Where did Chinese people get their writing from?

Chinese writing system, also known as Chinese characters or Hanzi, has a long and rich history that dates back thousands of years. The origin of Chinese writing can be traced to the ancient Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BCE).

The earliest form of Chinese writing was Oracle Bone Script, which was primarily used for divination purposes during the Shang Dynasty. The characters were inscribed onto the bones or shells of turtles and animals, and then heated, causing cracks to appear. The diviners interpreted the patterns of the cracks and wrote the meanings of the divinations using these early characters.

Over time, the Oracle Bone Script evolved into various other scripts, including Seal Script, Clerical Script, and Regular Script. Each script exhibited different styles and were used in different contexts, such as official documents, literary works, and everyday writing.

Chinese characters were not influenced by any particular language or writing system. Instead, they were developed based on the visual representations of natural objects and concepts. This means that the characters themselves do not represent phonetic sounds but rather convey meanings directly.

It is worth noting that the Chinese writing system had a profound impact on several neighboring countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. These countries adopted Chinese characters and modified them to suit their languages. For example, in Japan, the characters are called Kanji, and in Korea, they are called Hanja.

In summary, Chinese writing originated from the Oracle Bone Script of the Shang Dynasty and evolved through various script forms over time. Its development was independent of any other existing writing system and was primarily based on visual representations of objects and concepts in the Chinese culture.