A Long-standing and Wellestablished History
The Origin and Development of China’s Ancient Publishing Industry
The Xia Dynasty， established in 2070 B.C.， was the first dynasty in China and marked the beginning of a new era in Chinese civilization. There is enough evidence to show that Chinese writing had been developed and was on its way to being systemized at the time. Besides， Chinese ancestors also developed a degree of aesthetics and cultural accomplishment. The appearance of primary writing tools and books paved the way for early publishing activities.
The Origin of Chinese Characters
The Chinese character is an important marker of humanity’s shift from pre-literate to literate times. Written language is the basis of human civilization because it can be passed down through time and space. Chinese characters played a decisive role in the development of Chinese culture and the publishing industry.
The development of Chinese characters was a long process that can be divided into two periods before their real appearance. One is the time when the spoken language existed without a written one. The other is that of a written language without complete articles. On the basis of language and objectives， the real emergence of Chinese characters underwent three stages during which events were recorded by knotted cords， carvings and graphs.
Cangjie， a legendary figure in ancient China (2600 B.C.)， claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor o f t h e C h i n e s e c h a r a c t e r. According to the legend he had four eyes to observe all things on earth. But that is only a legend. Historical records show Chinese characters had already been invented by Cangjie’s t i m e . B y t h e n ， a c e r t a i n number of characters were in use. Therefore， some scholars hold the view that Chinese characters had already been created but did not have any fixed style and that Cangjie’s contribution was to unify and standardize them， which made later generations speak highly of him.
Knotting cords to record events， carved inscriptions， graphs and graphic symbols were the four important steps that led to the invention of the written language， according to historical documents and archaeological finds. Among these， graphic symbols or pictographic writing were most influential. Pictographic writing appeared in the later period of the primitive communes， namely the high days of the New Stone Age. Pictographic features can be found in many ethnic minority languages in China. A typical one is the Dongba Classics of the Naxi people in Yunnan Province. Dongba (the wizard) can read a lengthy poem from the Dongba Classics and tell vivid stories. Graphic symbols from the Classics were gradually developed into pictographic language.
Similar graphic symbols and writings are found among the Yangshao culture of 4，000 B.C. and the Longshan Cultural Relics， which came later. Some 18 graphic symbols were found on the potteries of Ling Yanghe and Dazhu villages in Shandong Province. Four of them are pictured here：
Many scholars consider these graphic symbols to be written language from the later period of the Dawenkou culture (about 2800–2500B.C.). Nevertheless， more and more archaeological discoveries prove that the Longshan Culture existed 4500 years ago. The period is also that of the Huangdi legend. It is around that time that Chinese characters essentially changed from rudimentary and began to take shape.
Archaeological finds show that writing tools existed before the invention of the written language. The Banpo pottery inscriptions have several designs similar to the human face， swimming fish and the 米 pattern. They were drawn with writing brushes or other similar tools. The writings are clear and distinguishable. The pottery inscriptions found in Dawenkou， Shandong Province in 1959 include both carving and writing； which means that simple carving and writing tools were available at the time. The writing brush began to take on the features of a pen no later than during the Shang Dynasty.
With more expressive features， the carapace-bone-script emerged during the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 B.C.) after a long evolution from the earliest characters. It is the earliest mature and systematic group of Chinese characters that can be seen today. After the oracle bone inscriptions， a variety of fonts， comprising bronze script， large seal script， small seal script， clerical script and regular script， appear throughout Chinese history. When it comes to regular script， the grapheme—or smallest significant unit in a writing system—of Chinese characters， still in use today， was basically finalized.
Based on the premise of definite and clear meaning， the general evolution of Chinese characters is from complexity to simplicity. As a result， the pictographic characters originally used have been maintained ever since.
The Appearance of Books and Compilations
Written language is essential for books. When people developed a desire to spread or pass down their thoughts and experiences， they started to record their experiences and present their thoughts by consciously inscribing characters on various materials. It was then that books came into being.
Many scholars believe that classics and bibliographies emerged during the Xia Dynasty (2100–1600B.C.). This conclusion stems from multiple historical materials. Shangshu， the earliest history book ever found， says that records existed at the turn of the Xia and Shang. According to Lüshi Chunqiu， another history book， during the Xia Dynasty there was not only a book ordinance but also an official Imperial Astronomer in charge of collecting and preserving books. Lüshi Chunqiu was once made public at the gate of Xianyang city for readers to edit. Gold rewards were promised to readers that could make improvements.
