The Chinese Hanzi and its Influence on Asian History

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The Chinese Hanzi and its Influence on Asian History
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April 24, 2018
Introduction
Due to similarities in terms of having a unique and complex method of writing, one of the most common errors in our way of thinking was that several Asian languages – such as Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean – are closely related with each other. Particularly, one of the main reasons for this misconception is because compared to Indo-European languages (based on Greek alphabet) the structures of Asian languages have characters and mechanisms that closely resembles each other. However, despite being more cumbersome than how the western alphabet system work, it must be noted that the development of these picto-phonetic methods happened due to certain socio-political and economic context during the early times. On the one hand, the development of the Chinese Han zi itself, was portrayed as an art requiring careful calligraphic skills. And because learning how to write the language is an art form, it has even become a symbol of a socialist elite system, differentiating the poor from the rich. On the other hand, historical accounts also note that this writing system, has also become a symbol of unification for the whole Chinese nation. An advantage brought about by its simplicity to be read, as it relies on phonetic mechanisms unlike other languages. While there are numerous other traits that are worthy of discussion the author of this study believes that it would be best to understand the histories of each of these language systems. Thus, in the succeeding sections of this paper, a more history would be provided starting from the Chinese Han zi, to its spread to other countries and its respective development subsequent to that. Lastly, this paper would also discuss the aforementioned ‘misconception’ about the close reality of these languages.[Nicholson, Caitlin. What Makes Asian Languages So Different? 26 May 2006. Web. 24 April 2018.] [Trapp, James. Chinese characters : the art and meaning of Hanzi. New York: Chartwell Books, 2016. Print.] [Fishman, Joshua A. and Ofelia García. Handbook of language and ethnic identity: The successfailure continuum in language and ethnic identity. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 2011.]
The Origins of the Han zi System
The origins of the Han zi (汉字 ) could be traced back as early as 4,500 years before this time from the Shandong Province, China. During those times, the art and way of communicating has still been in its infancy until it reaches its fruition before the third century in the country. However, despite the promise of this new knowledge created, the third century in the country was also the time when the landscape of the whole region was littered with warring states governed by feudal lords that sought to fight for their own rights of ownership. Thus, it would not be until the year of the Han Dynasty when more characters would be added to the repertoire of the Han zi and be used throughout the whole country. On one hand, the re-unification of the Chinese during those times would add to the premium of the language, as it becomes widely accepted throughout the whole...