Gina Marie Elia: The secret behind how Chinese characters work

The secret behind how Chinese characters work

According to legend, in the 27th century BCE, the Yellow Emperor of China charged his historian, Cangjie, to develop a system of writing. Sitting alongside a riverbank, Cangjie noted the imagery that surrounded him. From this, he created the first Chinese characters. So, how has Chinese evolved in the last 3,000 years? Gina Marie Elia explores the history of one of the earliest written languages. [Directed by PeiHsin Cho, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen, music by Zing Audio].

Chinese characters, dating back over 3,000 years, blend pictorial symbolism and linguistic logic in a writing system that still shapes communication today. Early inscriptions on ox bones recorded everything from agriculture to toothaches, using symbols that often echo their meanings. Radicals and sound components combine within each character, allowing for both rich nuance and widespread understanding despite China's many dialects. Even as the script has evolved from bones to paper and modern simplification, its influence continues across Asia.