Chinese Script

History, Characters, Calligraphy

Thomas O. Höllmann, Maximiliane Donicht

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780231543736
• Topic: Filología
• Subtopic: Lingüística

In this brisk and accessible history, sinologist Thomas O. Höllmann explains the development of the Chinese writing system and its importance in literature, religion, art, and other aspects of culture. Spanning the earliest epigraphs and oracle bones to writing and texting on computers and mobile phones today, Chinese Script is a wide-ranging and versatile introduction to the complexity and beauty of written text and calligraphy in the Chinese world.

Höllmann delves into the origins of Chinese script and its social and political meanings across millennia of history. He recounts the social history of the writing system; written and printed texts; and the use of writing materials such as paper, silk, ink, brush, and printing techniques. The book sheds light on the changing role of literacy and education; the politics of orthographic reform; and the relationship of Chinese writing to non-Han Chinese languages and cultures. Höllmann explains the inherent complexity of Chinese script, demonstrating why written Chinese expresses meaning differently than oral language and the subtleties of the relationship between spoken word and written text. He explores calligraphy as an art, the early letter press, and other ways of visually representing Chinese languages. Chinese Script also provides handy illustrations of the concepts discussed, showing how ideographs function and ways to decipher them visually.

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INSPIRATION AND DRILL

You’ll see them in parks in the big cities: small groups of men and women carrying buckets of water, into which they dip giant brushes—in a pinch, mops—with which they proceed to write characters on the pavement, large enough so that they can be read even from a distance. This is often followed by passionate discussions about the calligraphies’ aesthetic qualities. But the discussions never last long, for neither do their subjects; the water dries quickly, and from the moment of its creation, every piece carries within it the seed of impermanence. In other contexts too, script is a popular topic of conversation in China. It has great cohesive force and is perhaps the most visible symbol of national identity. But there are also entirely practical reasons the Latin alphabet never stood a realistic chance of being adopted, and almost every program on television is subtitled.

Many Languages, One Script

Even though China strives to give the impression of cultural homogeneity and consistency, to this day the coexistence of its regional traditions plays a role almost as important as its governmentally decreed unity. The same is true of its linguistic diversity: not only with respect to ethnic minorities, who, for instance, converse in Uyghur, Mongolian, or Tibetan, but also regarding the Han, who make up 91.5 percent and therefore the majority of the country’s population. There are plenty of good reasons to summarize all of China’s commonly used (Sinitic) languages under the umbrella term “Chinese.” Yet this choice of terminology communicates—intentionally or unintentionally—a closedness that cannot be wholly reconciled with China’s everyday rea...