Uncovering the Roots of Chinese Civilization: Exploring Chinese Characters and Cultural Traditions

2023-10-07 04:43:56

  CCTV news(Focus Interview): Culture is related to the country’s foundation and destiny. China’s excellent traditional culture has many important elements, which together shape the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization, including outstanding continuity, outstanding innovation, outstanding unity, outstanding inclusiveness and outstanding peace. Starting today, “Focus” launches the series “Roots”. Why civilization, why China? Today, we look for answers from history. Looking at the world’s major indigenous civilizations, only the Chinese civilization has continued and passed on from generation to generation until today. The outstanding characteristic of Chinese civilization is first of all its outstanding continuity. Today, we will start with the development of Chinese characters.

Since its launch in June, the Chengdu Museum’s “Chinese Characters in China” special exhibition has been popular every day. The national treasure that everyone is watching is an 8,000-year-old tortoise shell carved talisman. There is a small engraving on it that is very similar to the word “eye” in oracle bone inscriptions. This is also the earliest engraved symbol discovered so far in China.

The tortoise shell was unearthed from the Jiahu site in Wuyang County, Luohe City, Henan Province. At that time, 17 examples of symbols carved on tortoise shells and bone vessels were found in the site. The contents were all related to divination and were called Jiahu talismans. Symbolic pictures reveal to us the picture of life of our ancestors at that time. The “Stone Sculpture of a Man Shooting a Horse” was unearthed at the Shimao site in Shenmu City, Yulin, Shaanxi Province. About 4,000 years ago, our ancestors made the picture in relief. It shows a man shooting a horse with a bow and arrow, and there are many bows, strings, and arrows.

Zhou Jixu, a professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Sichuan Normal University: “Archery, the look of holding a bow and arrows, is our later word ‘shoot’, which already has the prototype of writing. Oracle bone inscriptions did not suddenly create so many characters, it has a A process of continuous gestation and development.”

The ancestors of the Neolithic Age developed a rich variety of carved symbols. By the Shang Dynasty, Chinese characters had gone through a long “childhood period” and formed a complete system of oracle bone inscriptions.

Oracle bone inscriptions were first unearthed from the Shang Dynasty ruins of Yin Ruins in Anyang City, Henan Province. They were named after their inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones. They have a history of more than 3,600 years. When writing developed into the oracle bone inscriptions period, its expressive function had become very mature. The oracle bones that record the “first traffic accident” in the Museum of Chinese Characters contain a very rich amount of information.

The word “car” in the oracle bone inscriptions, the two “wheels” look symmetrical and balanced, and the “wheels” are constantly rotating, which means that people at that time had understood the principles of mechanical manufacturing. The galloping horses drove the wheels forward quickly, so the vehicles at that time were very important for war and hunting activities. There is such a hunting scene recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions: When Shang King Wu Ding drove to hunt rhinoceros, the horse was frightened and overturned on the spot.

Qin Ying, commentator of the Museum of Chinese Characters: “The ‘wheel’ pointing upward represents the overturning of the car, with the carriage facing down. The right half of the ‘axle’ in the character ‘car’ above is broken.”

Wang Wei, Chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Director of the Department of History: “It has rich recording functions. The oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty are a very mature writing system. , its character creation method is very mature. It is precisely because of Chinese characters that we can know the political, economic, cultural, and social records of various eras.”

The bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty were another complete writing system after the oracle bone inscriptions.

Zhou Jixu: “The so-called gold in bronze inscriptions refers to metal and refers to bronze vessels. When used as inscriptions, we call them bronze inscriptions or bronze inscriptions.”

The historical wall plate on display in the Chengdu Museum is one of the bronzes with the largest number of inscriptions. Its maker was a historian named “Qiang” at that time. The content mainly talks about the achievements of the Zhou king and the history of his family.

From the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty to the bronze inscriptions, Qin seal script, Han Li, running script, Wei stele, and regular script of the Western Zhou Dynasty, our country’s writing continues to this day. Many characters have not undergone fundamental changes in their basic form even in the 3,000 years since Oracle. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the invention of paper provided the best carrier for the writing of Chinese characters. A large number of historical events, ideological concepts, literary works, craftsmanship, customs and habits of the Chinese nation were recorded and passed down, forming a vast ocean of documentation and becoming the Chinese civilization. cultural treasures.

At the Chengdu Museum’s “Chinese Characters in China” special exhibition, literary masterpieces written by calligraphers have become the most popular “check-in points.”

Wei Min, Director of the Planning and Research Department of the Chengdu Museum: “Later, in the process of copying this article, calligraphers and literati actually expressed their feelings about their family and country and their political ideals. Chinese characters, for the Chinese, are not only a This symbol of remembering events is more about conveying Chinese people’s spiritual beliefs, feelings about family and country, and personal cultivation.”

In the thousands of years of inheritance, Chinese characters have also shown strong vitality. With the emergence of new concepts and new things, over thousands of years, the meanings of Chinese characters have been continuously enriched, and the number of characters has also been increasing. From more than 4,000 single-character symbols in oracle bone inscriptions to more than 10,000 characters in “Shuowen Jiezi” of the Han Dynasty, the current “Chinese Dictionary” contains more than 56,000 characters. Across the long river of history, Chinese characters have always been continuous, inherited and developed, becoming the only unbroken script in the world. It is precisely because of this continuous vitality that the Chinese civilization nourished by Chinese characters has a long history and continues to flourish.

The 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization has been passed down. On the one hand, there are historical “archives” recorded in written Chinese characters. On the other hand, among the people, many old skills, objects, and customs are also passed down from generation to generation, telling the long and excellent traditions of China. Cultural stories.

Liu Lanfang, 59, is the provincial representative inheritor of Gansu Qingyang sachet embroidery, a national intangible cultural heritage project. She and the embroidery ladies are using the oldest stitch method – Qiqiao to embroider a batch of newly designed sachets.

Liu Lanfang, the provincial representative inheritor of Qingyang sachet embroidery, a national intangible cultural heritage project: “The characteristic of this stitching method is that one needle and one thread cannot be broken from beginning to end. It must be completed in one go, and it is symmetrical left and right, symmetrical up and down. Our ancestors have passed it down to this day.”

Sachets are also called sachets. The custom of making and wearing sachets has a long history in my country. It is said that Qingyang is the hometown of Qibo, the ancestor of traditional Chinese medicine. More than 4,000 years ago, in order to prevent epidemics, dispel plague and fight snake venom, Qibo developed a variety of herbs into fine powder and put them into medicine bags. People inhaled them through their mouths and noses to avoid filth and turbidity. , the effect of preventing diseases. However, the medicine bag was made into a sachet that can be worn. In addition to the influence of traditional Chinese medicine “clothing therapy”, it is also inseparable from the rapid development of farming civilization and the origin of sericulture at that time.

Qi Shexiang, a professor at the School of Literature and History and Culture of Longdong University: “”Bin Feng·July” is the earliest and longest agricultural epic in my country. This poem completely describes the basic appearance of Qingyang society 3,700 years ago. What it describes The record of women carrying deep baskets and picking tender mulberry leaves along the field path is very vivid and detailed.”

The Longdong folk song “Embroidered Purse” is widely circulated among the embroidery ladies in Qingyang. 4,000 years ago, in the farming life where men farmed and women weaved, embroidery became one of the most important “female red” skills. Women embroider flowers, birds, fish, insects and other fresh living materials onto their purses, then put medicine bags into them and wear them on their family members.

Sachets continued throughout history, and the most famous recorder was Qu Yuan during the Warring States Period. In his famous poem “Li Sao”, there is a famous line: “Hu Jiangli and Pi Zhixi are admired by Ren Qiulan.” Among them, Pizhi and Qiulan are both vanilla, which means that the sachet at this time already has a “fragrant” flavor. In the following Han, Tang and Song dynasties, the economy prospered and the ancients began to pursue quality of life. Because you can wear it with you to capture its fragrance and use it as decoration, sachets became a hot commodity at that time, and wearing sachets and sachets also became a “fashion”.

The Chitose sachet unearthed in 2001 allows us to see what the sachet looked like during the Song Dynasty. Since sachets were mostly carried with them, they were also regarded as tokens of love. Men and women gave them to each other to express their feelings. In this way, over thousands of years, anti-epidemic products, decorations, tokens of love, sachets and sachets have been endowed with increasingly rich functions and emotions. Especially during the traditional festival of Dragon Boat Festival, making and wearing sachets has become one of the most important folk customs in our country.

Today, sachet embroidery has become a national intangible cultural heritage. In the process of inheritance and development, today’s sachets have more diverse shapes, richer materials, more types of fillings, and more diverse use occasions. However, the meaning of exorcism, good luck and peace contained in them has been continuous from ancient times to the present.

Liu Lanfang: “The biggest feature is that they are all auspicious. If they are tangible, they must be intentional, and if they are intentional, they must be auspicious. They are not sad or pessimistic. They are everyone’s pursuit and yearning for a better life, and they are everyone’s spiritual totem.”

Wang Wei: “Chinese civilization has continued uninterrupted to this day. This is the most prominent feature of Chinese civilization. The General Secretary has a saying: “Know the past and learn from the present.” We study the past in order to know where our civilization came from and prepare for the present and the future. It provides reference for better walking one’s own path, enhances cultural self-confidence, and provides a steady stream of spiritual power for the construction of modern civilization of the Chinese nation.”

“If we don’t understand China from its long historical continuity, it will be impossible to understand ancient China, modern China, and future China.” The Chinese civilization is the only one in the world that has lasted continuously and developed in the form of a country to this day. great civilization. This fully proves that Chinese civilization has the cultural subjectivity and strong vitality to develop itself, respond to challenges, and create new situations. It also determines that the Chinese nation must follow its own path. Only a nation with cultural self-confidence can stand firm, stand firm, and travel far. The Chinese civilization has lasted for thousands of years and has endured repeated hardships. This is the basis for our confidence.

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