonial Dance by Darren-Curtis
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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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The Plan’s Working by Cooper Cannell
Free Download: bit.ly/2LUL6e9
Sources:
Oracle Bone Scripts
www.omniglot.com/chinese/jiag...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_...
• Oracle Bone, Shang Dyn...
Traditional Chinese Characters vs. Simplified Chinese Characters
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese...
pinyin.info/readings/defrancis...
Seal Scripts
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_sc...
en.chinaculture.org/library/20...
Produced by Sofia K.
Edited by Amanda Lee
Keywords:
Chinese characters, history of Chinese characters, how to read Chinese, how to write Chinese
I think one important thing you missed to mention about qin dynasty related to this topic is that Chinese writing script was unified by qin. Before that, there are many different ways to write same characters, hundreds even.
Yes
He United a lot of things
Yes you are right ! And you look at the history of China 🤣you will find there is at least 20 dozens versions about every single Dynasty🤣🤣 for example the Yuan Dynasty🤣🤣 it said Genghis Khan was Chinese and the facts only being discovered that he was not , he was actually half Russian after we all have Internet because they could no longer hide the facts 🤣🤣🤣And I‘m curious how many percentage of the China history are real 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Soulwalker Young how old are you little kiddo? did you know where to get any knowledge or information before the internet is invented ? have you read any books since ? or simply you are the one who knows nothing but siting at home imagining you are the pariah of the king ? oh wait , I see 🤣🤣another mainlander who doesn't know its history of the nation 🤣🤣🤣🤣typical ignorance 🙄
@Soulwalker Youngso why are you mainlanders still speaking the Qing s language ? is Qing also Chinese ? 🤣🤣🤣and do you know the ancestors of ccp ? were they Chinese as well ? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣Marx is Chinese if internet had not been invented 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣can't stop laughing
书同文车同轨 还有度量衡
The "oracle bone scripts" are too mature as an initial form a script. There are likely a more preliminary form before it. However, since people at that time wrote on pieces of wood and bamboo, it's extremely difficult to find any of them preserved over 4-5 millennia.
Oracle bone scripts are probably invented even earlier. Because by the Shang dynasty, it is already a very mature system, with far more characters than modern Chinese.
Go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the death
Another theory is that they were imported from a foreign culture. There is absolutely no archeological evidence that suggests the characters developed inside China from an earlier stage.
And less than 2K have been identified. Modern Chinese has roughly 4-5K commonly used characters.
@@cheng-tsohsieh9990 import from where? China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Please stop fantasizing stuff out of a fart air.
@@cheng-tsohsieh9990 lol where you from white countries slave 😂
@@cocoram8156 By using fake chinese name he is scamming those gullible chinese to believe his lie. The U$ anti-china and smearing campaign is now on high gear.
I am from mainland China. I have never ever officially learn tranditional chinese, but I can read tranditional chinese no any problem. So, I should say that simplify chinese even not perfect but wonderful enough
@JJ 88 as a mainland chinese, i reject your wish.
@JJ 88 I reject your wish
@JJ 88 Just because its written form doesnt tell a tale doesnt mean the meaning behind the picture is any different. The ideas that people have with these words are no less than any other
恢复一部分繁体本来也不是什么问题，只不过现在是个政治问题，所以不好进行
但是完全罗马化，变成和越南一样的文字，或者类似韩文的只能表音的文字，不能接受
This was an add on my feed. Congratulations UA-cam, you caught my attention
Congratulations Hstat310, you made us real happy with your comment. Thank you for watching!
same
Explore Mode no prob! Love the vid
You mean the algorithm got something right? Hold my beer!
@1 4 3 Chinaem evils?
The “radical”, or “bùshǒu” (部首) of a character doesn’t necessarily imbue a character with meaning, as much as it says what section (部, bù) it belongs to in the Kāngxī (康熙) dictionary. Sometimes it imbues meaning, sometimes it imbues sound, or sometimes it’s there as a visual element, depicting a literal drawing of something, but it’s main purpose is to categorize the character it’s found in in a dictionary.
When a non Chinese person knows more about Chinese language than a Chinese person
@@Mike-bt3ki It's amazing really, happy to see it.
This is true, I heard that yesterday by a chinese youtuber, thank you for sharing that info, it seems you have studied chinese, I'm just starting, greetings from Mexico
@@Mike-bt3ki That's often the case when it comes to people with a passion learning a language academically and not just picking the language up from their parents. I would like to believe many people who learn English as their second language might do better than British/Americans on grammar and etymology.
I'll trust the chinese person
This is why I fell in love with Chinese calligraphy. Each word is describing exactly what the person is talking about. If you stick to the traditional meaning then you will fully understand the philosophy of the wisdom of the word. English is so boring because its like; Student "Why is the A an A." Teacher "Because the man decided that's what it was." where when a child had a question they would explain it that way on paper and become part of their writing system. I have never seen another writing system like it before and it always throws a few surprises at me the more I learn about it. There is a philosophical lesson in each character.
Most people in China can read both traditional and simplified characters. When it comes to writing the simplified version is more popular while traditional characters are only used in certain situations.
@Einstien e what are you trying to say? Only you can understand yourself?
@Einstien e they are all China’s territory, haha! Xinjiang and Tibet local people hate stupid brainwashed bot like you, while let me remind you Taiwan’s full name is “Taiwan, Republic of China”. Go get educated before speak up on the internet, Kid!
And I respect that.
比如油管字幕
我完全同意😂@@user-kk1iv3xq1i
We were the first overseas Chinese to use the simplified characters, when it was introduced outside of mainland China, in the 70s. We still use them now, and we are slowly seeing other overseas Chinese communities using them, like the Malaysian Chinese.
Quoted from a Singaporean.
That's really bad. Dont understand why the other overseas chinese community would want to adopt such simplified nonsensical forms of writing. Almost like loosing our integrity. The chinese schools here in australia is also doing that. So sad. I love traditional chinese writing.
从甲骨文到金文到篆书到隶书到楷书，汉字一直在简化，符号化，为了方便书写。即使现在的繁体字也完全不像图画啊！我们现在看的只是一个符号而已。
@@weloveyoona693 keeping Chinese alive in Singapore is already a challenge. Traditional Chinese character would made it even more difficult.
@@weloveyoona693 then you should learn to write in oracle bone script if you want to be 'original'
@@weloveyoona693 Simplified Chinese writing is no more nonsensical than the original oracle bone script. It is just another one of the many evolutionary changes since the oracle bone script. All are validly Chinese. Nothing to stop you loving and preferring the traditional form. But don't throw mud on the simplified writing just because you don't prefer it. There are millions who do prefer the simplified version and they have not lost their Chinese traditions and culture because of it.
It’s tough man , I’ve been learning chinese for around 3 years now ! Done with HSK 四
That's impressive. I'm stuck at hsk3-ish
@@amaanbakhsh8708 Poo in the loo
About a few months for me so far. The hardest part of the language is the characters for sure.
In Japan, the seal script (篆書) is still in use mainly for official stamps. Typically, the emperor still uses the imperial seal written by this script. You can find the same script on every Japanese passport cover which says "日本国 旅券" (Japanese passport).
Seal script is still used in making seals (marble stamps) in China. I have such a seal with my name written in seal script. However mine is made in Singapore.
And I'm here trying to learn it
@@bbutterlovers Those stamps are usually made of jade, but I guess there are marble stamps as well...
Yeğ / Yüğ = upper, superior
Yeğ-mek > Yemek (to eat)= to add on oneself, to include in one's essence,
Yeğ-im> Yem= provender, fodder -Yemiş= fruit
Yüğ-le-mek > yeğlemek = to keep on top, to make relatively superior, ~to prefer
Yüğ-ka-yer-u > yukarı =(which side is on top) = Up
Yüğ-ce > yüce = superior in level
Yüğ-ce-al-mek > yücelmek = to achieve superiority in level
Yüğ-sü-ek > yüksek = high
Yüğ-sel > yüksel = exponential , superlative
Yüğ-sü-al-mek> yükselmek = to rise to a high level, to go up levels
Yüğ-sük > yüzük = jewelry worn on the finger top
Yüğ-sü-en-mek > yüksünmek= to take offense
Yüğ-ük > yük =(load)> taken on, carried over
Yüğ-ün > yün =(wool)> the feathers that on sheep
Yüğ-üt > yiğit =(valiant)> superior in character
Yüğ-gen > yüğen /yeğen =(nephew)> which is kept superior, valued, appreciated (yüen > yen 元)
Yüğengi >yengi> yeni =(new)> it's coming on top, coming after
Yüğenge > yenge =(brother's wife)> who's coming after, added to the family later (new bride)
Yüğ-üne /Yeğ-ine > yine/ gene =again /over and over > yeniden = anew /as a repeat
Yüğ-en-mek> yenmek = to overcome, to cope with, to subdue
Yüğ-en-el-mek > yenilmek= to be overcome, to be subdued, to show weakness
Yüğengil > yengil =remaining on top, light, weak
Şan= Glory, splendor 單于 > Şan-Yüğ =Exalted glorious
Yormak=to tire= to arrive over someone (too many). (too much) to go onto
(Yörmek)> Örmek=(to operate on something), to wrap around, to weave on top
(Yörümek)> Yürümek= to go on (over something) to roam around
(yöre=precincts) (yörük=nomad)
Yürümek= to walk (yürü=go on)
Yülümek=to go by slipping over something
Yalamak= to give a lick >~to take by scraping something off
Yolmak= to pluck=to pull by snatching off, tear off (~flatten the top)
Yılmak=to throw down from the one's own top (~get bored), to hit the ground from above (yıldırım=lightning…yıldız=star)
Yurmak= to pull onto, cover over (yur-ut>yurt=tabernacle) (yur-gan>yorgan=quilt)
Yırmak=to bring it on top of, to take it off (yırışmak>yarışmak= to race> to overcome each other)
(Yır-et-mak)>Yırtmak= to tear= to get inside-out or bottom to top (by pulling from both sides) (~tide over, to get rid of)
Yarmak= to split=go vertically from top to bottom, separate by cutting off
Yermek=to pull down ,pull to the ground
Germek=to tense= pull it in all four directions Sermek= spread it in all four directions
Yıkmak= to demolish= overthrow , take down from top to bottom, turn upside down
Yığmak= to stack= put on top of each other, dump on top of each other (yığlamak=shed tears over and over, cry over)
Yağmak=get rained on, get spilled on / to pour down from above
Yakmak= to burn out=purify by heating and removing matter , reduce its volume
Yoğmak=make condensed=to tighten and purify, narrow by turning, get rid of volume (~get dead)
Yoğurmak= to knead=tighten and thicken , reduce volume, bring to consistency
(Yogurt= thickened milk)
Yuğmak=squeezing purify, clean (Yuğamak>yıkamak= to wash)
Yiv = sharp, pointed (yivlemek= sharpen the tip)
Yuvmak=to squeezing thin out, narrow (yuvka>yufka= thin dough) (yuvka>yuka=thin, shallow) (yuvuz>yavuz=thin, weak, delicate)
Yuvarlamak=to round off=narrow by turning (yuva (smallest shelter)= nest) (yavru (smallest)= cub )
Yummak=to close=shut by squeezing, close tightly (Yumurmak=to close tight ) (yumruk=fist) (yumurta= egg)
@@Abeturkwhich language is it?
I am a Chinese calligrapher. Actually simplified chinese is taken from calligraphy or making new simplified style by following the theory of Chinese calligraphy (六书 liù shū). During the ancient time, that is no an official style of writing, as you can see the word 群 in calligraphy always be written as 羣, actually there are same meaning, but now we call the non official characters as 异体字(yì tǐ zì, means different styles characters). Thus, no need to argue traditional or simplified which is the most accurate Chinese characters, both are them are just Chinese characters.
If someone always said simplified is not accurate, use 甲骨文 lah, that's most accurate loh!
I see lah and loh, i click like
If you have a lot of time and want some accuracy, thus just use Traditional writing
I see a fellow Malaysian/Singaporean
說到底文字是一種工具，有群眾基礎，有延續的條件，有穩定的形體結構，有一脈相承的涵義，那就是好的文字，不管簡化字還是繁體字，從結果來看，並未因為簡化而造成所謂文化斷層，想要尋求漢字起源，通過網絡或是文獻索引依然能夠準確無障礙地理解，兼顧實用性，經濟性，簡化字是最大公約數了，的確不甚完美，但繁體字也存在相同的問題，經歷了數千年的歷史的演變，很多漢字已去原字甚遠，最重要的是這個成熟的體系還在，簡繁之爭可以休矣，執著於繁體而不學文化，那和拿著玉箸而不取餐食有什麼區別呢？
非常认同你的观点！
很多简体比繁体还古老。
追求会意，只能画画……
繁简通用就好，各有各的优点，谁都认识谁，不可能因为简化出现文化断层
@@Exp-se9rs 但也有比簡體字更古老的繁體字
Great video! I have but one thing to add. The simplified version of 聽 actually comes directly from the bronze script. The Seal Script imposed by the First Emperor was arguably the direct descendant of the bronze script, but it was also the most complicated/lavished of the contemporary scripts used in the neighboring kingdoms. Many simplified forms of traditional characters have existed since the development of the Clerical Script into Regular and Cursive script, which would be right around the end of the Later Han Dynasty, and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period. Not all characters were mindlessly hacked and trimmed down. Some have existed since ancient times, for roughly the same reasons - to expedite writing and thereby ensure a faster flow of information. I remember our Chinese calligraphy teacher telling us that, during the First Emperor’s reign, Clerical Script was already in use, and it was used by calligraphers for common documents/books etc. The Seal Script was used for more important documents. However, according to our teacher, another distinction was made between the two, particularly when it came to the Emperor’s decrees or orders: if the order was written in Seal Script, it meant a good thing. If it was written in Clerical Script, it was the exact opposite.
Go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the
Omg this video is perfect especially when you mentioned Wang Yirong! It surprises me sooo much. Well done!!(Btw my first language is Chinese and I major in Chinese language and literature in College.😂) This video is amazing I have to say.
Btw again my hometown is Xi'an, capital of Qin, Han and Tang😄
This is really 寒 here
That was awesome. Finally YT's algorithm is sending me some interesting stuff.
is the ticking really necessary?
Absolutely amazing video! Well researched and gives me a simple to follow yet informative look into information that I otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. Thank you!
Go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the
Wow that was a great video. Thank you so much ❤
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR UPLOADING THIS VIDEO ....
For clarification, the calligraphic work at 0:30 is a Tang dynasty COPY of Wang Xianzhi's 王獻之 (344-386) "Dihuang Soup Letter" (地黃湯帖). Thus, the style reflects that of the Eastern Jin (317-420) and not the Tang.
Very concise and clear description of how Chinese characters evolved, thanks!
Great job 👏 go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from 4
Great video! It helped me understand much more about the development of Chinese characters and why many forms have been used throughout history.
Totally agree with you. Here is a video clip about another character: ua-cam.com/video/iiH85bctmZk/v-deo.html😀😀
I like how she narrated each story. Nice work.
I’ve studied Chinese for more than 6 years,but I never really thought of them having a meaning that deep.
Because you never really wanted to learn it, very simple. Just spend your time on something else.因为你从没真正想学明白中文，所以学点别的吧😄
@@jincolin7545 he's been studying it for 6 years he clearly wants to learn it
@@ozone8897 😄I was trying to say every single Chinese charactor has got very deep and various meaning, and it's even much more complicated when the caractors combine together as sentences or even articles, so he needs to go deeper, otherwise just waste of time.
@@jincolin7545 Shame on you, you should encourage and instruct or to give some hints of learning, but not asking people to stop.
@@jincolin7545
What a stupid thing to say
The only few pictographic type of writing system still in used today, many had perished like those of Egyptian hierographic etc., The ancient Chinese character often associated with people's everyday life, like the word Abandon 棄 in early form, this word has two figures represent two grow up person side by side, they carry a basket, on top of the basket sits a child, this word not just represent a meaning, it also tells a very sad story, due to poverty, parents had to abandon their child, a word that helps us look into our reflection and emotion, it also reminds us, do not give up easily.
Very well explained. 😊
It's a very good video, thank you!
Many of the changes undergone during the process of character simplification were merely adoptions of existing simpler forms already in use, often from the cursive character form. Both character sets have their own strengths and weaknesses but personally, I prefer traditional characters just because they look nicer.
Go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the
Lol, me too.
Simplified Chinese can be a bit cleaner for sight, however I do prefer to use the traditional one. Not only because it's nicer but, it holds the original meaning and essence. Even though it is quite hard to memorize and write it.
@@luckyelfo8280 But some of the simplification are okay for me. Some. While others just oversimplified. I mainly used Tradiotional mix it with a bit of simplified or other variants that faster and easy to write.
Simplification is the trend (a must). Consider how simplification has progressed from 3000+ yr ago. Many simplified written words do have a reason/origin how they were simplified in that way (from CaoShu, a type of calligraphy).
They were not randomly simplified in that way a few decades ago.
Very informative ! Chinese script is beautiful.
There are many ways to imbue characters with meaning, you can view them as a picture, combine the meaning of the parts, or think of them metaphorically and not literally. Sometimes a large character with many strokes does not convey meaning more easily or elegantly than a simple character
Good information. Listen to your heart 💟
💐Thank you for your 👍 information..👌..
Wow! Before this video I was never Interested in chinese before, as I found it very intimidating, but after seeing the wisdom behind the form of many characters I think that chinese for me could become a candidate laanguage to study at university.
Yes it’s an absolute another from of human language.
wow! this is fantastic thank you.
Quite good info
I also used to think simplified was some kind of offense to beauty and history. But in fact, after getting myself deeper into the history of simplification of Chinese characters, now I think It's very reasonable. Earlier forms of simplification had been going on for centuries, standarization of the many divergent variants etc was necessary. In fact, the cursive script or Caoshu upon which modern simplification is largely based, was one of the most widespread examples. Other East Asian countries traditionally using Chinese characters did also simplify their scripture and even to a greater extent. The Japanese simplified their old Kanji forms into Shinjitai (新字体) and substituted a lot of Kanji for the much easier kana, so did Koreans with Hangul. The simplification did serve its purpose of helping in the alfabetization of many people and moreover it's more practical in many ways. I'm glad that there are places where Traditional Chinese has remained the official script though, and I think it should be a mandatory requisite to some point in the PRC for higher education as well.
Simplification of Chinese characters was also a key to eliminate illiteracy in modern China for the simple reason that the traditional Chinese writing takes more time to learn because they’re more complex.
Yes, certainly not all characters are a historical, but some of them are entirely modern creations which I am not the biggest fan of, but yes. I think that at a certian level all chinese speakers both native and foreign need to learn both traditional and simplified. Adding on cursive and some seal script wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
I think people learning Chinese characters do need to familiarise themselves with the different forms as they will encounter them and may need to look them up. Even in Japan, you will encounter all of these forms occasionally. It would be useful if there was a phone app you could use to check ancient, older and newer forms. In Taiwan, while traditional forms preponderate, simplified forms are increasingly common - to cater to mainland tourists, I suppose.
没啥，复杂的语言系统就是必死无疑，代码还在想着怎么简单呢，语言文字如果还想着搞个原教旨主义来把其他的异端化，那秦始皇书同文的事情白干了。
@@panzhou2803 那，你會支持七十年代的二簡子動畫嗎？或者要直接用拼音？學繁體子和篆書一定不是高校的，你也許會說我有點落後，可是我覺得學以前的文字會讓我們更好理解歷史和社會，這是不是人類學的核心？科學明顯非常重要，但是別要忽略其他的專業的價值。生活的意義來自它們。
The word for hit: 打 Dǎ, whose radical, to the left of the character, is 手 Shǒu, the word for “hand” 👌🏼
喝hē “to drink”
Its radical is 口kǒu, meaning “mouth” 🥛☕️
“To sing” 唱chàng has 口 as radical as well 🎶
田tián means “field” and many words that has some connection to fields use tián as a radical. For example:
畜chù “livestock”
界jiè”border”
蕾léi “thunder”
Also, every stroke in Chinese characters has a direction to which they should be drawn. For example, all vertical strokes, called shù, should be drawn from top to bottom.
All horizontal strokes, called héng, should be drawn from left to right. Furthermore, horizontal strokes should always be drawn before vertical strokes if they cross each other, like in the character for ten, shí 十。
But why? Because the stroke order is a way to locate characters in dictionaries.
Piě are falling diagonal strokes, which should be drawn from right to left. Example: to hit, dǎ；打. Here, piě is the stroke in the middle of its radical, shǒu, which I wrote about in the beginning.
Languages are fun☺️
Yeah I noticed that a lot when learning Japanese Kanji 漢字
The best chinese characters are 凹 and 凸 : "concave" and "convex"
@@fumfig3262 looks cool
@@user-cw3yj8jv1s I see!
@@fumfig3262 it sure does!
Simplified Chinese was promoted by modern China mainly simply because the illiteracy rate was so high back in the 1950s, and learning simplified Chinese is much easier for most Chinese people especially the poverty.
Taking some characters of simplified and traditional Chinese for example:
樂
-乐 (happiness)
籲-吁 (sigh)
舊-旧 (old)
憂鬱-忧郁 (depressed)
Which character do you think is easier to learn and write?
华妃娘娘真是后宫状元。
Simplified Chinese is easier to learn but I still like the traditional Chinese. Much more meaning into it and looks much better. But it doesn’t really now because most of us type.
Wow! Such a rich culture! so informative lots of research done, yet explained in simple terms to reach all ages! great job! Subbed!
Thanks so much Faye! We try our best!
@@ExploreMode Thanks would appreciate if you view my last video and sub, growing my channel! Thanks for your support!
*insert Shiba inu*
However, there is a lot of incorrect political bias in the video
@@lsxu149 like wat?
As an Indian, I have huge respect for Chinese culture. India influenced chinese society by spreading Buddhism. Although, we have territorial disputes with China, we have worked together with our bretherly people since 5000 years.
We want an Asian Millenium and it is possible only if Russia, India and China join hands together.
All humans including animals have the same colour of red blood.
烦恼，涅槃，不可思议，自在，须臾，瞬间。。。。。。
All these kind of adjective words is translated from Sanskrit. Primarily the monks who has translated them into Chinese was only for delivering the Dharma to any people whose native language is Classical Chinese. But as the time has gone over thousands of years, most of these words eventually have been already been admitted(meaning that all have been the Chinese vocabulary), and also been used in Chinese culture.
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA南无阿弥陀佛
Influence what?? There are zero indian culture in chinese society. Chinese don't eat with hands. We eat with chopsticks with beautiful porcelain ware, not on banana leaf.
Informative presentation. The simplified version is ironically an evolution from a complex version of 草书, that only those well versed will retain its original depiction, otherwise its just simplified
Thanks for that interesting factoid and thanks for watching!
I read that some of the simplified characters are older or ancient forms that fell in disuse which were simpler and were adopted during the process.
Many of them were common in (fast) handwriting long before the last Emperor. Traditional characters are still sometimes used in Mainland China when it has to look really nice and official.
Simplified Chinese characters were developed long before Mao around 600 AD. These characters were used for unofficial occasions or in particular calligraphic styles. After 1949, the Chinese government modified the existing simplified characters and started to use them for official functions.
At 7:57 the character for ting1 (listen) is shown, but the traditional character is 聽 with 王 under 耳. Is it an alternative version of the traditional character?
Good catch, I saw that too. Nope they just got it wrong. That says a lot about the merits of using simplified Chinese I think. You simply need to give your mouth the axe or halve the weight of your mouth when you write "listen" in simplified Chinese.
聼 is also 听, but in Old Chinese 文言文。
聴 is still "Hear" in Japanese.
Yang yang Chen- possibly the best Chinese teacher to foreigners!
simplification wasn’t random; most simplified characters already existed although rarely used. There was a romanization movement but that had stopped before Mao. Pinyin wasn’t invented for globalising the language but helping to standardize pronunciation
Mao was a zealous supporter of Romanization movement and abolishment of Chinese characters(漢字廢除運動), so did most CCP members (and some KMT members), the original purpose of Chinese Simplification was to pave the way of Romanization movement, such “goal” to destroy Chinese characters didn’t stop until 1980s after the catastrophic failure of Cultural Revolution, and thank goodness it fucking failed!
This is even recorded by CCP’s own official records, you can’t hide it. cpc.people.com.cn/BIG5/218984/218997/219022/14818462.html
But unfortunately the damages caused by Chinese Simplification movement stay till today, many simplified Chinese characters are not historically inherited but artificial newly made by CCP themselves which make NO sense at all. I’ve also made videos about this topic.
@@MrGod47 At least, I agree with you.
They claimed that simplified Chinese is nothing more than the recover the ancient characters, but in fact, the continuity of Chinese civilization is based on traditional Chinese.
岛上的人写那么多有心的愛，也没妨碍它成为世界有名的诈骗岛……别谈那么多civilization。况且又没人限制个人不能写繁体…… @@kiloPhyll
simplification was suggested and initiated BEFORE the communist regime.
Same as censorship, a phenomenon that many people credit as a Communist Party's invention, while in fact most of the practices today were already established with surprising accuracy during the Qing dynasty, and even earlier. Some people just lack perspective.
this is true hehe. many confucians died for it
but not by some committee whose members were humiliated and prosecuted just by protecting the orthodox characters
cope
It indeed is, but that does not make it right
Personally, I think the simple form was a great idea and served its purpose well... We should keep both forms and let them serve different audiences and usage.
Very intelligent comment.
Great job 👏 go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from 4
Yeah, I personally think that the traditional version look better in calligraphy but I wouldn't like to read it on a phone screen
@@zee446 the problem in digitising traditional character is they suffer "block death". They are so dense it gets in the way of reading, I find character with less strokes are more elegant
Simplified characters are very effective for communication, especially for beginners, seeing traditional characters will discourage many foreigners. Having said that, traditional Chinese characters have more ancient meaning and culture than simplified Chinese characters. If you want to deepen Chinese culture, you must learn traditional Chinese characters. For foreigners, simplified Chinese characters can be used as a springboard
your pronounciation is spot on!
Damn this is good!
In the beginning at first I thought she said Horus but she actually said horse. :'D
I wish I could've found this sooner
The oralce bone characters is about divining, killing and sacrificing. They have so many specific characters of each unique way of killing people, ox, hog, deer, sheep and other lives, that you certainly don’t want to think about the life styles of the Shang rulers. They were monsters.
@marie sandal Shang（商）is also called Yin（殷）, and the character Yin（殷）is the portrait of killing human sacrifice with a hammer. The character 卯 is a way of killing sacrifice which could be human, ox, pig or something, giving it looks like “db” in oracle many scholars speculate that it’s a portrait of cutting the sacrifice into half vertically, and you can see lots of records on the bones of the King of Shang 卯 some human or ox or pig sacrifices to honor his ancestors.
@marie sandal Beheading human sacrifice is called 伐, which means chopping today. Striking the head of a human sacrifice with a stick to kill him is called 攸, which means water flow and quickly today. Striking the head of a sacrifice to kill it is called 它攵, and the sacrifice would be human or ox. Burying the sacrifice alive is called 臽, which means to trap today, and each kind of sacrifice has its unique writing, that specifically portraits what kind of sacrifice is trapped, could be human, ox, sheep, dog, pig, deer.
@@kylewood303 Chinese classic mentions that Xia Dynasty valued black color, Shang Dynasty valued white color, and Zhou Dynasty valued Red.
clearly, not yellow.
Yellow become important when Northern Nomadic people took over China. Nomadic people valued gold, because that's something they can carry around.
Ming Dynasty Emperors wore Yellow robes during normal functions, but Black dress (Mianfu) when they perform rituals, which was the Xia tradition.
Would you have any sources you recommend for further research in this topic? I'm looking into doing my dissertation on the history and influence of the Chinese language.
interesting history......thanks.....
0:17 Fun fact, that is the Japanese varient of the character 恶/惡 (悪), which means bad
hahaha thanks for that fun fact!
你是中國人嗎？
Are you a Chinese person?
colonel blair Ye
We spotted a wild Mafia/Yakuza
00:06 eye is kinda sus
GET OUT FROM MY HEAD
OMG IM DEAD
i miss ur vid explore mode😭😭
😭😭
The earliest true writing (that having sentences) appeared at the Yin Ruins, c. 1350 BCE, near Anyang, China although earlier single unconnected characters (Neolithic signs or proto-writing) have been found in Henan province at Jiahu as far back as c. 6600 BCE. These were inscribed mostly on cow shoulder blades and turtle shells.
I've seen some of the Jiahu writing at the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, Henan. Also, I've been to the Yin Ruins and the Chinese Character Museum in Anyang. All I highly recommend for a visit if you want to learn about the origins of Chinese writing.
Note there is no written evidence for the legendary Xia dynasty known until about 1600 years later and most probably a folk legend.
oracle bones of xia dynasty were found.upgrade ur knowlege
Simplified Chinese is created from cao shu script and xing shu script, they are simpler to write, but you will still be able to understand traditional characters. Some simplified characters you can already see from artifacts and buildings from as early as Tang dynasty
Yes, simplification of Chinese characters had a long history before PRC's intervention in the mid 20th century, BUT those simplified characters only appeared on special occasions, the characters themselves were not changed, same writer might even write the same characters differently depending on the visual effect he/she liked for the piece. Simplified then make them standard? This is not the same as paying hommage to any other ancient script, this is creating a new language.
Hell yes, I'm up to the challenge! I had no idea I could want to learn traditional Chinese written form so badly. 我学汉语！
Honestly, 漢語 just looks cooler.
This is why I belive Orwell's proposal in 1984 that language can influence people. Because the way we interpret a charicter says a lot about what the society saying we should do when doing that act. Especially logographic languages like Chinese wherein the charicters show a message when interpreted.
Listen = Talk and wait for an answer. Simple. Hence simplified. That’s how I remember it anyway.
Or WEIGHTING the words coming through the speakers MOUTH.
As I understand, in the simplified characters with 2 parts, one part is usually for the meaning and the other is for the pronunciation. In 听, 口 is for the meaning and 斤 (jin) refers to the pronunciation. There is a word '聆听' -- listen carefully maybe. 聆 （ling） has similar meaning with 听 but is used more formerly. It has 耳（er）-- ear for the meaning and 令 (ling) for the pronunciation.
Traditional or simplified version? Doesn't matter, I learn both of them lol
You sure have dedication.👍 My lazy self would never😪😂
I only learnt the simplified. But I can read both.
True. Both are correct and accepted by all Chinese. Just another ongoing evolutionary step from the the original turtle shell script.
I like the traditional version more than simplified, but i don't mind using simplified
Simplified characters ruin the beauty of the Chinese characters. Traditional characters carry the meaning that is easy to understand as in the good example she gave in the word listen 聴 .
As a Malaysian born Chinese who studied in Taiwan, I actually preferred to write in Traditional Chinese, although Simplified version is faster to write. Each of the characters presenting so much meaning, and I love the beauty in it
在台湾没被洗脑吧，大部分去台湾留学的大马华人都被洗脑成反华分子了，注意。
@@taipeistp5660 我不反華也不反台，但我反的是那些到處都散播反這反那整天埋怨別人對不起你們的人。陸台港都一大堆，就是每天閒著對著熒幕拼命爭吵有的沒的。
@@rrralpop157 对最好别关注这些，台湾1450这两年很猖獗的，我们的微博现在都有很多1450网军。别被带节奏。
@@rrralpop157 还有那个黄明志就是被民进党收买了，带坏了好多大马华人。
@@taipeistp5660 1450會用微博? 說甚麼笑話
The theory that the "heart" was removed is inaccurate. Almost all simplified characters existed as a 異體字 which was used in calligraphy as an artistic variation, or was used by other nations in the Sinosphere. For instance, Japanese kanji prefers 国 to 國. In the extreme case of 听, this character was originally an onomatopoeia (as its "mouth" radical shows) meaning smile. It was also used as a variation to 聽 to save time when copying manuscripts and writing. It began as 口厅 which makes sense phonologically, but eventually scribes made a mistake by writing 斤 instead. If one person does it, it's a mistake. But when it becomes the norm, it is classified as a variation.
Great job 👏 go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the 4
Brother. Just because it was cursive and used informally, doesn't mean it should be the official system. A lot of them are just downright horrendous and ugly with no actual meaning in them. Sure, they're associated with a meaning but they're not any different from a question mark. The original characters are actual Ideograms with several radicals that can tell you a lot about its meaning. Something simplified characters don't have.
@@danielantony1882 could it be uglier than English alphabet?
@@yourcj5734 Yes it could. In fact, it is much uglier than the 'English' alphabet, which is actually called the Latin alphabet 🤡
@@minsekfau3218 Although you may think the word Latin sounds more high end😏, but unfortunately English using Latin script doesn't make it a Latin alphabet; it's still an English alphabet, not Latin. Otherwise English and Vietnamese would be using the same alphabet. Try something else. By the way, the way you spell your ID is pretty ugly. Even Vietnamese words look better than it. Perhaps that's why you wanted to chime in because you are really pissed? 🤔🤔 😆😆
说得很好
laughs at myself, I can read, listen and talk about it but I just simply couldn't write chinese characters! lol
Then you are stupid AF.
@@cydia2020 yes *totally*
I love the Chinese Language, specially the characters, story and culture , 爱 中国
“我” 爱 中国
@@toucancheney9091 "我愛中華民國"
@@TalaySeedam 你爱什么关我屁事
@@TalaySeedam
俺愛《大中華中式社會主义民共國》！2038
@@TalaySeedam 中华民国简称台湾国吗？不是吧，中华民国还是简称中国，井蛙整天就在这玩文字游戏
I totally dont mind Simplified chinese as a Traditional chinese learner. But the thing is simplified chinese is spread A LOT more globally than Traditional chinese, to the fact that some people dont even know traditional chinese is a thing, and when it simplified SO much that I cant even regocnise it. I have small struggles reading simplified chinese due to OVERSIMPLIFYING of words.
Thank you for helping me in my chinese school
3600 years ago, Chinese oracle bone inscriptions (characters carved on tortoise shells and bones, specially used for the emperor’s sacrificial and divination purposes) were not the earliest Chinese scripts. Although no earlier carriers have been found, it can be inferred that Before Oracle, China had written characters in an earlier era. It must have undergone a very long development, or 1,000 years or more.
The two most important inferences,
One: Oracle is a very mature text that can express content concisely and accurately (this is also a characteristic of Chinese).
Two: Chinese is a pictograph, which is a text that creates and expresses meaning according to the shape of things. Some of the text can infer what things are like, such as the"水"(water)"火"(fire)"木"(wood) in the video are all mimicry of things. There are also the words "册“（Book） and”典“ （Dian=Encyclopedia Masterpiece) in Oracle bone inscriptions. "册“（Book）are Chinese books, written with a carrier connected by split bamboo pieces. And ”典“ （Dian=Encyclopedia Masterpiece) is a large number of "books" gathered together to complete the"册“（Book）. It can be proved that bamboo slips are the main writing vehicle. In 106 AD, Cai Lun in the Han Dynasty of China improved papermaking and was able to produce paper in large quantities, which changed the writing vehicle. However, writing vehicles made of bamboo cannot be preserved for a long time. The longest preserved bamboo slips in China were found in the tomb of a prince and king 2500 years ago.
> It must have undergone a very long development, or 1,000 years or more.
No, it must not. We know from the history of cuneiform and hieroglyphs that the development from nothing at all to a complete script can happen in a few hundred years (perhaps even as fast as 50 years).
We also know something about the spread of the writing system to other nearby states. We can infer from that that there was absolutely not 1000 years or more of development before the Oracle Bones.
(And your 3600 is several hundred years too generous. 3200-3300 is more like it for the Oracle Bones.)
8:18 on the right it represents the pronunciation after simplification, so it is actually easier to remember
If only it was that easy
非常有趣。
thank you
Hope this channel had thousands and thousands of subs. Awesome job!
Thanks a lot, Antonio! Please share the video if you liked it!
I love the many strokes yet beautiful looking than less strokes but kind of tacky (this is my opinion only, okay). Take a look at my Chinese name 溫瑞龍 (trad characters) vs 温瑞龙.
I'm Chinese and I prefer the many strokes one too.
nice name
when you write it，you will like 温瑞龙
haha, my family name is 齐, but traditional it's: 齊. Not fun to write but looks awesome
Good video.....
I’ve spent about 100,000 hours studying English humor and Western culture. My native language is Chinese. I’m teaching Chinese language in jokes and pictures. It makes learning Chinese funny and much easier. Laughter can help us reduce tensions.
that is why the character for turtle is the same as fortune (as in fortune telling). I never understood that until now.
I already learned a bit. I enjoy this language very much, because it's so old and exotic.
The fk, now you can have your nickname in runes!? Great 😅
@@fenrirgg I used an online text-to-rune converter. Luckily it's now part of the UTF or what it's called.
7:25 it's nice and all to keep the word form with its meaning within each ideogram. But I wonder how a language like mandarin compares to a romanized language in terms of adaptability to new ideas and words and time and effort required for attaining average literacy. The Chinese language is not a museum to showcase the history of item but is also a tool that allows its users to communicate and record their learned knowledge. Studies have also shown that by using softwares to key in words, native Chinese citizens even quickly forget how to write Chinese words. Why not evolve the language further to address that. The history will always still be in the books for reference
Tbf
Go watch yeonmi park to save North Korea that need to be freed from the
what is the name of the painting in the osaka museum
Here is a different one - focusing more on the writing and characters
ua-cam.com/video/tl3Ea27dHA0/v-deo.html
Mao, a calligrapher that argued the opposite of Hu shi's proposal to Romanized Chinese character, did not eliminated Chinese character within mainland.🤦🏿♂️
Chinese writing would have to be the most beautiful language
I am mainlander and I like reading and using traditional Chinese
Communication is full of small hints, and tones, and hidden meanings also history and context. So maybe to the ancient Chinese all that had to be engraved even when writing a single word. Meanwhile in the rest of the world we just want to draw sounds, easy haha (but of course everything gets overcomplicated with time, like the English and French forgot that a letter should be a sound).
"the bones never lie"
if u know where this si from you're my homie
Transcribing your own name is one of a great punishment in modern primary school especially for the students who have a difficult writing name. My surname 蕭 (Siu) is an example. So student who have a difficult writing name will always being obedient to avoid facing such punishment.
Jajaja that's funny, I couldn't imagine writing my name as a difficult thing or that it could be difficult to some one. Have you get used to writing your Surname over the years? Greetings from Mexico
@@fenixwb8612 If you can zoom in to look at the word "蕭", It has a asymmetrical structure like a logo. It's not too hard and I've get used to it when I was a child XD
@@victorsiu876 that's good that you get used to. Greetings amigo
Condolences to students with weird "sophisticated" names and 4-character names. It's absolutely a process writing names on exam papers/worksheets.
萧 simplified but… technically this is just a preference over a different type of standardization
Chinese is cryptic and characters are related to a meaning. Crazy stuff
If someone can advice, plz guide me on which form of Chinese I should learn to understand c- dramas and understand their literature..
For c dramas, since they’re from Mainland, they use simplified Chinese mandarin
简体字，繁体字，没有什么区别，先学简体字吧，有利于你学习，中国戏剧，有很多种，第一位:昆曲，第二位， 京剧，每个省都有自已的戏剧，都不一样，
It should also be noted that Japanese kanji are quite similar to traditional Chinese characters. They have, of course, been modified over time, but not nearly as drastically as simplified Chinese
You know why they are similar as long as you understand what does Kanji mean, buddy.
The kanji are not identical to traditional Chinese anymore, they have some differences. The point was that they’re more similar to traditional than simplified. Everyone knows kanji directly means Chinese characters, that’s not the gotcha you think it is
I understand that the evolution of Chinese characters is a complex topic, but this video managed to get even some of the more basic facts wrong. Here are a few examples:
1) There is an erroneous caption at 4:15 that reads "(221 - 106 BCE) Late Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty."
1a) The Zhou collapsed in 256 BC.
1b) The Qin formally established its empire in 221 and collapsed less than two decades later in 206 BCE. (not "106 BCE"--which is a century into the Western Dynasty!). At 4:47, the narrator says the Qin lasted for 36 years, which is obviously incorrect.
1c) The Qin seal script, usually accredited to Li Si 李斯, was likely finalized shortly before or after 221.
1d) Seal script 篆書 was not invented during this period, as the script goes back as far as the bronze script 金文 of the late Shang and Western Zhou. The speaker here no doubt means "SMALL seal script 小篆," which is synonymous with Qin seal script 秦篆. No accurate account of the evolution of Chinese characters is possible without highlighting the distinction between large and small seal script.
2) The script shown at 4:30 is actually pre-Qin bronze script 金文 (which is completely skipped over in the video). Oddly, the narrator, describes seal script as "elongated strokes and square shapes," though the picture shows a comparatively widened, rounded and overall less uniform type of script! In any case, "elongated strokes and square shapes" is actually a near-perfect description of Qin seal script, which is NOT shown.
3) The first imperial was NOT carved into white jade! Qin Shihuang Di merely was the FIRST TO USE JADE to carve imperial seals. Big difference!
I would have found this very interesting if it wasn't for the noise drowning the narative. Why do that ?
7:51 this is definitely far fetched : there was no such “line” in the oracle bone script or the glyphs before the small seal script.
“听”，甲骨文就是“听”，口，和一个竖起来的耳朵。另外小编把楷书、行书、草书都略过了，这就把“简化字”的历史缩短了两千年。每一个汉字都有不同的写法，甲骨、金文、篆隶楷行草。若细分，比如行书又有行楷、行书、行草之别。很多汉字会有10多种写法甚至更多（比如寿字，有超过100种写法）。简化字方案并非创造了一些新的字，而是规定了正式文本使用的字：以行书为主，辅以楷书和草书。而在隋唐以来一直是用楷书作为正式文本使用的文字。
老師聽了想上吊
@@HL-le2nn 人家說的是事實,只有腦殘覺得中共創造簡體字,很多簡體字比所謂繁體字更古老,如众(三人成眾),眾是古人的錯別字,四+三個人,重複表達
简体是是现在演化来的。我实在是想不到，现在的湾湾人还对正统有想法，唉，真可怜啊。你们自己够资格吗？把中国带上富强之路，换成国民党做得到吗？不能让中国再一次出现汉唐明的地位，有什么资格自认正统，就像一个大家族，你一个从小让人失望到大的人，有资格当家主吗？
@@HL-le2nn 只能说台湾的老师就不懂中国文字历史，也许你可以请教一下你们的“罄竹难书”“扁总统”？汉朝初期文字用的是篆书，后逐渐转为隶书和草书。楷书和行书都是在汉朝后期才开始萌芽发展，魏晋时期逐渐完善。楷书和行书是同时期发展起来的，其历史都在篆隶草之后。但无论哪一种，这些字体都有一、两千年的历史了。而甲骨和金文的历史就更久远了，起码是3000年以上。
I’m Chinese,
Many errors
1. The Shang dynasty characters are bronze inscriptions (evolved from the oracle bone inscriptions)
2. Simplified Chinese characters proposed by the Kuomintang
3. The phonetic symbols were invented by the Kuomintang, not traditional phonetic symbols
the video is confusing...
The earliest Chinese character is discovered at 陶寺，which is believed to be 堯都。as old as 2500 BC
Traditional characters are usually used for artistic creation.
传统汉字一直都很美，我们在艺术领域也一直保留