Cangjie, formerly known as Hougang, is also known as the master of Cangjie, also known as Shihuang, Cangwang and cangsheng. "ShuoWenJieZi", "Shiben" and "Huainanzi" all record that Cangjie was the left historian of character making in the Yellow Emperor period. Inspired by the footprints of birds and animals, he collected, sorted and used them. He played an important role in the process of creating Chinese characters and was honored as the "Sage of character making".
According to the records of Hetu Yuban and Zen Tongji, Cangjie was a tribal leader in ancient times. During the reign of Cangjie, he once worshipped Luoshu in the water of Luoji.
Cangjie is also the God of writing in Taoism. According to historical records, Cangjie had two pupils and four eyes. He was born wise and virtuous. He observed the movement trend of stars and the footprints of birds and animals, and created characters according to his image. He got rid of the bad habit of tying ropes to record things at that time and created the foundation of civilization. Therefore, he was honored as "Cangjie, the ancestor of literature".
Life of the characters
According to historical documents, some documents recorded that Cangjie was a historian of the Yellow Emperor and a sage of making characters, while others recorded that Cangjie was a tribal leader who had established himself as the emperor's book of worship.
The sage of word making
Cangjie, known in ancient books as "Longyan four eyes, born with Ruide". It is said that he was the Zuo historian of the Yellow Emperor in the late primitive society of China, and Cangjie was the Zuo historian. Ju recitation is right history. According to historical records: after the rise of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, inspired by the footprints of birds and animals, Cangjie and Jusong, the historiographers of the Yellow Emperor, concentrated the wisdom of the working people and worked hard for decades to collect, sort out and popularize the hieroglyphic symbols handed down to the ancestors. Although the knots are different in size and shape, they are difficult to distinguish due to their age and depth. Hou Cangjie looked up at the trend of Kuixing huanqu, looked down at the turtle back texture, bird and animal claw marks, mountains and rivers morphology and palm fingerprints, inspired by them, and created hieroglyphs according to the shape of things.
The image created by Cangjie is called character. There are six kinds of general ideas in Cang Jie's writing. One is to refer to things, such as "up and down", and the other is to refer to images, such as "day and month". The third refers to pictophonetic characters, such as "Jiang, he", and the fourth refers to ideographic characters, such as "Wu, Xin". Fifthly, it refers to the transferred words, such as "Lao" and "Kao". The sixth refers to borrowed words, such as "Ling" and "Chang". The words referring to things are above and below. It refers to hieroglyphic characters, which are full day and full month. The characters of pictophonetics take category as form and sound as complement. Understanding of the text, zhigeweiwu, people's words for the letter also. The text of Zhuanzhu is based on the old age. The borrowed words have the same number of words, but the sound is different and the meaning is the same. Therefore, from the Yellow Emperor to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the characters have been used without any change.
On the day of Cangjie's writing, the whole country was jubilant and moved the God. The millet fell down like rain, and the ghosts began to cry at night, which is the record of Huainanzi.
Tribal leader
It is recorded in Hetu Yuban that Cangjie was a tribal leader. He took Yangwu as his capital and established himself as emperor. The year of Jiachen (4637 BC) is the first year of emperor Cang.
When Cangjie was in power, he went south to search his territory. The emperor ascended the mountain of Yangxu, and then went down the Luoshui river. He found the book of Linggui in Luohe of Yuanhu (a xuanhu). Therefore, Cangjie worshipped Luoshu. Luoji is located in Luoning County of Luoyang City, and there is still Cangjie lettering platform in the northwest of Xinghua township of Luoning County. It was built in memory of emperor Cangjie by later generations. In ancient times thousands of years ago, the appearance of Hetu and Luoshu indicated the change of celestial phenomena and the birth of a new emperor. Because many ancestors of civilization in history have a story with it, and Cangjie is one of them.
In the 42nd year of his reign, Cangjie died at the age of 71. After his death, his body was buried in Lixiang, honored as emperor Cang.
Main achievements
According to the records of ancient books and records, Cangjie's contributions are as follows
1、 The so-called "Cang Jie wrote a book" does not mean that Cang Jie completely invented and created the characters, but that Cang Jie extensively collected and carefully sorted out the existing folk pictorial characters, so as to create a set of systematic and standardized pictographic characters.
2、 The book of Shouluo, Hetu and Luoshu recorded in detail the rise and fall of the ancient emperors and the way of governing the country. Only the emperor appointed by heaven could get it. After Cangjie became emperor, he went south to search his own territory and ascended Yangxu mountain. With the Luohe River eastward, he came to Luohe, where Luoshui and the Yellow River meet. He found that the tortoise was carrying a mysterious pattern and dedicated it to Cangjie. The eight trigrams evolved from Luoshu and later became the source of Zhouyi.
Historical records
Historiographer of Chinese characters
This prehistoric legendary figure has never been mentioned in the ancient books before the Warring States period. The first person who mentioned Cangjie was Xun Qing in the Warring States period. Later, it gradually developed into the legend that Cangjie was "the historian of the Yellow Emperor". Huangdi was one of the leaders of the tribal alliance in the late primitive society. At that time, there was no state machine. It can be seen that the saying of "historiographer" was obviously the result of later generations applying the official name of the state machine to the prehistoric legendary figures.
The legend of "Cangjie made characters" has been widely spread in the Warring States period
"Xunzi Jiewu" said: "good books are numerous, and Cangjie alone is one.".
Han Feizi · five beetles: "in the past, Cangjie wrote books, which were called private by himself, and public by his back."
"Lu's spring and Autumn Annals: Junshou chapter" also records: "Xi Zhong as the chariot, Cangjie as the book, Houji as the Jia, gaotao as the punishment, Kunwu as the pottery, Xiaqian as the city, these six people are right to do it."
"Huainanzi · Ben Jing" records: "in the past, Cangjie wrote books, but the rain in the sky was millet, and ghosts cried at night."
"Preface to Shuowen Jiezi" records: "in the beginning of Cangjie's writing, it was based on the pictograph, so it was called the text; after that, it was called the character because the pictograph and sound were mutually beneficial."
The Weishu "Chunqiu yuanmingbao" further records that Cangjie "Longyan extravagant, four eyes Lingguang, really have Ruide, born to be able to write. So the change of heaven and earth, looking up at the Kuixing Yuanqu trend, overlooking the turtle wenniao feather mountains and rivers, the palm of the finger to create text, the sky for rain millet, ghost for night cry, the dragon is hidden
According to Xu Jian's Chuxueji, Volume 11: "Yi said that" in ancient times, the rope was tied to govern, and later sages changed it with the deed of writing ", and" when Cangjie created the writing, and then the deed of writing was made, it was the beginning. "
Master Daoshi of Ximing temple in Tang Dynasty? There is such a record in his famous work Fayuan Zhulin: "in the past, there were three masters who made books. The long name is fan, and his book goes to the right; the second name is kharolu, and his book goes to the left; the third name is Cangjie, and his book goes down. " (Dazheng collection, Vol. 53, P. 351, middle and bottom)
According to Buddhist legends in the late southern and Northern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, Cangjie and the immortal who created Sanskrit and kharoshu in India were three brothers. The Sanskrit sent the three of them down to heaven to create characters in Tianzhu and China.
According to the dictionary of Chinese names, "Cangjie was the history of Zuo in the Yellow Emperor's time. He was born and sacred. He had four eyes, the traces of birds and animals, and the characters were Cheng, Tian Yu Su, and ghosts all cried at night." Sima Qian's historical records, Han Xushen's ShuoWenJieZi and guoshiquanshu all share this view.
The Zen Tongji written by Luo MI in Song Dynasty says: "emperor Cang, Shi Huang's surname is Hougang, and his name is Jie. He was born to be able to write. He was extravagant and had four eyes Looking up at the potential of Kuixing Yuanqu, looking down at the tortoise script, bird feather, mountains and rivers, the palm of the finger and creating characters The sky is the rain millet, the ghost is the night cry, the dragon is hidden
Zhang Yanyuan's "the history of famous paintings · the origin of painting" explains: "Jie has four eyes, looking up at the sky. Because of the trace of Li Wugui, the shape of the characters was determined. Nature can't hide its secret, so it rains in the sky; spirits can't escape its form, so ghosts cry at night. At the same time, calligraphy and painting were not separated from each other. There is no way to convey its meaning, so there is a book. There is no way to see its shape, so there is a painting. There is also the meaning of heaven and earth saints. "
"ShuoWenJieZi · Xu" records: "in the history of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie saw the traces of birds and animals' hoofs. He knew that there were differences between the two. When he first made a contract, he was far away from all kinds of works, and he could observe all kinds of products." This record describes the deeds of Cangjie's character creation.
"Lu's Chunqiu · shenfenlan · Junshou" said: "Xi Zhong as a chariot, Cangjie as a book, Houji as a Jia, gaotao as a punishment, Kunwu as a pottery, Xiaqian as a city, these six people are right."
"Gouzi · Jiebi" records: "there are many good books, and Cangjie is the only one."
Tribal leader
In other historical records, Cangjie was a tribal leader.
According to the ancient text Hetu Yuban: "Cangjie was the emperor's southern tour, riding on the mountain of Yang deficiency, and facing the water of Luohe in Yuan Dynasty. The spirit tortoise is responsible for the book, and the DanJia and Qingwen will teach it. "
This is the explanation in the book of Han Dynasty: "Cangjie thought that he was either the ancient emperor or the historian of the Yellow Emperor.
Ming Bao of the spring and Autumn period and the Yuan Dynasty: the surname of emperor Cang is Shihuang, and his name is Jie, and his surname is Hou Gang. Longyan extravagant duo, four eyes Lingguang. He was born to be able to write. And by the river map green words, so the poor world changes. Looking up at the Kui star circle, we can see the trend, the turtle text, the bird language, the mountains and rivers, and the palm of our fingers to create the text. The sky is the rain millet, the ghost is the night cry, and the dragon is hidden. For 10 years, they were all buried in Yangwu, and finally in Lixiang Pavilion of Yamen. "
Character evaluation
In the ancient primitive society, human beings gradually developed from "piling stones to record events", "tying ropes to record events" to "symbolic characters". Ancient symbols and characters have lasted for more than 5000 years in Chinese history, and the cultural records in the early ancient times are basically recorded with symbols and characters.
Cangjie's contribution lies in his extensive collection of folk pictures and characters, and his creation of systematic hieroglyphics. The history book says: "emperor Cang was born to write. And by the river map recorded words, so the poor heaven and earth change, looking up at the Kuixing Yuanqu trend, overlooking the turtle bird feather mountains and rivers, and creating words. The sky is the rain millet, the ghost is the night cry, the dragon is hidden (Huang Shi Yi Shu Kao edited spring and autumn Yuan Ming Bao).
As a matter of fact, it was just a kind of blind worship of Cangjie by the ancients. After the hype of scholars and historians, Cangjie became the ancestor of the invention of Chinese characters. In fact, the history of Chinese characters was born thousands of years before Cangjie.
In the glorious historical picture of the Chinese nation, Cangjie is a figure between myth and legend. No matter from the perspective of mythology, ethnology or folklore, he is a sacred person in ancient times. He is known as "four eyes of dragon face" and "Ruide of sound" (Lun Heng and Lu Shi Chun Qiu). His outstanding achievement lies in "making characters to replace the politics of tying ropes". The creation of this human "secret weapon" makes "rain in the sky, millet in the millet, ghosts cry at night, dragons also hide" (Huainanzi), which is a heroic pioneering work of crying ghosts and gods.
"In the past, Cangjie wrote books, but the rain fell in the sky and the ghosts cried at night" . As soon as the words came out, human beings changed from the wild years to civilized life.
Historical evaluation
In the book of the Han Dynasty, volume 63, biography No.3, it is said that "Cangjie is the author of the book, and" Zhi "and" Ge "are" Wu ". It is not for the saints to think that they are disabled but to prosper. "
"The book of Cangjie" in the first volume of Shiben, the supplement and annotation to Zhang Shu's collection of eight kinds of Shiben: "the book of Cangjie. A chronicle of the world. Xi Zhong's car. The world has its own history. "
In the book of Wei, volume 91, biography 79: "in ancient history, Cangjie looked at the two images and the traces of birds and animals. He did not create words, instead of tying ropes, and used books to protect things. In the imperial court of Xuan, all kinds of works will be narrated. "
"Beishi · vol.81 · liezhuan No.69" says: "since Cangjie, eight styles have entered, only one person."
"Xunzi jiewutong" said: "so many good books, and Cangjie alone, one also."
Influence of later generations
Cangjie unified the variant characters and made them systematic and orderly, which had a profound influence on later generations. After the unification of China in 221 BC, Emperor Qinshihuang followed the example of Cangjie and carried out the policy of "combining calligraphy with writing", forcing large-scale collation and standardization of writing. In the preface to Shuowen, it is recorded that before the unification of Qin Dynasty, "it was divided into seven countries" and "different languages and characters" existed among different countries. After the unification, Li Sinai played the same role, but he didn't combine with Qin Wen. He wrote Cangjie, Zhao Gao, and Hu Wujing, who were ordered by Zhongche government to write Yuanli and erudite respectively. They all took Shi Zhen's big seal script, or rather changed it, so-called small seal script. " In the Qin Dynasty, the characters were unified and simplified. It can be seen that the invention and spread of writing can not be accomplished by one person or one time. It carries more wisdom of ancestors. After repeated screening, it eventually becomes standardized and accepted by people. As the inventor of Chinese characters, Cangjie is only the representative and symbol of many "wise men" who contributed to the invention of Chinese characters.
In Shiben · zupian: "the rain in the sky, the ghosts cry at night." in e-guanzi · Wang tie, Lu Dian of the Song Dynasty explained: "the biography says:" the rain in the sky, the ghosts cry at night. " Before the formation of Cangjie's characters, "Zhide Xuantong" appeared, while after the formation of Cangjie's characters, "Zhide declined". Therefore, the invention of writing by Cangjie can be regarded as a great feat.
Anecdotes and allusions
Phoenix Title Book
It is said that after the Yellow Emperor unified China, he felt that the method of tying a rope to record events was far from satisfying the requirements, so he ordered his historian Cangjie to think of a way to make characters. As a result, Cang Jie built a house on a high platform on the South Bank of the river at that time and devoted himself to writing. However, he thought hard for a long time and didn't make a word. Coincidentally, one day, while Cangjie was thinking, he saw a phoenix flying from the sky. A thing in his mouth fell down and fell right in front of him. Cangjie picked it up and saw that there was a hoof mark on it. But Cangjie couldn't identify the hoof mark of any beast, so he asked a hunter who happened to come. The hunter looked at it and said, "this is the hoof mark of Chen. It's different from the hoof marks of other animals. I can see the hoof marks of other animals as well." Cangjie was inspired by what the hunter said. He thought that all things have their own characteristics. If we can grasp the characteristics of things and draw images, we can all know that this is not a word. From then on, Cangjie paid close attention to the characteristics of all kinds of things, such as sun, moon, star, cloud, mountain, river, Lake, sea, as well as all kinds of birds and animals, and applied utensils. According to their characteristics, he drew figures and created many pictographs. In this way, over a long period of time, there were more words made by Cangjie. Cangjie dedicated these hieroglyphs to the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor was very happy, and immediately called the chieftains of Kyushu to teach them. So these hieroglyphs began to be used. In order to commemorate Cangjie's contribution to the creation of Chinese characters, the place where Cangjie created Chinese characters was called "Fenghuang calligraphic platform". In the Song Dynasty, a temple was also built here, named "Fengtai Temple".
Cangsheng bird trail
Built in the Cangjie Temple of Baishui County in the Han Dynasty, there is a Qing Dynasty "cangsheng bird trace Book stele". 28 strange symbols are carved on the black stone. It is said that this is the original form of the hieroglyphics created by Cangjie at that time. These bird track books consist of small figures and pictures. This is the earliest hieroglyph in the world. In 1984, the Song Dynasty Wang's Chunhua Ge tie, which was reprinted by Shanghai Bookstore, deciphered them as: "Wuji A and B are the first to share friends. They are listed in the world. They are famous for their style of Qi and light. They are respected by Chishui and are respected by GE Mo and Fu.". [34] according to the historical records of the five emperors, Emperor Yan had holy virtue, the king of fire virtue, and the Yellow Emperor had the auspicious virtue of the earth. The earth was yellow, so he was called the Yellow Emperor. He lived in Zhuolu and was in the central position, so "Wuji" represented the Yellow Emperor, and "a and B" represented the Yan Emperor. "The two emperors of Yan and Huang were the leaders of the tribes. What they did was a model for all the small tribes in the world. "Zuohu × Jia, respected by Chishui, Ge spear cauldron Fu" records that the Yellow Emperor conquered the Yan Emperor and pacified the Chiyou rebellion, the world restored peace, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the Yellow Emperor became the tribal leader of the world. In addition, in the mountain gate, the front hall, the middle hall and the bedroom hall, there are plaques made by Youren, Qiu Xing and Xie Deping to admire the spirit of Cangjie.
Anecdotes of word making
It is said that Cangjie was an official under the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor assigned him to manage the number of livestock and food in the village. The stock of livestock and food is gradually increasing, and it's hard to remember just by your head. Cang Jie worked all day and all night to find a way. First, he tied a knot on the rope. He used different colors of rope to represent different kinds of animals and food. The knot made with rope represented each number. But over time, it doesn't work. How can we not make mistakes. On that day, Cangjie took part in collective hunting. When he came to a fork in the road, several old people argued about which way to go. An old man insisted on going east, saying that there were antelopes; an old man insisted on going north, saying that there were deer not far ahead; an old man insisted on going west, saying that there were two tigers. If he didn't kill them in time, he would miss the chance. Cang Jie asked, it turned out that they all recognized it by looking at the footprints of wild animals on the ground. Cangjie's heart suddenly a joy: since a footprint represents a kind of beast, why can't I use a symbol to express what I manage? He ran home happily and began to create symbols to express things.
After the Yellow Emperor knew about it, he greatly appreciated it and ordered Cangjie to teach this method to various tribes. Gradually, the usage of these symbols was popularized, and thus the characters were formed.
Cangjie created the character, the Yellow Emperor valued him very much, everyone praised him, his reputation is growing. Cangjie's mind was a little hot, his eyes slowly moved up to the top of his head and his heart. No one looked down upon him, and his words were careless. The Yellow Emperor was very angry when the words reached his ears. He couldn't allow a minister to go bad. How can Cangjie realize his mistake. The Yellow Emperor summoned the eldest man around to discuss. The old man had more than 120 knots on his long beard, which indicated that he was over 120 years old. The old man pondered for a while and went to find Cangjie alone. Cangjie was teaching the people of different tribes to read. The old man sat at the end of the class and listened as carefully as others. When Cangjie finished speaking, all the others scattered, but the old man didn't go and was still sitting in his old place. Cang Jie was a little curious and asked why he didn't go.
The old man said, "Cangjie, your words have become a household name, but I'm always dazzled. Some words are still confused today. Are you willing to teach me again?" Cang Jie was very happy to see that all the old people respected him so much. He urged him to speak quickly. The old man said, "the word" horse "," donkey "and" mule "you made all have four legs, and the word" cow "you made has four legs. Why doesn't the word" cow "have four legs and only has one tail?" When Cang Jie heard this, he was a little flustered: when he first made the word "fish", he wrote it like "cow", and when he made the word "cow", he wrote it like "fish". I blame myself for my carelessness, but I've turned it upside down. The old man then said, "when you make the word" Zhong ", it means that it's thousands of miles away. You should read the word" Chu "from afar, but you teach people to read the word" Zhong ". On the other hand, the word "Chu" in the combination of the two mountains is supposed to be the word "Zhong" in weight, but you have become the word "Chu" in going abroad. It's hard for me to figure out these words, so I have to ask for your advice. "
At this time, Cang Jie was so ashamed that he knew that he had made a big mistake because of his pride. These words have been taught to all tribes, spread all over the world, and can't be changed. He quickly knelt down and cried his repentance. The old man took Cangjie's hand and said sincerely, "Cangjie, you have created words so that the experience of our older generation can be recorded and passed on. You have done a great good deed. People from generation to generation will remember you, but you can't be arrogant."
From then on, every time Cangjie made a word, he had to examine the meaning of the word over and over again. He was not careless in asking people's opinions. We all agreed that it would be settled only after it was well done, and then it would gradually spread to each tribe.
