Cang Jie Inventing the Chinese Writing System—Farewell to the Uncivilized Society
Cang Jie Temple in Baishui County, Shaanxi Province
The Chinese character is regarded as one of the oldest writing systems in the world. Different from other ancient civilizations which vanished or were disturbed by natural disasters or wars, the Chinese civilization survived wars and social upheavals during the past thousands of years. One major reason for the sustaining power of the Chinese civilization is that Chinese characters had been serving as an important medium to record the countless ancient events and popularize the Chinese culture. The inventor of the Chinese characters is none other than Cang Jie, a legendary figure who was believed to be a native of Shaanxi Province.
Before Cang Jie invented the Chinese characters, people recorded daily events mainly by tying knots on the thread. They would tie a small knot when something happened and a big knot when a big event took place. When events were relevant to each other, people would make a series of knots to record their relevance. Subsequently, people began to keep records by carving signs on wood or bamboo plates. With the development of society, complicated situation and volatile changes made it impossible for people to record with mere knots or signs on wood and therefore a systematic writing system became imperative. To deal with the problem, Cang Jie initiated the writing system of Chinese characters to replace the primitive recording ways of knotting or carving on boards, which symbolizes China’s entry into the age with written records. It was one great event in the long Chinese history and had profound influence on the successive generations.
To memorize Cang Jie’s contribution to the Chinese characters, a Cang Jie Temple was built in his hometown, which is the only existing temple in China to commemorate the inventor of the Chinese writing system. The temple and Cang Jie’s tomb are both located in Yangwu Village, 35km northeast of the seat of Baishui County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. Inscriptions on the steles in the temple recorded that Cang Jie Temple had reached a fairly large scale in as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25～220AD) and the recorded history of the temple dates back to some 1,800 years ago. In the temple, there are imposing constructions with a grove of huge exuberant ancient cypresses, which, together with cypresses in the Mausoleum of Yellow Emperor in Shaanxi as well as cypresses in Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province, are known as the Top Three Ancient Cypress Groves in China. What is noticeable is that among these three groves the cypresses in Cang Jie Temple are the oldest on average.
Cang Jie Temple once had a huge collection of steles and recently you can still find 18 intact steles which have survived wars and social upheavals. People can trace the history of the temple from the inscriptions on various steles. Of these steles, the Cang Jie Temple Stele erected in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the oldest one, which is now collected in Beilin Museum (Forest of Stone Steles Museum) in Xi’an City. General Guangwu Stele is the only stele erected in Former Qin Period (351～394AD), which was highly praised by famous calligraphers in different dynasties because on it you can find a combination of two styles of Chinese calligraphy—lishu (the official script) and kaishu (the regular script). Cang Jie Temple is now entitled State-level Key Cultural Site under Protection and a Cang Jie Museum has also been built on the site.
