In response to your questions regarding the Chinese language, I can say that I know nothing of Chinese grammar. About the pictograms or ideograms, my understanding is that by looking at the pictures one can pick up clues as to the meaning. With so many characters it gives me a headache just to think about it.
One article that may interest you. It also contains links to many other linguistic avenues.
about the Chinese languageThe language of China is a long story and I have only the desire to tell a little of it at this time.
China was unified by Qin Shi Huang way back when(221-206 B.C.). They taught the classics (Confucian method, listen and then recite, but do not ask questions)
So it went in this order:
Zhou dynasty script (pre Qin Shi Huang) but they still used it while they were implementing the change over to seal script.
Seal script (gets its name from its use on many seals) There are two styles greater and lesser seal script.
Clerical script (this script is still used in lots of Chinese advertising as it is a beautiful script) Clerical script came into use during the Han dynasty.
Regular script (this is the script used in China today) Regular script started to come into use in the 5th century but didn’t mature in form until the 7th century. Throughout all this time they still taught the classics (the Confucian method)
For centuries Regular script has been used down to the modern day. There were variants of the script in different regions of China, but for the most part something written in one part of China could be read in another part. There were two problems discovered in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
1. Chinese was hard to learn and many of the characters were difficult to write.
2. Most of the population was illiterate.
At the start of the twentieth century, books of simplified Chinese started to appear. A great debate ensued as to what to do about the language problem.
In 1909, it was proposed that simplified Chinese either be used in education and accepted by the population as a whole, or the Chinese language should be thrown out all together. The Chinese who had been educated abroad joined in the debate as well. It soon became apparent to the government that something must be done. The government decided in 1912 to put together a meeting to decide the fate of the language. The first meeting was held in February 1913.
The first meeting was held in Beijing. It had 44 delegates. The composition of the meeting looked something like this: 2 representatives were allowed from each of the 26 provinces while Tibet, Mongolia, and overseas Chinese were allowed 1 representative each (overseas Chinese means places like Hong Kong).
The meetings went on for quite a few years. At this time in Chinese history they had thousands of students at universities across China. It is important to note here that elsewhere in the world the Great War had been fought. Before and during this Great War, Japan occupied part of China. After the war, at the treaty of Versailles, Chinese representatives had requested that Japan be made to give China back this occupied territory. Their request went unheard.
Combined with the students who were proponents for language change, were those students who wanted China to do something about their unfair treatment during the treaty of Versailles (but among this China had many other ills at the time). They gathered at Tiananmen Square to protest. This was known as the “May Fourth Movement.” The government squashed the student uprising. But due to the harshness of the government’s treatment of the students in squashing the uprising which entailed death and putting students in jail, the parents of the students became involved and started strikes. These strikes spread throughout China. The government was forced to give in to their demands and release the students. Though it was really only a superficial show on the government’s part, it did force the hand of the language committee.
It was decided that they would simplify the language. Committees were formed and they put forth proposals as to how to simplify the language. They voted on one proposal, and the presses started rolling. They made dictionaries and sent them out to the population. Then they recorded the sound of Chinese gramophone style (on vinyl) and sent it out to the population. If I remember correctly Mandarin was the chief source.
But again there was a problem because there were still two language parties on the table--Classical and modern Chinese(also known as simplified Chinese). “Wenyan” and “Baihua” respectively.
Then in the 1950’s the communist party also pushed a standardization of learning in China. They tried to burn all the books which contained language or ideas they disagreed with. The presses rolled again and the population received the newest version of simplified Chinese. Yet this didn’t solve the problem of the existence of classical Chinese and simplified Chinese. To this day the two still are still found in China. The universities have as part of their entrance exams questions about classical Chinese, although, practically no one in China today can speak classic Chinese.
Topic: A look at ancient education (Read 982 times)