Chinese writing: Quick Facts

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Close-up of a calligraphy tablet featuring elegant Chinese characters in black ink, attributed to Song Dynasty calligrapher Huang Tingjian, with red seal stamps on the left.

Oracle fragment

Fragment of an oracle bone from the Shang Dynasty, with rows of early Chinese characters engraved on its surface, from Anyang, Henan province, China.

Example of dazhuan from a bronze vessel, 779 bc, Zhou dynasty; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

Ink rubbing of a lishu inscription on the stele of Shichen, ad 169, Han dynasty; in the collection of Wan-go H.C. Weng, New York City.

Oracle bone inscriptions from the village of Hsiao-t'un, Shang dynasty, 14th or 12th century bc

Zhenshu calligraphy

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Topics

liu shu Latinxua Pinyin romanization Wade-Giles romanization baihua xingsheng zhuanzhu xiangxing China character writing kanji

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Playwright Arthur Miller works on a new play at his typewriter in the study of his New York apartment on July 21, 1959.

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