Ancient Chinese Writing System {Homeschool Lesson}

Although historians can’t be sure there was ever a Xia dynasty, early writings prove that the Shang Dynasty did exist.  In fact, it is here, during the Shang Dynasty, we begin our foray into the Ancient Chinese Writing System.

Discover More! Read more about the Shang Dynasty as we research silk moths, write a report about silk fabric and finally painting our very own silk scarf!

The belief system which pervaded the Shang Dynasty was called ancestor worship.  The children knew about this from the last time we studied ancient China and watched Mulan!  Ancestor worship is where the Ancient Chinese writing system was born.

Oracle Bones: The Beginnings of the Ancient Chinese Writing System

Read more! Ancient Chinese Writing Systems is part of our Ancient China Homeschool Unit Study. Check out our Ancient China Adventure Box…where all the fun started!

Oracle bones are animal bones and turtle shells. They were inscribed with questions for divination during the Shang Dynasty in ancient China. A process called pyromancy was used. This is where a diviner would ask a question and carve it into the prepared bone or shell. After, they would apply a hot rod to it, causing it to crack. The resulting cracks were then interpreted to reveal an answer or prophesy. The inscriptions and interpretations were often written on the bones themselves.  

How Oracle Bones Were Used

• Questions: Shang kings and priests would carve questions for the gods onto the bones. They would ask about things like the weather, military victories, harvests, or the king’s health. 
• The ritual: A sharp tool was used to carve the question into the smoothed bone (typically ox scapulae) or turtle shell. Then, a hot metal rod was applied to the bone, causing it to crack. 
• Interpreting the cracks: Diviners interpreted the patterns of the cracks to find the answer. The answer, or prophecy, was then written on the bone or shell. The cracks would then be interpreted as messages from ancestors or deities.
• Visual appearance: Many of the characters were recognizably pictographic, with a raw, carved aesthetic. The sharp, angular strokes resulted from carving into hard bone with a stylus.
  • 日 (rì), the modern character for “sun,” was originally a circle with a dot in the center, representing the sun.
  • 月 (yuè), the modern character for “moon,” was a crescent shape.
  • 木 (mù), for “tree” or “wood,” was drawn to resemble a tree. 

The Significance of Oracle Bones in the Ancient Chinese Writing System

• Earliest Chinese writing: The inscriptions on oracle bones are the oldest form of Chinese writing, and the structural principles are the same as modern Chinese script. 
• Historical records: They provide invaluable information about the Shang Dynasty, including its royal genealogy, important events, and the daily lives of its people. 
• Insight into Shang society: The texts reveal details about sacrifices, military affairs, astronomical events (including the earliest record of a solar eclipse), and the calendrical and meteorological data of the time. 

I photocopied some information about Ancestor worship and oracle bones and made up some questions to specifically go with it.  Whilst I don’t do this often, occasionally I like the children to have a non-verbal comprehension exercise to complete.  T11 finds it hard to articulate answers, so I think practice in this skill is important.  However, I usually do it verbally, which he has always prefered.  They completed this during their independent study time:

How to Make Your Own Ancient Chinese Oracle Bones

I thought it might be fun to make some of our own oracle bones using the simplest Ancient China pictograms.  Firstly, the children formed plasticene into some sort of bone shape.  Next, using a toothpick and a list of pictographs they carved out their own oracle bones using the ancient Chinese writing system. Our resulting oracle bones:

Ancient Chinese Pictographs

Ancient Chinese pictographs, known as xiangxingzi (象形字), were the earliest form of Chinese writing. They were stylized drawings of real-world objects and phenomena that evolved into a complex writing system used by the Shang and Zhou dynasties. While modern Chinese characters are no longer purely pictographic, they still contain visual elements that hint at their ancient origins. 

An Example of the evolution from pictograph to modern Chinese characters

The oldest pictographic script was the oracle bone script described above. And, likewise the earliest examples of systematic Chinese writing are found in the Oracle Bone Script (jiaguwen) from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1250–1050 BCE).  However, during the subsequent Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE), the writing system expanded onto bronze ritual vessels. The script from this era, known as Bronze Script (jinwen), reflects a shift toward more formal and structured characters. 

Find Out More! We have also learnt about the pictographs of Mesopotamia which led to the creation of cuneiform. Oh, and we had lots of fun learning about petroglyphs, petroforms and pictographs when we learnt about Ojibwa writing system.

The Bronze Script

• Purpose: Bronze inscriptions typically commemorated events, honored ancestors, and recorded royal decrees.
• Changes in style: The casting process influenced the script’s style, leading to thicker, more uniform strokes than those of Oracle Bone Script. Over time, the characters became more abstract and less overtly pictorial.
• Example: The character 田 (tián), for “field,” was depicted in Oracle Bone Script with multiple plots of land. By the time of bronze inscriptions, this had been simplified to a box with a cross, representing a four-part field. 

While pictographs were foundational, the ancient Chinese writing system was never exclusively pictorial. From the earliest known records, it was a complex system that also included: 

• Ideographs (zhishizi): Abstract symbols to represent concepts. For example, the character for “three” (三) was simply three horizontal lines.
• Compound characters (huiyizì): Combinations of two or more pictographs to create a new meaning. For example, two “tree” characters (木) form the character for “grove” (林).
• Phono-semantic compounds (xingshengzi): The most common type of character, consisting of a semantic element (radical) that suggests the meaning and a phonetic element that suggests the pronunciation. 

The journey from early pictographs led to the standardized scripts of later dynasties, such as the Seal Script of the Qin and the Regular Script still used today. However, as you can see from the image above, these complex characters still hold the echoes of their simple, pictorial origins. 

Using the Ancient Chinese Writing System

We all had a go at actually doing some writing.  Chinese writing was traditionally done using brushes and paint.  After reading the above book, which teaches very simply the hows of the strokes, we started practising.

How Did the Ancient Chinese Use Their Writing Systems?

Ancient Chinese people used writing for a wide variety of purposes, including religious divination, historical record-keeping, administrative duties, and artistic expression. The function of writing changed over time as the script itself evolved and new writing materials became available. 

Religious divination (Shang Dynasty)

The earliest examples of Chinese writing, dating to the Late Shang dynasty (c. 1250–1050 BCE), were used for divination and communication with royal ancestors. 

• Oracle bone script: Questions for the gods or ancestors were carved onto ox scapulae (shoulder blades) or turtle plastrons (undershells).
• The ritual: A heated bronze rod was inserted into drilled hollows on the bones, causing them to crack. Diviners interpreted the cracks as answers to questions about topics like weather, harvests, and military success.
• Record-keeping: The questions and their interpreted answers were then inscribed onto the bones, providing historical and religious records. 

Commemorative Inscriptions (Zhou Dynasty)

During the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE), inscriptions were frequently cast into bronze ritual vessels. These “bronze inscriptions” served as a record of significant events. 

• Memorials: Inscriptions commemorated achievements, such as military victories, land exchanges, and awards from the king.
• Status symbols: The act of commissioning and inscribing an expensive bronze vessel was a display of wealth and power for the elite class.
• Family history: Inscriptions could also be used to honor ancestors or record family histories. 

Record-keeping and Administration (Qin and Han dynasties)

As the Chinese empire expanded, writing was standardized under the Qin dynasty and its function shifted toward administrative needs. 

• Laws and edicts: A unified script was critical for implementing laws and decrees across vast regions with diverse spoken dialects.
• Administrative records: Scribes used more efficient scripts, like the clerical script of the Han dynasty, for daily record-keeping, tax rolls, and legal cases.
• Bamboo and wood: Thin slips of bamboo and wood were used for writing these documents before the widespread adoption of paper. 

Literature and Philosophy

Writing was used to transmit knowledge and express ideas, forming a core part of Chinese intellectual culture. 

• Transmission of classics: Key philosophical texts, like the Confucian classics, were meticulously copied by hand onto bamboo slips or silk, preserving them for future generations.
• Civil service exams: Mastery of classical texts and the art of calligraphy became a prerequisite for government positions, cementing writing’s role in the social and political structure.
• Poetry and prose: Writing provided a means for personal and artistic expression, leading to the creation of some of the world’s most enduring literature. 

Artistic expression

Calligraphy, the art of writing characters, was highly revered and developed as a distinct art form.

• A form of art: Calligraphy was considered one of the “four arts” expected of a scholar, alongside painting, music, and the board game Go.
• Reflection of character: An individual’s calligraphy was believed to reflect their moral character and education.
• Tools: Calligraphers used the “Four Treasures of the Scholar’s Studio”—the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—to create their work. 

How to Make a Wooden Strip with an Ancient Clay Envelope

As described above, sometimes bamboo strips and slips and silk were used for  writing literary or philosophical works, information about medicine, divination and military strategy.)  I thought it might be fun to make one and cover it with cord and wet clay to make it private.  Another early form of an envelope!  (We had learnt about a clay wrapper used by the Babylonians in the 2000 B.C.)  I have absolutely no idea if this actually looks even remotely authentic as it was a made up project, but the children will probably never forget the earliest form of a Chinese envelope!  And here it is, in all it’s glory:

Ancient Chinese Chops

Ancient Chinese “chops,” or seals, were carved stamps used as a form of signature or authorization. Dating back to the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE), they played a crucial role in official, private, and artistic life for thousands of years. 

The History and Development of Chinese Chops (or seals)

• Early use (Shang to Han dynasties): The earliest seals were used during the Shang dynasty to stamp symbols on clay used to seal documents transported in wooden containers (see above). During the Qin and Han dynasties, seals became an essential part of Chinese culture, with characters becoming more squared and standardized for carving onto square seals.
• Imperial power: In a monarchical era, official chops were symbols of authority. The emperor Qin Shi Huang used a large, carved jade seal around 220 BCE to declare his mandate from heaven. Subsequent emperors would use many different official seals for various documents and purposes.
• Artistic expression: With the rise of the literati class, particularly during the Song and Yuan periods, seals evolved beyond official functions to become a form of artistic expression. Scholars and artists began using personal seals to mark their paintings and calligraphy, adding an aesthetic layer to their work.
• Modern usage: Though signatures are now more common in the West, chops are still widely used in China today, particularly for official and business documents. In some cases, a chop carries more legal authority than a signature. 

Types of seals

Seals can be categorized based on their purpose and design: 

• Imperial seals: Reserved for the emperor and the imperial family, these seals signified the true ruling power.
• Official seals: Used by government officials and agencies to authorize documents and confer power.
• Private seals: These personal seals were used by individuals and could serve many purposes, including signing personal documents or authenticating artwork.
• Artistic seals: Used by artists and calligraphers, these seals could be carved with the artist’s name, a studio name, or a poetic phrase.
• Business seals: Today, Chinese companies use a variety of “chops” for different departments (finance, legal, etc.). 

Materials and design

• Materials: Seals were traditionally made from a variety of materials. Early seals used bone, wood, or clay, but as the practice evolved, materials included gold, silver, jade, and ivory. After the Yuan dynasty, softer stones like steatite and soapstone became popular because they were easier to carve.
• Seal paste: The seals are used with a red paste, known as zhushā (朱砂), made from finely pulverized cinnabar mixed with oil.
• Carving styles: There are two main styles for carving the characters:
  • Zhuwen (朱文): “Red characters” seals produce red characters on a white or negative space background.
  • Baiwen (白文): “White characters” seals produce white characters by imprinting the background in red ink.
• Appearance: The carvings on the base of the seal are made in a stylized calligraphic font called “seal script”. The top of the seal, the “handle,” often features an intricately carved figure, such as a mythical creature or animal. 

How to Make Your Own Chinese Chops (or Seals)

If you’d like to learn more about the seals of Mesopotamia, you can read about the first ever stamp seals from the Halaf culture, pendant seals from the Ubaid Culture and the cylinder seals from Mesopotamia.

This is a kind of cheat’s guide to making Chinese chops! Of course, polystyrene was not around all those years ago. But this is a fantastic way to reuse a modern material. And, obviously, is far easier to carve than wood. Depending on the age and maturity of your children, you may need to handle the knife and carve the characters for them.

I used wooden play blocks and attached the styrofoam on using double-sided sticky tape. Once attached, it is easier to carve:

For all my posts on Ancient China, head over to my Ancient China Page. Here you will find Chinese dress up, lap books, Chinese inventions, tangrams and Confucius.