HUMA1020 Chinese Writing and Culture Nov 29, 2019

Part 11. Phonetization and Romanization of

Chinese characters
漢字的注音與拼音化問題

1. Traditional phonetic notation of Chinese characters

傳統漢字注音方法
2. Pīnyīn 拼音
漢語拼音方案 Chinese phonetic system, issued in
1958.
1
3. Problems on the alphabetic writing of Chinese
script 漢字拼音化問題
So far we have discussed the ways of how to give
phonetic notation to Chinese characters, including traditional
ways and modern method such as pinyin.漢字注音的問題.
Now we will discuss the problems on the alphabetic writing
of Chinese script 漢字拉丁化的問題.

Two different issues:

A. Give phonetic notation to Chinese script 給漢字注音
B. Replace Chinese script with an alphabetic writing
system 用拼音文字取代漢字

2
Why some people wanted to replace Chinese script with an
alphabetic writing system? 為什有人想用拼音文字取代漢字？

History of Hong Kong In 1840 to 1842, there was a war

between Britain and China, called Opium War 鴉片戰爭

In the early 19th century, British merchants brought

opium from Bengal to the coast of China, and they sold
it to Chinese people. Large amounts of silver drained
out of China.

People took in the opium

吸食鴉片

3
 Black tar opium seized in
A field of opium poppies
Afghanistan, spring 2005
in Burma 緬甸
Opium 鴉片 ya1 pian4
Who translated this English word into Chinese?

Pronunciation of 鴉：
[a] (廣州、廈門、福州); [ia] (北京、西安、武漢)
4
In 1838, Emperor Dao Guan 道光 sent 林則徐 to Guangzhou
where he quickly arrested Chinese dealers and demanded that
foreign firms turn over their opium. When they refused, 林則徐
eventually forced the merchants to surrender their opium to be
destroyed. In response, the British government sent forces to
attack China.

China was defeated, and as a result, the Qing government

was forced to give Hong Kong to Britain.割讓香港
5
Jiawu War 甲午戰爭 1894
Sino-Japanese War China was defeated
The Qing government paid Japan the huge sum of
230,002,000 taels of silver as war reparations
戰爭賠款二億三千萬兩銀
Also, the Qing government ceded Taiwan to Japan
將台灣割讓給日本
This really made Chinese people upset. Why?
Chinese people had long held the view that China is the
number one country in the world. We know 中國 means
the central kingdom in the world. But such a great
country was defeated.中國人以世界老大自居久矣。但老
大被打敗了。
6
 So many Chinese people began to think about
the reason why China was defeated.
很多中國人開始思索中國戰敗的原因。

Almost all reform-minded people began think about

the Chinese language, and a few radical individuals
advocated the abolition of Chinese altogether and
its replacement with Esperanto 世界語
激進分子甚至主張放棄漢語，改用世界語。

Esperanto (世界語/愛斯不難讀) is an artificial language,

invented by the Polish doctor L. L. Zamenhof 柴門霍夫
in 1887.
7
 Many others came up with such an idea, that is, the
Chinese writing system must be abandoned. The
reason is, at that time, many people believed that one
important reason why China got behind is that Chinese
people used Chinese characters. They were in favor of
abandoning the script, and they were in favor of some
sort of alphabetic writing. 必須廢除漢字,改用拼音文字

魯迅：“漢字不滅，中國必亡。”
If Chinese script is not eliminated, China will surely
perish.

8
 In 1923 Troops are killing
Chinese characters with swords
There was almost universal agreement that the literary language (文言
文) had to go, and, in 1920s and 1930s 白話, not 文言, was dominant. 白話戰
勝文言

However, the writing system evoked the most controversy.

Many people were in favor of some sort of alphabetic writing. 許多人
中意拼音文字
They proposed to abandon Chinese script 9
Actually Chinese script is not the cause that a country falls
behind with respect to economics and science. This is frequently
used by someone as argument against Chinese script. But this is
not true. It is simple.

For instance, Japan 日本 didn’t stop using Chinese writing, but it

is an advanced country. In contrast, Vietnam 越南 came to
replace Chinese writing with an alphabetic writing three hundred
years ago, but it is an underdeveloped country.
Underdeveloped country 發展中國家
河內 Hanoi Developing country
發達國家 東京 Tokyo

10
 In comparison with alphabetic writing, indeed Chinese
writing is too complicated, and it has many drawbacks 複雜的漢字
系統有很多缺陷

Chinese typewriter 漢字打字機

中文打字要記住幾千個字的位置。

11
 Telegraph
電報
Telegraph code 電碼： e.g.,
中0022 國0948 ‘China’
英5391 國 0948 ‘Britain’
以前漢字發電報，先得翻譯成四
位數的電報號碼，收到之後又得
把號碼翻譯成漢字。To send a 哀0755 皚4114
telegram, each character needs 癌4074 藹5676
to be coded by four digits
矮4253 艾5337
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Some serious problems of Chinese writing

 Difficult to learn and write 難學 難寫

A Chinese student has to learn 3,500 to 4,000

complicated graphs in order to function as literate person.
Many people felt that the learning of such a complex writing
system required many more schooling time. The learning of
such a complex writing system was a heavy burden for the
people. So in the first half of the 20th century many Chinese
intellectuals who received education in Europe, America, and
Japan held the view that Chinese writing must be abandoned.

13
 Difficult to find in a dictionary 難以查找
1) Arranged in meaning order 按意義排列
This method to arrange characters is the earliest one.
《爾雅》19 categories of meaning:
釋詁、釋言、釋訓、釋親、釋宮、釋器、釋樂、釋天、
釋地、釋丘、釋山、釋水、釋草、釋木、釋蟲、釋魚、
釋鳥、釋獸、釋畜

This arrangement makes sort of sense, but it is

really not convenient. It is hard to find the character
that you want.

14
2) Arranged in radical order 按部首排列

Disadvantage: It is not always easy to identify the

radical of a character. Also, it takes more time, at
least two steps.
乃、刁、了、才、出、我、孬、肅、爵、疆、矗

3) Four Corner
System 四角號碼

15
 ★ Many advantages 優勢
1） There are a lot of homophones in the Chinese
languages. Chinese characters can minimize this
problem 漢字極大地降低了同音混淆的可能性

The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den

施氏食獅史 Shī Sh sh shī shǐ

This is a famous example of constrained writing by Zhao

Yuanren (Chao Yuen Ren 趙元任) which consists of 92
characters, all with the sound shi in different tones when read
in Mandarin. The text, which is written in Classical Chinese, is
easily comprehensible when read by trained readers, but
becomes completely incomprehensible to just about anyone
when spoken or when Romanized.
16
The text
The following is the text in Hanyu Pinyin.

Shí Shì Shī Shì Shī Shì, Shì Shī, Shì Shí Shí Shī 。
Shì Shí Shí Shì Shì Shì Shī 。
Shí Shí, Shì Shí Shī Shì Shì 。
Shì Shí, Shì Shī Shì Shì Shì 。
Shì Shì Shì Shí Shī, Shì Shǐ Shì, Shǐ Shì Shí Shī Shì Shì
Shì Shí Shì Shí Shī Shī, Shì Shí Shì 。
Shí Shì Shī, Shì Shǐ Shì Shì Shí Shì
Shí Shì Shì, Shì Shǐ Shì Shí Shì Shí Shī。
Shí Shí, Shǐ Shí Shì Shí Shī, Shí Shí Shí Shī Shī 。
Shì Shì Shì Shì。

17
石室詩士施氏, 嗜獅, 誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時, 適十獅適市。
是時, 適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅, 恃矢勢, 使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍, 適石室。
石室濕, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始試食是十獅。
食時, 始識是十獅, 實十石獅屍。
試釋是事。
18
In a stone den was a poet Shi Shi, who loved to eat lions, and
decided to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
One day at ten o'clock, ten lions just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi Shi just arrived at the market too.
Seeing those ten lions, he killed them with arrows.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that those ten lions were in fact ten
stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this.

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《施氏吃獅子記》

有一位住在石頭房間裏的詩人叫施氏，愛吃獅子，決心要
吃十隻獅子。
他常常到市場上看獅子。十點鐘，剛好有十隻獅子到了市
場。那時，剛好施氏也到了市場。他看見那十隻獅子，便放箭，
把那十隻獅子殺死了。
他拾起那十隻獅子的屍體，帶到石頭房間。石頭房間濕了
水，施氏叫侍從把石頭房間擦乾。石頭房間擦乾了，他才試著
吃那十隻獅子。吃的時候，才發現那十隻獅子，原來是十隻石
頭獅子的屍體。
試著解釋這件事吧。
20
Shī Shì chī shīzi jì

Yǒu yī wèi zhù zài shí shì lǐ de shīrén jiào Shī Shì, ài chī shīzi, juéxīn
chī shí zhī shīzi.
Tā chángcháng tào shìchǎng kàn shīzi.
shí diǎn zhōng, gānghǎo yǒu shí zhī shīzi dào le shì chǎng.
Nà shíhòu, gānghǎo Shī Shì yě dào le shìchǎng.
Tā kànjiàn nà shí zhī shīzi, biàn fàng jiàn, bǎ nà shí zhī shīzi shā sǐ le.
Tā shí qǐ nà shí zhī shīzi de shītǐ, dài dào shíshì.
Shíshì shī le shuǐ, Shī Shì jiào shìcóng bǎ shíshì cā gān.
Shíshì cā gān le, tā cái shì zhe chī nà shí zhī shīzi.
Chī de shíhòu, cái fāxiàn nà shí zhī shīzi, yuánlái shì shí zhī shítou
de shīzi shītǐ.
Shìzhe jiěshì zhè jiàn shì ba. 21
 In addition to Shī Shì chī shīzi jì, CHAO Yuen
Ren 趙元任 also created other similar stories such as
Lady Yi 漪姨. 漪小姐的故事。

yī yí yĭ yĭ, yì yì, yí yì yì, yí yì yī, yī yĭ yí yĭ yĭ yí yī yí.

yī yĭ yì yì yì yì yĭ. yì yĭ yì, yĭ yí yì ……

漪姨倚椅，悒悒，疑異疫，宜詣醫。醫以宜以蟻胰醫姨。
醫以億弋弋億蟻。億蟻殪，蟻胰溢。醫以億蟻溢胰醫姨，姨
疫以醫。姨怡怡，以夷衣貽醫。醫衣夷衣，亦怡怡。噫！醫
以蟻胰醫姨疫，亦異矣；姨以夷衣貽醫，亦益異已矣！

22
 漪姨倚椅，悒悒，疑異疫，宜詣醫。醫以宜以蟻胰醫姨。
醫以億弋弋億蟻。億蟻殪，蟻胰溢。醫以億蟻溢胰醫姨，姨疫
以醫。姨怡怡，以夷衣貽醫。醫衣夷衣，亦怡怡。噫！醫以蟻
胰醫姨疫，亦異矣；姨以夷衣貽醫，亦益異已矣！

漪小姐斜靠在椅子上，心情鬱悶，擔心得了怪病，應該去看
大夫。大夫認為應該用螞蟻的胰腺治療小姐的病。大夫用一億條
捆住一億只螞蟻。一億只螞蟻死了，胰液溢出。大夫用一億只螞
蟻溢出的胰液治療小姐的病，小姐的病因此得以醫治。小姐很高
興，拿外國服裝贈送大夫。大夫穿上外國衣服，也很高興。噫，
大夫用螞蟻溢出的胰液治療小姐的病，已經很奇怪了，小姐拿外
國衣服贈送大夫，這就更加奇怪了呀！
23
漪 姨 倚 椅， 悒 悒，
name young lady lean on chair depressed
疑 異 疫，宜 詣 醫。
suspect strange sickness should go to see doctor
醫 以 宜 以 蟻 胰 醫 姨。
Doctor believe using ant pancreas to cure
醫 以億 弋 弋 億 蟻。
Doctor using 100,000,000 string to tie 100,000,000 ants
億 蟻 殪，蟻 胰溢
100,000,000 ants died. ant pancreas spill out
Some one would say it is problematic because
it is written in literary language; it would not be a
problem if written in modern vernacular language.
This may not be true. Look at -- 24
一衣義億弋刈憶藝仡議亦屹異佚囈役抑譯邑佾嶧懌易
繹詣驛奕弈疫羿軼悒挹益誼埸翌逸意溢縊肄裔瘞蜴毅
熠鎰劓殪薏翳（yī）

計記伎紀妓忌技芰際劑季嚌既洎濟繼覬偈寂寄悸祭薊
暨跽霽鱭稷鯽冀髻驥齊薺系 （jì）

張章鄣嫜彰漳獐樟璋蟑（ zhāng ）

仙先纖氙秈掀躚醯鍁鮮暹（ xiān ）

一、計、張、仙 … Chinese script could become a

“pure” phonetic one. Actually not.
25
 Here, we have so many
qī
homophones in modern
Chinese while in Classical
Chinese, it is basically no
problem. At any events, the
potential problem is there. If
using Chinese characters, it is
yán
basically no problem. 無論如
何，改用拼音文字會有潛在的問
題，用漢字則基本上沒有問題。
26
 ︽漢文典︾

Shi4
58字

27
But in the language using alphabet to represent, there
are also many homophones, what is it to be done?
但是，使用拼音文字的語言也有同音字的問題，那又
該怎麼辦呢？

Homophone 同音字 problem also exists in the English

writing.

28
29
30
31
32
http://www.bifroest.demon.co.uk/misc/homophones-list.html in 2010

Totally 441 groups

English has the problem of homophone, but there is no

problem in their communication by using the English
writing.
It deserves further study. 值得深入研究

33
2） Chinese characters are understood cross times
漢字跨時代

Chinese characters are understood cross

times. Chinese writing helps a lot for modern people
to understand the ancient works. For common people
in UK and US, it is quite difficult for them to read
Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) works, 400 years ago.
But in China, a person who just receives basic
education can read works in 2000 years ago.

34
 《山海經》, Shanhai Jing, a work done in Warring
States times475B.C.-221 B.C.

又北二百里，曰發鳩之山，其上多柘木；有鳥焉：其
狀如烏，文首，白喙，赤足，名曰“精衛”，其鳴自詨。
是炎帝之少女，名曰女娃。女娃遊於東海，溺而不返，
故爲精衛。常銜西山之木石，以堙yīn於東海。

*gjәg pәk njid prak ljәg reconstructed Old Chinese

又 北 二 百 里
yòu běi èr bǎi lǐ

35
 If ancient classics were written in alphabetic writing,
then people in the later time will be very difficult to
understand the classics. The reason is that the language
always change and written forms (graphs) will
accordingly change, and as result people in the later
time could not understand the ancient texts.

古代英語：ofer hronrāde hȳran scolde

現代英語：over whale-road hear should

隨語音變化而變，拼音文字據語音而改變字母，
後代人不識前代人文字語言。

36
 There is a sentence in Guóyǔ 《國語》, a historical
work done in the 4th (?) century (see below). Supposing
the sentence is written in alphabetic writing, it is hard
for the people in later times to understand.

*tshjuŋ djan njag tәŋ, tshjuŋ ʔag njag pәŋ (古音)

tshuŋ ʂan ʐu tәŋ tshuŋ ɤ ʐu pәŋ (現代)

從 善 如 登， 從 惡 如 崩。
（學壞容易學好難。Easy to learn to be bad; hard
to learn to be good） 37
 3) Chinese characters are understood cross places.
漢字跨地域跨方言，此為華夏一統、幅員遼闊的重要基
礎。
Chinese writing has made a great contribution to facilitate the
communication among people from different dialectal areas.
fɔ55 ki22 tai22 hɔk2
科技大學
kē jì dà xué

Chinese has very complex dialects. 八大方言，不易

通話；某一方言內部諸多次方言不能通話亦很常見：
官話方言（北方官話、江淮官話、西南官話） 晉方言
閩方言（閩南方言、閩北方言） 吳方言 湘方言
贛方言 客家話 粵方言
38
39
40
41
Folk song in Kejia dialect
客家話民歌
42
 4) Chinese writing contains a lot of cultural
elements 漢字保有諸多文化元素
Chinese writing itself is a piece of arts. We will learn
some of these in class from next week. For
examples, calligraphy 書法, character
puzzles/riddles 字謎, antithetical couplet 對聯. Here
is one example.

王羲之（303-361），東晉
書法家，字逸少。原籍琅
琊人(今屬山東臨沂)，居會
稽山陰（浙江紹興）

43
亭長景短無人 ， 老大橫拖瘦竹笻
亭子高高的，影子短短的，(可是) 無人描繪，
一位老人橫著拖著一株又細又長的筇竹。
The pavilion is tall, and the shadow is short. But there is no
one to draw picture of these.
A senior person is dragging a long and thin “qióng 笻”
bamboo horizontally. 44
 5) Chinese writing is economic. 漢字符合經濟原則

Each character carries more information.漢字的

信息含量大
United Nations 聯合國. Official languages: originally
5, later 6, Arabic added later. SIX languages:
English, French, Russian, Spanish, `Arabic, and
Chinese. Whenever a resolution, agreement, and
announcement are made, they must be published in
these five languages. It is a fact that the document
in Chinese writing is always the shortest one. Thus it
can be seen that within a certain length, Chinese
writing carries more information than alphabet
writing. 中文文本總是最短。
45
 Chinese writing is economic and informative. 漢字符合經濟
原則，漢字的信息含量大。
Among UN official documents in different versions, the
Chinese one is always the shortest one. 聯合國文件，中文文本
總是最短

聯合國國際法委員會第58次會議報告
Report of the International Law Commission, 58th
session (1 May-9 June and 3 July-11 Aug. 2006)
‫ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ‬ 中文 English Français Русский Español
阿拉伯 中文 英語 法語 俄語 世界語
514pages 422pages 560pages 591pages 579pages 622pages

當然要考慮字型大小、行距等因素。

46
6） Chinese script is more effective in playing a role in
expressing meaning, in comparison with alphabetic
writing.
Arguments

Two pairs: Six vs nine (English words)

六 vs 九 (漢字)
The readers’ task was to judge which of the two
numerals in each pair was physically larger. 每組有兩
個名稱，請問各組哪個名稱在形體上更大？
47
On the Chinese numeral pairs, response times were
slower if a smaller number was printed physically
larger (四 vs 九)

interference (干擾)
Six vs nine
On the English numeral names, however, the
subjects took about the same time to judge all
types of numeral pairs.
受試者對英文數字詞的反應時間是相同的。
48
no interference
interference (干擾)
(干擾)

It takes more time to judge the physical size of

Chinese pair. How to account for the difference between
English writing and Chinese writing?
In Chinese writing side, the meaning and the
character are more tightly associated.“有干擾”，說明
它們與意義的聯繫更爲緊密。這是漢字的長處。(拼音
文字另有長處)

49
上面講了漢字的六大好處。
★ abandoning Chinese script can result in serious
consequences 廢除漢字改用拼音文字將會遭成嚴重後果
 書法、對聯、字謎、文字故事遊戲等幾近消亡；

浮雲長長長長長長長消
海水朝朝朝朝朝朝朝落
Fú Hǎi
Yún Shuǐ
Zháng Cháo
Cháng Zhāo
Cháng Zhāo
Zháng Cháo
Cháng Zhāo
Zháng Cháo
Cháng Zhāo
Xiāo Luò
對聯，又像是謎語。 50
上不在上，下不在下；不可在上，止 宜 在 下。
(只應該)

“上”、“不” 在上， “下” 、“不”在下；

答案：一
“不” 、“可”在上， “止” 、“宜”在 下。

不要輕視 書法、對聯、字謎、文字故事、文字
遊戲等的作用。皆爲生活的重要組成部分。
想想日常生活。音樂、電影、旅遊、名山大川、
名勝古跡、遊戲、聚會、聊天 …… 如何衡量這些行
爲活動的作用？
歸屬感，懷抱感，幸福感。 51
★ 廢除漢字改用拼音文字將會造成嚴重後果
 我們在某種程度上將不會說話。表達極受影響。

“一”“人”何意。
拼音文字，不解
這樣的話不能說了！ 改用
︽語文︾課本上的話。
52
 In Apr 14, 2015, an article in internet titled:
中國高鐵七宗“最＂
西方文化中有所謂“七宗罪” ‘Seven deadly sins’。這裡
套用，籍此以引起讀者的關注，達到增強表達效果之目的。

If this is written in pinyin, then we will see:

zhōng guó gāo tiě qī zōng“zuì ＂

Wonderful expression effect that people expect cannot be

achieved.

Conclusion： Chinese script cannot be abandoned.

漢字不可廢
53
This semester, we have studied following parts:

Part 1: The Development of Writing 文字的發展 (Qiu 2000:1-12;

裘1988:1-9; 裘1995:1-11)

Part 2: The nature of Chinese characters 漢字的性質 (Qiu

2000:13-28; 裘錫圭 1988:10-21; 裘錫圭1995: 13-27)

Part 3 The Classification of Chinese Characters 漢字基本類型

的劃分 (Qiu 2000: 59-77; 裘錫圭 1988:40-51; 裘錫圭
1995:55-68)

Part 4 Semantographs 表意字(Qiu 2000: 174-208;裘锡圭 1988:

110-142;裘錫圭 1995: 133-161) 54
Part 5 Loangraphs 假借字 (Qiu 2000:261- 273; 裘1988:
179-188; 裘1995: 206-231）

Part 6 Phonograms 形聲字 (Qiu 2000: 221-260; 裘錫圭1988:

151-178; 裘 1995: 171-201)

Part 7 Classification of Cantonese characters and other types

of semantographs, and creation of characters 粵語字以
及其他類型表意字的歸類、造字問題

Part 8 Oracle Bone Inscriptions 甲骨文

55
Part 9 Chinese characters tell stories 漢字裏的故事
--An exploration into the Chinese civilization, history,
heritage and culture through Chinese writing

Part 10. Simplification of Chinese characters

漢字簡化問題

Part 11. Phonetization and Romanization of Chinese

characters 漢字的注音與拼音化問題

56
 In final examination, Part 1, Part 3, List of OBI characters in
P27 on “#35” and the phoneme part in p37-47 in #41 will NOT be
covered. 期終考試不考一、三兩部分, 還有， “#38 號材料之27頁上
的音位。音素，也不屬於考試範圍。

Part 1: The Development of Writing 文字的發展 (Qiu 2000:1-12;

裘1988:1-9; 裘1995:1-11)
Part 3 The Classification of Chinese Characters 漢字基本類型 的劃
分 (Qiu2000: 59-77; 裘錫圭 1988:40-51; 裘錫圭 1995:55-68)

There is a list of OBI characters in P27 on “# 35”. This list

will NOT be included in the final. 這些甲骨文不在考試範
圍之內

All other parts will be covered in our final examination.

57
The format of the final 期終考試題型(totally 8):

★1. Point out what kind of graphic symbols 字符 (semantic

symbol 意符, phonetic symbol 音符 and sign 記號) are
used in each of the following characters (about 5%)
★2. Identify ancient characters 辨識古文字 (about 5%)
★3. Put ganzhi names in proper order 給干支名稱排序
(about
4%)
★4. Multiple choices 多項選擇 (about 8%)
★5. Briefly answer the following questions. 簡扼回答下列 問
題 (about 15%)
★6. Answer and Discussion 回答和討論 (about 33%) 58
The format of the final 期終考試題型:

★7. Classify the following graphs in accordance with

Chen-Qiu’s theory Phonogram and loangraph will
also be included. 依照陳夢家裘錫圭的三書說對下列字
形進行歸類。包含形聲字和假借字 (about 25%)
★8. Character creation 造字 (about 5%)

The full marks for this examination are 200 滿分200分

You can answer questions either in English or in
Chinese 中英文均可

Basically the final will test your understanding and

analytic ability, in stead of your memorization. However
for some questions you need to memorize something
particularly necessary. 59
★1 Point out what kind of graphic symbols 字符 (semantic
symbol 意符, phonetic symbol 音符 and sign 記號) are used
in each of the following characters

You need to specify the particular symbol

你需要指明字符

The character for this question are mostly those seen in class
or those that you are supposed to know. 大部分是課堂上出現
過的，或者那些應該知道的。 60
 In the exam
Don’t need to give meaning for
Example, each graphic symbol

61
★ 2 Identify ancient characters. You need to write down the
corresponding standard script forms, either traditional or
simplified. If you don’t know how to write the character, giving the
original meaning of the graph will let you earn some points. 辨認
古文字。你需要寫下相應的楷書(繁體字或簡體字)。如果你不知道
怎麽寫，給出該字的本義可以讓你得到一些分。

3 possible answers:
1)齒；2)齿；3)Teeth (You need to give the original
meaning 給出本義; may not earn full
points if just the meaning 也許不能得滿分)
62
 Graphs that probably appear here （ ★ 2 ） include:
Those seen in class (see lecture notes) 皆為 PPT 講
稿上所見之文字。

To help ease the difficulty in answering this

question, I will give you options.

E.g.,
There are totally 22 graphs and probably you only need to
choose 20 to answer.
比如共有 22 個古文字，你也許只需要選擇回答20個

63
★3. Put ganzhi names in proper order 給干支名稱排序

乙未 辛卯 丁酉 庚寅 癸巳 丙申 壬辰 甲午
Yiwei xinwei dingyou gengchen guisi bingshen renchen jiawu

Answer:

庚寅 辛卯 壬辰 癸巳 甲午 乙未 丙申 丁酉

You need to memorize the two lists, Ten Heavenly Stems

十天干 and Twelve Earthly Branches 十二地支

64
 ★4 Multiple choices 多項選擇

In terms of their semantic component, which phonogram

is different from other three? 就形旁而言，哪一個形聲字
與另外三個形聲字不同？

(a) 駕 (drive a chariot駕車) (b) 駑 (inferior horse 次等的馬)

(c) 罵 (scold 罵人) (d) 騖 (gallop wildly 狂奔)

Sometimes, probably two or three seem to be (c)

acceptable. If this is the case, you need to
choose the best one.

★4 include Fǎnqiè 反切. See example in P9 in #41.

65
★5. Briefly answer the following questions. 簡扼回
答下列問題

★5 is related to all parts, excluding Part 1, Part 3

Sample 例如:

66
Answer:

★5 is related to all parts , excluding related to all

parts, excluding Part 1, Part 3.

67
★6. Answer and Discussion 回答和討論

Note:
In addition to answer, you need a short
paragraph to show how you get such an answer
不僅僅是簡單的回答，你需要寫一小段話，説明你是
怎樣得出答案結論的。

★6. is different form “★5 Briefly answer the following

questions” since here you will be supposed to do some
analysis or make your own comments on some issues

68
Sample 例如

“How did ancient Chinese decide the length of one

cùn (寸)？What is your graphic evidence? 古代中國人
是怎樣確定“寸”的長度的？你有什麽樣的文字證據？”

It is decided based on the distance between the edge

of palm and the point of wrist where you can feel pulse.
There is a ancient character
In this character, a horizontal stroke shows the
distance of 寸， which is measured between the
particular position of wrist and the edge of the palm.

69
Sample

Discuss the cultural element implied in the following group of

characters. 討論下列文字中隱含的文化意義？
婾 (偷) ‘muddle along 苟且偷安’, steal’, 嬾 (懶) ‘lazy’, 妒‘envy’,
妬‘envy’, 姦‘wicked’, 姘‘have illicit sexual intercourse’, 妨
‘harm, injure’, 妄‘wild, foolish’, 嫌‘dislike’, 婪‘greedy’.

You need to write cohesive and logical

paragraphs.

70
Sample

Your discussion：
★ All these characters express bad meanings. 這些字代表的
詞都是不好的意思。
★ These bad characteristics do not only belong to women
exclusively 這些不好的品行並非女性專有
★This bears out that ancient people discriminated women
這説明造這些字的古人歧視婦女，對婦女有偏見。

Write cohesive and logical paragraphs.

71
7. Classify the following graphs in accordance with
Chen-Qiu’s three principles theory of Chinese script. 依照陳夢家
裘錫圭的三書說對下列字形進行歸類。Notes: Just put the
number into the box properly. 將數碼填入適當的格子即可.

72
This list is available in the final. 考試時你會得到這一頁

73
★8. Character creation 造字 (about 5%)
Different from what you did in the Assignment of creating
characters. Sample
+ To create a phonogram representing the word ‘therefore’, which
semantic symbol do you think is suitable? 要造一個形聲字，意思
是“所以”，你認爲哪個形旁合適？

+ Create a phonogram for the word ‘laugh’. You may do it on

the basis of either Cantonese or Mandarin. 為“笑”這個詞造
一個形聲字。你造的字可以基於廣東話，也可以基於普通話。

74
Briefly go over what we have studied this semester.

Part 1: The Development of Writing 文字的

Part 3 The Classification of Chinese Characters 漢字基

本類型的劃 分

But you will be asked to do classification of characters

in the final.
但是要考給漢字分類。
75
Part 2. The nature of Chinese characters 漢字的性質

Semantic symbols 表意符號、意符

Phonetic symbols 表音符號
signs 記號
Understand these concept and be able to point out what
kinds of symbol are used in individual characters. 理解和辨識

Chinese script is a script of semantic and phonetic symbols

-- 漢字是意符音符文字

Chinese writing is mophemo-syllabic writing漢字是語素音節文字

The Nature of Chinese Writing System Viewed from the
Standpoint of the Levels of the Structural System of the
Language Manifested by its Graphic Symbols 從字符顯示語言
結構系統的角度看漢字的性質
76
Part 4. Semantographs 表意字

The most important part.

Almost all examination questions are related to this

part, especially ★7. Classify the following graphs”

Other questions may also be related to this part. Ex.,

★6. Answer and Discussion 回答和討論

77
Sample

Pictorial ssymentalgraph 圖形會意 靠圖形表意 从

Repeating a semantical element 重複同一部首 林

Pictorial graph 象形 艸

78
Part 5 Loangraphs 假借字
Be able to look at the issuers from a historical
perspective
Examination questions related to this part could be
seen in ★4, ★5, ★6 or ★7.

A comparison of Chinese writing with other writing

systems, --based on six principles theory of Chinese
script 漢字與其他文字的比較 –-- 在六書的基礎上
You need to be able to make brief comparison between
Chinese characters and others。 Concreate characters
available for you to compare.

Cantonese characters
Know how classify them 懂得如何分類 79
Part 6. Phonograms 形聲字
The way in which the phonograms were created 形聲字產生的途
徑
You need to understand the process, and to be able to
answer relevant questions.

The Old Chinese word “tooth” was originally represented by

the graph . Later people added 止 to it, producing 齒. Why
did people add 止? 古漢語中的“齒”最初寫作 ，後來人們
加上“止”，變成 “齒”。爲什麽加“止”？

(a) to make the character more beautiful (b) to make it easy to remember
使字更美 便於記憶
(c) to indicate the meaning (d) to indicate the pronunciation
表示意義 表示讀音

（d） 80
Be able to understand 需要理解 --
Reasons for the discrepancy in the pronunciation
between phonograms and their phonetics 聲旁和形聲字的
讀音有差異的原因

Understanding most impotent.

If the question is related to this part, concrete examples

available for you to analyze.
如果考這一部分，我會給出具體例子供你分析
81
Part 7 Classification of Cantonese characters and other
types of semantographs, and creation of
characters 粵語字以及其他類型表意字的歸類、
造字問題

Concrete examples
具體例子

82
Part 8: Oracle Bone Inscriptions 甲骨文

Requirements for Part 7. 對本章的要求

1) The two stages of Chinese script development 漢字發展

的兩個階段. What are the two stages? What is the main
difference between the two? Two stages of Chinese script
ancient script stage 古文字階段 clerical and standard
scripts 隸楷階段

2) The discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions 甲骨文

Get to know the story.

83
3) What is Oracle Bone Inscriptions 甲骨文是怎麽囘事?
Understand the process of the divination in Shang dynasty.

4) The content of the Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Be able to divide Lady Hao 婦好 paragraph into four parts and to
name each part of them. 能夠將“婦好”甲骨分成四個部分；要
能夠寫下四個部分的名稱（中文或英文）

5) How did the Chinese word “to divine” and the character卜
arise?

84
6) Echo word 擬聲詞 the idea and examples
 How did the Chinese word “to divine” and the character卜
arise? 漢語“卜”(占卜的意思) 這個詞和字是怎樣產生的？

applying the burned stick in

the cavities用燃燒的木棍灼燒
小坑

*puk

To divine

In language

卜 *puk is an echo word (onomatopoeia), based on the sound

when applying a burned wooden stick in the cavities during making
divination.
85
Now discuss the character 卜

Question: What category does 卜 belongs to?

We need to know what meaning does this character signify? 我們需要知
道這個字表示的意思。

辛酉卜，賓貞：‘Made divination on the Xinyou day, Bin tested/asked …’

卜 is a verb, meaning ‘to make divination’ “卜”是一個動詞，進行占卜的意思

卜 is a quosi-pictorial graph 象物字的象事字 86

 7) Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches 天干地支 and
Chinese Sexagenary六十干支表
Be able to put the ganzhi words (e.g., 乙巳 yisi、甲辰jiachen、丙
午 bingwu) in order.

十天干 Ten Heavenly Stems：

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
甲 乙 丙 丁 戊 己 庚 辛 壬 癸
Jia3 Yi3 Bing3 Ding1 Wu4 ji3 Geng1 Xin1 Ren2 Gui3

十二地支 Twelve Earthly Branches：

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
子 丑 寅 卯 辰 巳 午 未 申 酉
Zi3 Chou3 Yin2 Mao3 Chen2 Si4 Wu3 Wei4 Shen1 You3

11 12
87
戌xu1 亥hai4
Chinese Sexagenary 干支表 gan1 zhi1 biao3 60

In ancient times, people used this Ganzhi system to designate

days and years. 古時候，人們用干支系統紀日、紀年。 88
Part 9. Chinese characters tell stories 漢字裏的故事

Understand historical and cultural elements in the

characters seen in class 理解課堂所講例字的歷史文化含義.

Sample examination question

★ What cultural or historical information can we get from
following characters?

周 zhou1. Zhou dynasty， Zhou people

周 zhou1. The character shows crops grow in the farmland. And

Zhou people called themselves Zhou. Then we can understand
zhou people should be well known for their wonderful skill at
agriculture
89
Sample question for Part 8
On the basis of the character (男)，we can learn that
the Chinese people in 3000 years ago, the time when this
character was created, lived mainly by farming, and not
mainly by fishing, hunting and gathering. Briefly discuss
how you can reach this conclusion. 基於 (男)字，可知中
國人在三千年以前（創制這個字的年代）主要依靠農業而不主
要依靠打魚、狩獵、採集。簡單論述你是如何得出這一結論的。
The character is composed of two parts, one farmland and the other
plough. The meaning is “male, man”. This indicates that in the time
when this character was created, the main work the men did is to work
in the farmland. Then we learn that people lived mainly by farming.

即“男”字。“男”屬於基本詞彙。從字形看，有兩個部分，一是農田，
另一個似犁杖。這說明男人的基本職責在田地裏，犁杖是他常用的工具。
這說明在創制“男”字的時代，中國人以種田爲生
90
Evidence sporting that China was a matrilineal society 中國曾
經是母系社會的證據 2 pieces of evidence

姓 xing4 ‘family name’. As early as Pre-Qin era (before 221 BC), Chinese
people had already come to take father’s family name. But, 姓 is a graph with 女 as the
radical. This graph can also be used as evidence for the hypothesis that there was ever
historical stage of matrilineal society 母系社會

姓 ‘family name’, a phonogram where 女 is the semantic

element and 生 is the phonetic
91
Part 10. Simplification of Chinese characters
漢字簡化問題

Drawbacks 缺點
Advantages 優點

92
Part 11. Phonetization and Romanization of Chinese
characters 漢字的注音與拼音化問題

1. Traditional phonetic notation of Chinese characters

傳統漢字注音方法
2. Pīnyīn 拼音
3. Problems on the alphabetic writing of Chinese
script 漢字拼音化問題

93
Announcements

★ We have sent your achievements, Midterm (full:120),

Assignment (full:6) and Attendance (full:5) through CANVAS
Grades.
If you have any questions, contact me before or on Fri 13,
Dec 2019.
有任何問題請於 5 月 13 日 （週五）或之前與我聯係。

Midterm; Assignment; Attendance

期中考試 作業 出勤
Full: 120 6 5
Average 93.20067 4.958333 4.69
94
STDEV 14.01634 0.42478 0.93
★ Your final grade
From the syllabus of this course

Assessment of student learning:

 Participation 5%
 Assignment 5% (creating characters in accordance with the
three-principles theory of Chinese script 三書說)
 Midterm 30% (short questions, multiple-choice, identifying
ancient characters, classifying Chinese characters)
 Final exam 60% (short questions, multiple-choice, classifying
Chinese characters, analyzing the historical and cultural
components implied in Chinese writing system)
95
 For those who want to receive a P/F grade, you need
to submit your request online to ARR. 希望得到 P/F
成績的同學，請直接跟 ARR 聯繫。 Deadline is
tomorrow Nov 30 2019. You need to do an
assignment (choose 1 out 2 topics), and please find it
at the end of #40 on CANVAS. You need to email
your report by 13 Dec 2019.

Prof Roger Cheng, Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning)

sent a letter to all UG students on 17 Nov. 2019. Prof Cheng
mentioned in the letter there will be “Online forms” provided to
you in a few days.” and I think you have received it. Could you
please check your email inbox?

96
 There are 6 students who have contacted me,
informing that they will graduate this semester /
January 2020. I will contact you again soon. 本學期或
2020年元月畢業的同學.

1) You can choose to receive P/F grade. Send your

request now. 如果想要 P/F 成績，現在馬上遞交你的申
請。
2) You have also opportunity to receive A/B/C/D
grade. If you have email me, and then I will contact you
soon. 如果你想要 A/B/C/D 成績，請跟我聯繫（已經發
過通知）。我會盡快再次聯繫你們。
97
 If you want to receive A/B/C/D grade, you need to do
nothing for now, but you will need to attend a normal
examination in the first week in the semester, Spring
2020.

When the time and location of this exam available, I

will let you immediately.

想要取得A/B/C/D 成績的同學，你將會在下學期第
一週參加考試。時間地點確定後我立即通知大家。

98
Thank You All 謝謝大家！
If you have any question and concern, feel free to
contact us. 有事跟我們聯繫。

Instructor:
SUN Jingtao 孫景濤
Office: 3353 (Lift 3)
Tel. 2358-7795
E-mail: <hmjtsun@ust.hk>

Teaching Assistant: Mr. WANG Chao 王朝

Office: Rm3001 (Lift 4)
E-mail: <cwangbp@connect.ust.hk>

99