The Past and Present of Chinese Characters

Name: The Past and Present of Chinese Characters
ISBN: 9787515811000

彭军China Industry and Commerce Associated Press · ChinaJul 2016

3.4

Word count: 74K words
Chapters: 24
ISBN: 9787515811000

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Summary

Chinese characters, through a mode of image-making unique to the Chinese nation, have given the Chinese people a thousand years of unending expression. In joy, anger, sorrow and delight, people pour out their feelings and voice their aspirations through these square characters. Flowing on without cease, they have become the long river of Chinese culture and forged the towering Chinese soul. This book is aimed at the general reader, introducing the emergence, development and evolution of Chinese characters and their influence, popularizing knowledge about them, attending to their popularization and use, and reawakening the Chinese-character complex in people's hearts. The language is thorough yet accessible, making this a classic reader for entering the study of Chinese culture.

Editor's review

The book "The Past and Present Life of Chinese Characters" is not a strictly academic monograph but a popular work on Chinese-character culture for the general reader. The author, Peng Jun, adopts a relatively accessible style to trace the origins and evolution of Chinese characters and the cultural connotations they carry. In terms of structure, the book covers the evolution of script forms from oracle-bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions to seal, clerical, regular, running and cursive scripts, interspersed with interpretations of the structure and meaning of some typical characters, aiming to reveal the deep connections between Chinese characters and Chinese history, thought and folk customs.

As an editor, judging professionally, the book's strength lies in its readability and value as an introduction. It "softens" fairly abstruse philological knowledge, presenting it through storytelling and lively narration, lowering the threshold for ordinary readers to encounter the origins of Chinese characters. The examples chosen are mostly representative and are accompanied by character-form illustrations for intuitive understanding. For readers who wish to gain an initial understanding of why Chinese characters are "living fossils" and to explore the stories behind every stroke, this book offers a good starting point.

However, its limitations should also be noted objectively. The book makes trade-offs in academic depth and systematic rigor, focusing more on cultural exposition than on cutting-edge philological research. Some of its analysis and citations are fairly commonplace; for readers with some grounding in philology, it may seem to offer limited novelty and depth. Overall, the book's reading value lies in "sparking interest" and "building an initial cognitive framework." It is like a carefully drawn map guiding readers into the vast forest of Chinese-character culture; the detailed scenery deep in the forest requires readers, driven by the interest thus aroused, to explore through more specialized works. For readers seeking cultural nourishment in leisure reading and a stronger sense of identification with their native script, this book is a suitable choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers curious about the origins and cultural connotations of Chinese characters
Parents looking for a Chinese-character primer for their children
Primary and secondary school Chinese teachers seeking supplementary cultural material for classroom teaching
Calligraphy enthusiasts hoping to understand the logic of character evolution behind different script forms

Not a good fit for

Professional scholars seeking in-depth philological research and cutting-edge academic work
Students who need to prepare for rigorous Chinese-characterology exams or thesis writing

Reading tips

Read in chapter order to first establish a timeline of character evolution
Keep paper and pen at hand while reading to trace the ancient character forms shown in the book and sense their pictographic quality
Connect the characters interpreted in the book with idioms, surnames and place names encountered in daily life to deepen understanding

About the publisher

China Industry and Commerce Associated Press China · Founded in 1993

China Industry and Commerce Associated Press is a publisher whose main directions include economic management, social sciences and humanities, lifestyle and inspiration, and education and training, with about 680 titles in the library. Representative books include Cornelius Ryan's World War II Epic Trilogy, Rockefeller's 38 Letters from Rockefeller to His Son, Stefan Zweig's Three Masters, Edwin Lefèvre's Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and Dale Carnegie's The Art of Communication and Wisdom of Dealing with People (new edition). Common categories cover world history, inspirational growth, general biography, personal finance, applied psychology, and management, while its author resources include translators and authors such as Huang Wenfan, Zhang Zhanlei, and Li Liang. Its publishing profile combines classic imports with popular reading, spanning historical documentary, personal growth, and business practice. Public information is limited, and the above is summarized mainly from the books in the library.

版权信息
前言
第一章汉字的由来
1.关于汉字起源的四种传说及科学解释
2.文字的世界，世界的文字
第二章汉字变形记
1.字之初，本为画
2.汉字的“前世”——从甲骨文到楷书
3.汉字的“今生”——近现代的汉字改革历程
4.从“五笔字型”到“智能ABC——信息化时代的汉字
第三章汉子的结构
1.什么是六书
2.正确书写汉字
3.拒绝错别字
第四章洋腔洋调说汉字
1.“汉字文化圈”里的汉字流传
2.汉字里的外来字词
3.墙里开花墙内香：汉字与中国其他民族文字的交流
第五章汉字里的姓氏和数字
1.中国姓氏的起源
2.一二三四说汉字
第六章汉字里的谜，谜里的汉字
1.点亮头脑的灯谜
2.对联传千载

FAQ

How does this book differ from the Shuowen Jiezi?

This book is a modern popular interpretation of Chinese-character culture, focusing on telling stories of evolution and cultural connotations; the Shuowen Jiezi is a scholarly classic compiled by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han dynasty, focusing on analyzing the original meanings of characters through small-seal forms. It is more academic but has a higher threshold for readers. This book can be seen as an introductory guide to classics such as the Shuowen Jiezi.

Is the content authoritative and reliable?

The content is based on generally accepted basic philological knowledge and mainstream views and is suitable for popular readership. For the specific interpretation of individual characters, however, academic circles may hold differing views; the book presents one of the more widely accepted interpretations, and readers can treat it as a window onto Chinese-character culture.

Is it suitable for primary school students?

The language is fairly accessible, but the book involves some historical and cultural background. Upper-grade primary students can read selected chapters under the guidance of parents or teachers, especially the more intuitive parts on the evolution of pictographic and indicative characters. Reading the whole book independently is better suited to junior secondary readers and above.

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About the author

彭军 Author

Peng Jun is an author about whom limited public information is available. Three works are currently confirmed under his name, spanning culture, general computing, and management. The range of subjects suggests that his writing is not confined to a single specialized field but bridges the humanities and practical affairs: alongside The Past and Present of Chinese Characters, a popular account of the origins and development of Chinese script, he has also produced A Planning and Design Manual for E-Government Cloud and Fundamentals of Livestream E-Commerce, the latter addressing a contemporary business practice. This combination indicates an interest both in spreading traditional culture and in the practical application of information technology and emerging industries. As his dates of birth and death, nationality, and professional background are not clearly documented, his personal history remains difficult to outline; judged solely by the existing works, however, he tends to organize knowledge in a manual-like, foundational manner, offering readers introductory and operational references and contributing a degree of documentation and popularization value in the relevant fields.