During the Shang dynasty,the materials used for writing,such as bamboo and wooden slips,limited the horizontal extension of Chinese characters,laying the foundation for the vertically elongated shape of the Chinese characters.In the Western Zhou dynasty,the"田"grid pattern in bronze inscriptions constrained excessive vertical stretching of Chinese characters,prompting some slender and narrow Chinese characters to extend horizontally.This encouraged the development of the overall shape and size of early Chinese characters towards a more standardized and regular form.During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods,increased communication and the writers'tendency to make full use of the available writing space,along with the spatial limitations of writing materials,led to a trend of flattening in the shapes of Chinese characters in daily writing.To adapt to the writing space,people primarily adjusted the shapes of Chinese characters through three methods:simplification,complication,and changing the combination of components.Elaboration was more common in bamboo and wooden slips and bronze inscriptions,while simplification was evident in seal inscriptions.These practices had both positive and negative impacts on the evolution of Chinese characters.
关键词
古汉字/书写空间/形体变化
Key words
ancient Chinese characters/writing space/shape changes
维普
万方数据