Learning Mandarin usually starts from Pīnyīn, which is a phonetic system that helps people to speak Chinese language. However, Pīnyīn is only part of Chinese language because Chinese language actually consists both sound (Pīnyīn) and symbol (Chinese characters). Chinese character has a history of almost 5000 years, which is almost as long as Chinese history. The different writing systems of the world can be divided into two categories, which are alphabetic writing system and semantic writing system. Chinese writing system is semantic system in which people differentiate the meaning of words according to their forms.

Some Chinese learners said that Chinse characters were like pictures. I would say they are right, considering that pictographs are an integral part and the foundation of Chinese characters. Let’s have a look at some pictographic examples in Chinese characters as follows. You may notice that they are developed from concrete objects and can be regarded as a form of visual art.

1.1. The development of the Character “rì”, which means “sun”.
       
 
1.2. The development of the character “yuè”, which means “moon”.
 

1.3. The development of the character “shuǐ”, which means “water”.

There are a lot other examples about pictographic Chinese characters and we will be discussing them in the later sessions.

-Anne Ma