Student of Group 25_02
Department of Chinese Philology and Language Teaching
Faculty of Oriental Philology
Uzbekistan State University of World Languages
Haydarova Mehribon
Annotation:
It is well known that the most difficult aspect of learning Chinese is the origin of characters and the meaning expressed by each of them. This article analyzes the origin, significance, and types of Chinese characters, their importance in the process of learning Chinese, the meanings they convey, and their development. In addition, the difficulties in learning characters and easy methods for memorizing them are also discussed.
Keywords: hieroglyph, Chinese language, method, origin, meaning, easy memorization
INTRODUCTION
In the modern era, the prestige of the Chinese language has increased significantly. For this reason, more than 80% of students and young people around the world are learning Chinese. As is well known, the most difficult aspect of learning this language is undoubtedly its characters. This is because each character has its own origin, history, and meaning, which creates certain difficulties for learners.
This article highlights the origin and development of Chinese characters, their historical stages, how they have evolved from their creation to the present day, and their meanings. In addition, it presents methods for learning them easily, enabling learners to master them quickly and within a short period of time. Knowledge of Chinese culture, literature, philosophy, and history plays an important role in understanding Chinese characters. Each character carries thousands of years of history and meaning; in other words, a single character can represent an entire word or concept. Learning them requires a great deal of effort and time.
International conferences on the origin of Chinese characters, the art of writing, and the aesthetic aspects of calligraphy—such as “The Origin of Chinese Characters and the Nature of Calligraphy” and “Origins of Early Writing Systems” at Peking University—have been held worldwide. In Uzbekistan, the International Scientific-Practical Conference of Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies was also organized. These conferences promoted ideas regarding the origin, development, and learning methods of Chinese characters.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A number of scientific studies have been conducted on the origin of Chinese characters, the stages of their development, and methods for learning them quickly and easily, using various research methods. First, historical methods were applied to study the origins and development of characters, focusing on their earliest forms. From the perspective of the history of linguistics, Chinese characters are considered one of the four most ancient writing systems. Therefore, many scholars have conducted extensive research in this field.
Specifically, historical methods were used to study the earliest forms of characters—oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, small seal script, and the development of modern characters. This method made it possible to identify the reasons for the emergence of characters and their relationship with society. Through modern methods, new types of characters and their regional differences—for example, similarities and differences between those used in Beijing and Shanghai—were examined.
Regarding research on fast and easy learning of characters, several experimental-pedagogical studies were conducted. In this research, new methods, techniques, and applications were developed for learning characters. One of them is the “TRAIN CHINESE” application, through which an English–Chinese dictionary was created. Learners can write unknown characters and find their translations, meanings, stroke order, grammatical usage, and example sentences, making learning easier. In addition, the “PLECO” application allows learners to write unknown characters and learn their pinyin; this feature distinguishes it from other dictionary applications.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Since Chinese is an ancient language, it has been studied for many years. In particular, the father-and-son scholars Wang Nian-Song and Wang Yin-Zhi laid the foundations of Chinese linguistics, while Xu Shen paid serious attention to Chinese writing and characters in his work “Elements and Compound Characters.” Moreover, in his work “Shuowen Jiezi” (1st–2nd centuries AD), Xu Shen explained characters based on six types, distinguishing pictograms, ideograms, compound ideograms, and phonetic-semantic characters. According to this work, the origin of characters is linked to pictorial symbols. For example, the character for “sun” was originally depicted as a round shape and gradually became simplified over time. Several similar examples were also provided.
In a similar vein, Uzbek linguist Sh. Safarov, a specialist in semantics and sign systems, described Chinese characters as a semiotic system and initially referred to them as sign-images. Regarding the fast and easy learning of characters, foreign scholar James W. Heisig, in his book “Remembering Chinese Characters,” stated that associative and imaginative memorization—linking each character with meaning and a story—leads to easier and more effective learning. William C. Hannas, in “Asia’s Orthographic Dilemma,” argued that due to the complexity of Chinese writing, structural and visual approaches are effective for students, and learning characters by components (radicals/keys) accelerates memorization.
At the same time, the origin of Chinese characters is described in ancient legends and historical texts, but the most famous theory appears in canonical texts. According to legend, Fu Xi created the “bagua” (eight trigrams), which formed the basis of Chinese characters and represented an early form of writing. Cang Jie, who lived during the reign of Emperor Huangdi, invented characters inspired by bird tracks and animal footprints. In addition, calligraphers of the Western Zhou dynasty engraved Chinese characters as texts on bronze vessels, which also serves as evidence of the origin of characters.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CHARACTERS
Archaic Jia gu wen Modern character Simplified Pinyin
Mean
人 — rén Person
女 — nǚ Woman
子 — zǐ Child
日 — rì Sun
月 — yuè Moon
山 — shān Mountain
川 — chuān River
水 — shuǐ Water
雨 — yǔ Rain
竹 — zhú Bamboo
木 — mù Wood
馬 马 mǎ Horse
鳥 鸟 niǎo Bird
龜 龟 guī Turtle
龍 龙 lóng Dragon
Several scientific conferences on fast and effective learning of Chinese characters have also been held. One of them is the World Chinese Language Conference, organized in 2025, where a new educational system based on the “Learn Chinese with Ease” concept was presented. It introduced a multimedia-based learning system using multimedia resources, interactive applications, and videos to teach the language in an immersive way.
Similarly, at the “Chinese Learning and Media Integration in the Digital Age” conference held in Indonesia in 2024, modern media and online educational tools—such as virtual reality, interactive lessons, and new applications—were discussed.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Regarding research on the origin of characters, students acquired skills in understanding the history of characters and their meanings through this study. Uzbek scholars evaluated Chinese characters not only as a writing system but also as a cultural, semantic, and cognitive phenomenon.
Through new applications such as “TRAIN CHINESE” and “PLECO,” learners began to study characters more quickly and easily, which provided several conveniences. For example, writing characters in the correct stroke order is mandatory, and without such applications, students could not easily learn the correct order. As a result, the creation of these applications significantly improved convenience for learners.
Both international and Uzbek scholars share similar views on the origin of characters, explaining Chinese characters as a logographic writing system, a cultural symbol, and a semantic unit.
According to scholars’ views on fast and easy learning, associative, visual, radical-based grouping, and step-by-step approaches are the most effective methods for learning Chinese characters quickly and easily.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this article examined the origin of Chinese characters and methods for learning them quickly and easily. During the research, substantial information about the origin and development of characters was revealed. The origin of Chinese characters began with ancient pictograms, which were gradually simplified and transformed into ideograms and phonetic characters. When we look at modern Chinese characters, they can be divided into simple, complex, radical-based, and phonetic characters. This shows that although ancient characters have become modernized, their structural principles have remained similar.
Regarding research on fast and easy learning of characters, conferences have shown that learners can effectively retain characters in memory by studying radicals and components, regularly reviewing them using applications such as Anki, and learning correct stroke order through other applications. In the future, the development of even more effective applications, dictionaries, and textbooks will increase the number of learners of Chinese characters worldwide, and it is considered appropriate to continue research in this direction.
REFERENCES
1.B. Karlgren, Grammata Serica.
2.Proceedings of the World Chinese Language Conference. Beijing: CIEF.
3.Uzbekistan State University of World Languages, Scientific-Practical Conference Proceedings.
4.Istrin, V.A., The Origin and Development of Writing, Moscow, 1965; Friedrich, I., History of Writing, trans. from German, Moscow, 1979; Mahmutkhojaev, M.H.; Bekmurotov, I.N., On Chinese Writing (Characters), Tashkent, 1990.
5.Madjidova, R.U.; Yuldasheva, F.F.; Reviewers: Muhammedova, S.X.; Salisheva, Z.I., Head of the Department of General Linguistics, Doctor of Philology, Professor; textbook General Linguistics, Uzbekistan State University of World Languages.