Characters for the world

Growing interest in Chinese sees the language cross borders and enhance a sense of common purpose, Fang Aiqing reports.

Luminary author Lu Xun (1881-1936) once wrote that the beauty of Chinese characters is present in three aspects: their meaning enlightens the mind, their sound touches the ear, and their appearance appeals to the eye.

From inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze ware dating back more than 3,000 years, Chinese characters originated as a pictographic writing system, borrowing the shape of the sun, the moon, birds and beasts, among others.

To improve aesthetics and efficiency of use, multiple scripts were developed over the passage of time, such as zhuanshu (seal script), lishu (clerical script), caoshu (cursive script) and kaishu (regular script). Their beauty is especially visible in calligraphy to this day.