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XIX. Eugraphia Sinensis; or, the Art of Writing the Chinese Character with Correctness: contained in Ninety-two Rules and Examples. To which are prefixed, Some Observations on the Chinese Writing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
Extract
The graphic beauty of a written language, which approaches so near to the hieroglyphic as the Chinese, where many of the characters are intended as pictures of the idea to be conveyed, where the variety of the lines, or strokes, is so great, and their combinations are so numerous, must be allowed at once to exceed, and to be more difficult of attainment than, that of the alphabetic writing of Europe. The number of the simple characters, or elements, of which all the compounds of the language are formed, greatly exceeds that of any one alphabet; but, when compounded, their relative juxta-position and arrangement, the shortening of some strokes and the lengthening of others, is of course subject to some general rules; which, from the very nature of the subject, must be more numerous and complicated, than the mere joining together of our European letters. The advantage of simplicity (and a very great advantage it is) constitutes the chief merit of alphabetic writing; that of variety and graphic beauty may fairly be claimed by the Chinese.
- Type
- Papers Read Before the Society
- Information
- Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 1 , January 1827 , pp. 304 - 312
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1827
References
page 304 note * See Plate IV, No. I.
page 304 note † See Plate IV, No. II.
page 304 note † There are several other forms, and among the rest the seal character, which is somewhat analogous to our black letter; and which being hardly ever used, does not deserve much attention from Europeans.
page 305 note * To prove how much stress is laid on this, the Chinese have a common story of some candidate, who having written the character for a horse, with a horizontal line at the bottom, instead of with four points, was rejected altogether, being told “it was impossible for a horse to walk, without its legs.”
page 305 note † See Chinese Moral Maxims, page 175.
page 306 note * See Plate IV, No. III.
page 307 note * It was insisted upon by the British Factory, in the discussions of 1814, and at length yielded to them.
page 308 note * See Plate IV, No. IV.
page 308 note † For the Chinese examples, see Plate IV. to XI, No. 1 to 92.