Something About Chinese Character

Chinese character is one of the oldest writings in the world. How many things you know about Chinese character? I bet you don't know this one: “biang” with second tone. You can not find it even in the Kangxi Dictionary (a very old one compiled in Qing Dynasty),but this character really exists in Shannxi province. People use this character in one kind of special noodle which called “biang biang mian”.
Now you know how complicated they are. So, i ‘m going to tell you something interesting about these characters.
First, the creator of Chinese characters---Cangjie, a historiographer of the Yellow Emperor (about 2650BC). According to a very popular myth, this man found tying knots was not the best way to keep records and tried a lot of ways to record their activities. Finally, he was inspired by a tortoise’s veins, then he started to use some footprints of animals as marks and invented the first writing system. Cangjie also played an important role in the world. He was awarded as “Chinese patron of writing” and it is easy to find his name with his statue on one copper gate of John Adams Building.
Second, the only existing female characters in the world--- Nv Shu. This is a writing system in Hunan province and only used by women, that is why we called it “Nv Shu”(women’s writing). “Nv” means “women”; “Shu” means “writing”. It is based on the dialect spoken in Jiangyong, so it recorded as “Jiangyong Nv Shu”.These characters seems like ants and mosquitoes, and no one knows the time it starts. What we know is that this writing system is handed down through family education and to record women’s affairs, such as marriage.
Third, how to write chinese characters in the ancient China? That was ink brush. It is an amazing thing to see a chinese writing with the ink brush, not mentioned someone can write characters with a real mop on the ground. Some people said a general of Qin Dynasty(221-207BCE) called Mengtian is the one who invented this kind of pen. That is why people in Huzhou(the hometown of ink brush) celebrate the ink brush festival every year and also have some activities to commemorate this general. According to the archaeological reports, the earliest ink brush was found in a tomb which belongs to a Chu citizen during the Warring States Period(475-221 BCE). This pen had a wooden stalk and a bamboo tube which connected the stalk and a bundle of hair. It was definitely an ink brush,so, who invented it?
Vivi from Ocean Mandarinr
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