On the Mythology of Chinese Characters(PDF)
《南京师大学报》（社会科学版）[ISSN:1006-6977/CN:61-1281/TN]
- Issue:
- 2022年04期
- Page:
- 139-149
- Research Field:
- 语言文学研究
- Publishing date:
Info
- Title:
- On the Mythology of Chinese Characters
- Author(s):
- LUO Dongqing
- Keywords:
- images of Chinese characters; mythology; astronomical phenomena; cyborgs
- PACS:
- -
- DOI:
- -
- Abstract:
- The Chinese characters, created in mythological times, were inspired by the interaction between the ancient people's image awareness and their language instinct in their divine life. Mythological thinking should thus be highlighted in the study of Chinese characters. The historicization of Chinese mythology has deprived the deciphering of Chinese characters of its core element. Gu Jiegang's conclusion that Yu禹(aka Yu the Great)was a worm was made according to his philological study, but he failed to understand the ancient mythological world because he based his argument on the scientific histography and split mythology from history. The picture of mythological world can be restored if we analyze Chinese characters from the perspective of the mythology concerning these characters. The images of Chinse characters were mainly derived from ancient astronomical observations, and it would take special instinctive intuition to analyze the astronomical phenomena. For example, the character “神” or “申”(shen)reveals the astronomical trajectory with the image of the canopy being torn apart, while the character “龍”(long)is related to the constellations, the creation of which requires a kind of intuitive spatial ability to make illusory geometric connections between the stars. The creation of such images of Chinese characters indicates a scientific thinking embedded in mythology and the close tie between science and technology can also be seen in the cyborgian images of the characters. The mythological study of the images of Chinese characters, therefore, offers a great alternative for the exploration of the origin of Chinese characters.
Last Update: 2022-08-25