Commons:Ancient Chinese characters project

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Hello!

Welcome to the Ancient Chinese characters project, which plans to eventually provide a large set of high quality images of Ancient Chinese characters. This illustration set will be freely usable to make educational books, websites, and calligraphic historical explanations.

You are free to use the graphics we have made so far and we invite you to join us in our work.

The work is divided in twelve subcategories: (click blue links to browse)

Historical evolution via examples
Ancient scripts Transcribed ancient scripts
Shang Western
Zhou 		Spring&
Autumn 		Warring States Shuowen Liushutong
(oracle) (bronze) (bronze) (silk) (slip) Ancient Zhou Seal Big seal
(4711) (208) (1350) (371) (311) (61) (219 · 253) (100) (16) (3065) (3548)
Modern scripts
Clerical
(Han/Qing) 		Mingti
(Kangxi) 		Cǎoshū
(cursive) 		Xíngshū
(semi-cursive) 		Kǎishū
(trad./simp.) 		Sòngtǐ
(trad./simp.)



(4 · 52 · 22) (0) (53) (0) (131 · 217)
available in fonts 		(16 · 347)
available in fonts
Public domain images that you can use freely

Of course, you can use all them for your own website. All this work is in the public domain. Legally, you can do what you like, but the moral conditions of use are that you state:

  1. Source: Images from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Ancient_Chinese_characters (or the specific image description page)
  2. Licence: Public Domain (verify that Commons may also accept specific free licences)
  3. Authors: Erin Silversmith, Micheletb (look at the contributors list in image information page)
Objectives, current news

The aim of the project is eventually to provide examples for all characters available in Ancient Chinese script. The 214 radicals have already been completed. Current project focuses on (these categories are not exclusive):

  • Non-compound characters.
  • Most frequently used characters.
  • Characters that appear frequently in compound characters.
  
Active on the project

We need you !

Active contributors :

Your contributions are welcome to expand this set !

You can ask questions to yug and Michelet.

Want to help?

You can help by uploading historical version of a characters. Available ancient Chinese character sources are:

Please see our Tutorial to create new files, and use the template {{ACClicense}} when uploading.

Add missing ancient Chinese characters to the database by uploading (when available):

  • *-oracle.svg (variant 2 to 6)
    • *-oracle-zhouyuan.svg
  • *-bronze.svg (variant 2 to 6)
    • *-bronze-shang.svg (variant 2 to 3)
    • *-bronze-spring.svg (variant 2 to 5)
    • *-bronze-warring.svg (variant 2 to 5)
  • *-silk.svg (variant 2 to 6)
  • *-slip.svg (variant 2 to 5)
  • *-seal.svg (variant 2 to 3)
    • *-ancient.svg (variant 2 to 3)
    • *-zhou.svg
    • *-odd.svg
  • *-bigseal.svg (variant 2 to 3)
(P.S. Would you like to provide a bit of encouragement to this team and this free project?)

Naming conventions[edit]

Our overall naming conventions. More dots for priority. Full page contains explanations.
Pri. Type Minimal definition Dominant objective Time period Old convention New convention Example Coverage
Images showing writing styles
•• 金文 jīnwén>Shang Casted bronze scripts, Shang period 1300 BCE –
1046 BCE		 馬-s.svg 馬-bronze-shang.svg 208
•••• 甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén Knife carved oracle scripts 1300 BCE –
1046 BCE		 馬-oracle.svg 馬-oracle.svg 4,711
• 甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén>Western Zhou Knife carved oracle scripts, Western Zhou period 1046 BCE –
771 BCE		 — 馬-oracle-zhouyuan.svg N/A 10
•••• 金文 jīnwén Casted bronze scripts, Western Zhou period 1046 BCE –
771 BCE		 馬-bronze.svg 馬-bronze.svg 1,350
•• 金文 jīnwén>Spring and Autumn Casted bronze scripts, Spring and Autumn period 771 BCE –
476 BCE		 馬-sa.svg 馬-bronze-spring.svg 371
•• 金文 jīnwén>Warring States Casted bronze scripts, Warring States period 476 BCE –
221 BCE		 馬-w.svg 馬-bronze-warring.svg 311
••• 簡帛文字 jiǎnbówénzì Brush on slip or silk scripts by Chu state 476 BCE –
221 BCE		 — 馬-silk.svg 219 + 61
••• 簡牘文字 jiǎndúwénzì Brush on slip scripts by Qin state 476 BCE –
221 BCE		 — 馬-slip.svg 253
• 傳抄古文字 Chuánchāo gǔwénzì Transcribed various ancient Guwen scripts before Qin dynasty, collected by Hanjian — — 馬-hanjian.svg 7
• 傳抄古文字 Chuánchāo gǔwénzì Transcribed various ancient Guwen scripts before Qin dynasty, collected by Sishengyun — — 馬-GWSSY.svg 7
• 傳抄古文字 Chuánchāo gǔwénzì Transcribed various ancient Guwen scripts before Qin dynasty, collected by Jizhuan Yunhai — — 馬-JZGWYH.svg 12
• 傳抄古文字 Chuánchāo gǔwénzì Transcribed ancient Guwen big seal script before Qin dynasty, collected by Liushutong 221 BCE –
1644 CE		 馬-bigseal.svg 馬-bigseal.svg 3,549
•• 隸書 / 隶书 lìshū Early ancient clerical script to be specific, collected by Libian 221 BCE –
134 BCE		 — 馬-clerical.svg 25
•• 隸書 / 隶书 lìshū [Temporary category under discussion]
Early ancient clerical script to be specific, collected by Libian		 historical 221 BCE –
134 BCE (actual)		 — 馬-clerical-han.svg 52
•• 隸書 / 隶书 lìshū [Temporary category under discussion]
Modern stylisation of early ancient clerical script		 teaching 221 BCE –
134 BCE (fake)		 — 馬-clerical-qing.svg 22
• 奇字 qízì Similar to variants, collected by Shuowen 221 BCE –
220 CE		 — 馬-odd.svg N/A 1
•• 古文 gǔwén Script from Zuo zhuan by Warring States, collected by Shuowen 221 BCE –
220 CE		 馬-ancient.svg 馬-ancient.svg 100
•• 籀文 zhòuwén Script from Shizhoupian by late Western Zhou, collected by Shuowen 221 BCE –
220 CE		 馬-zhou.svg 馬-zhou.svg 16
•••• 篆 > 小篆 xiǎo zhuàn Normalized zhuan scripts by Qin dynasty and some Han dynasty zhuan scripts, collected by Shuowen 221 BCE –
220 CE		 馬-seal.svg 馬-seal.svg 3,066
New Modern Chinese Characters **
•• 草書 / 草书 cǎoshū Brush on paper's fast script, aka Cursive. teaching 43 BCE –
present		 — (font available) 馬-caoshu.svg 1
•• 行書 / 行书 xíngshū Brush on paper's fluid writing, aka Semi-cursive. teaching ca. 100 CE –
present		 — (font available) 馬-xingshu.svg 1
•• 楷書 / 楷书 kǎishū Brush on paper since Han dynasty, aka Regular scripts teaching ca. 200 CE –
present		 — (font available) 馬-kaishu.svg 5
•• 宋體 / 宋体 sòngtǐ,
明體 / 明体 míngtǐ		 Printing-blocks scripts. Aka Songti, Mingti. teaching 1368 CE –
present		 — (font available) 馬-songti.svg 5
• 明體 / 明体 míngtǐ > 康熙 kāngxī Printing-blocks scripts in Kangxi dictionary historical 1716 CE –
present		 — (font available) 馬-mingti-kangxi.svg 0
Images showing stroke order
• 楷書 / 楷书 kǎishū Animated by stroke teaching web era 馬-sbs.gif 馬-sbs.gif ** 4
•• 楷書 / 楷书 kǎishū Black to red progression teaching web era 馬-red.png 馬-[tj]red.svg ** 247 + 17 + 28
•• 黑體 / 黑体 hēitǐ Animated with directional arrows, on hēitǐ (Sans-serif) characters teaching web era — 馬-[tj]order (Sans-serif).gif ** 12 + 0 + 0
•••• 楷書 / 楷书 kǎishū Animated calligraphy teaching web era 馬-order.gif 馬-[tj]order.gif ** 590 + 7 + 27
•••• 楷書 / 楷书 kǎishū Row of grey to black chars with directional hints teaching web era 馬-bw.png 馬-[tj]bw.svg ** 1,065 + 10 + 102
** Do not use “m”, “t”, or “j” freely in filenames above. We use them such: “m” for modern, “t” for traditional, “j” for Japanese, etc. ed

NEW! On dominant objective[edit]

  • Styles are artificial groupings along a spectrum of writings. Outside Wikimedia, each style actually gather endless variations by its writers.
  • Two opposite objectives are therefor possible on that spectrum:
    • historical accurate: documents the exact glyph as done by the writers of that time. Various glyph representations of a same character may be uploaded. This is what history, calligraphy enthusiasts, academics look for.
    • teaching principles: represents the implicitly agreed, canonical, idealized, shape-simplified, smoothed principle of a style. This is what fonts do and propagate, and what teachers looks for.
  • ACC categories are on this spectrum. Those who do and upload, decide where their category stands.

References[edit]

  • Copybook of Common Characters with Kaishu, Lishu, Xinshu, Caoshu, Seal, and Kaishu traditional (pocket format, available on Amazon.com) :
    • 常用字字帖
      / Copybook of Common Characters      [1], 1st edition edition, Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Press, 1990, pages 490.
    • 常用字字帖
      [2], 第1版 edition,
      上海书画出版社出版
      , 1990, pages 490.
  • 細說漢字部首 左民安
    ISBN 780-195356-8
  • 高岛谦一 甲骨文字字释综览
  • 簡牘名蹟選7：甘粛篇（二）漢2
    ,
    二玄社
    , 2009, ISBN 978-4-5440-0247-8,
    武威簡·儀禮·士相見
    , for Han-era manuscripts in clerical script (dated the Xin dynasty in the book)
  • 中国法書選3：石門頌
    ,
    二玄社
    , 1989, ISBN 978-4-5440-0503-5, also for clerical script characters.
  • Richard Sears's Chinese character etymology site references:
    • XuJaGuWenBian
      續甲骨文编
      by JinXiangHeng
      金祥恒
      . Richard Sears 31,876 oracle characters are taken from this source.
    • JinWenBian
      金文编
      by RungGeng
      容庚
      . The most accurate book of character samples from the bronze artifacts. Richard Sears 24,223 bronze characters are taken from this source.
    • ShuoWenJieZi
      說文解字
      . The earliest complete 987 copy by XuXuan
      徐鉉
      , clearly printed. Richard Sears 11109 ShuoWen seal characters are taken from this source.
    • LioShuTong
      六書通
      . A Ming Dynasty collection of non standard seal type characters. Richard Sears 38,596 Liushutong seal characters are taken from this source.
  • 饒宗頤
    ,
    曾憲通
    (1985)
    楚帛書
    ,
    中華書局香港分局
    , for the Chu Silk Manuscript, an important source of the Chu script, Warring States.
  • 刘钊等编纂. 新甲骨文编. 福州：福建人民出版社, 2014.12. ISBN 978-7-211-06715-2.
  • 黄德宽主编；徐在国副主编；江学旺编著. 西周文字字形表. 上海：上海古籍出版社, 2017.10. ISBN 978-7-5325-8493-2.
  • 黄德宽主编；徐在国副主编；吴国升编著. 春秋文字字形表. 上海：上海古籍出版社, 2017.09. ISBN 978-7-5325-8233-4.
  • 徐在国，程燕，张振谦编著. 战国文字字形表. 上海：上海古籍出版社, 2017.09. ISBN 978-7-5325-8349-2.
  • 方勇编. 秦简牍文字编. 福州：福建人民出版社, 2012.12. ISBN 978-7-211-06645-2.
  • Sinica Database
Others

Priority work[edit]

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