The history of Chinese writing extends back more than 6000 years and the Chinese
writing system remains unique among all writing systems. In this paper, the origin
and evolution of Chinese writing systems will be discussed. It will be shown that in
the Shang dynasty (about 1200 BC) the principles of Chinese writing had been
formulated and that over the following 3000 years the structure and key elements of
the system have remained, although the style of writing has changed (Li, 1969;
Keightly, 1989). Explanations of the possible motivation behind the invention of
Chinese writing will also be discussed. It can be shown that numerals had the
highest frequency of occurrence in the earliest writing system - pottery
inscriptions - and this finding indicates that one of the purposes of innovation of
a writing system was for counting. This paper concludes that evidence of early
Chinese writing confirms there is a significant relationship between the invention
of a writing system and abstract counting and accounting requirements.
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