Why did the ancient Chinese write from right to left?

Normally, countries around the world start writing letters from left to right in a horizontal row. But the ancient Chinese wrote letters in a very unique and different order. They write letters vertically from top to bottom and right to left. But why do they write like that?

In fact, this has very deep historical reasons. To learn about this, first of all, let's learn about the birth and history of the invention of writing materials of ancient China.

Materials for writing letters

 According to current records, bamboo cards appeared as early as the Warring States period.

In ancient times, the Huaxia people not only knew how to use tortoise shells, animal bones, etc. to engrave words, but bamboo and wooden cards were also used by ancient people to write and take notes.

This method was originally circulated from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Wei Jin Dynasty. It is also recorded that it appeared from the An Dynasty. According to current records, bamboo cards appeared as early as the Warring States period because they were found when excavating the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi in Sui County, Hubei and as late as the Wei Jin period.

In ancient times, people used bamboo and wooden cards to make books in a very popular way. From important documents such as official documents of kings to personal correspondence, copies of records, calendars, music . all use bamboo cards, or wooden cards. These findings and research are considered as one of the important achievements of modern academics.

Each bamboo card is about 1 cm wide and written in a vertical line. Because the tags can be of different short lengths, the number of letters also varies. There is also a bamboo card with a width of about 2 cm, on each of these cards are written two lines of vertical letters. This type of card is called "Dual Row" (two rows). The wooden card is usually wider than this "Double Row" bamboo card, can be up to 6 cm wide, in fact it has the shape of a slab, so it is also called "Letter". These cards are usually bound together into books by threads of silk or hemp rope. People tie the card into a book first, then write the word on the card, the outside of the string is left blank, not written.

Because the making of bamboo and wooden cards is quite complicated. Moreover, the number of words written on the card is also limited, not much, it is not convenient to carry it around. So by the time of Qin Han, thin silk became the most important material for writing letters. People use thin silk to write books, called "silk books".

Later, the paper making technique appeared and was constantly improved. Bamboo and wooden cards were gradually eliminated. Paper became the most important and popular material for writing letters.

The order of writing Chinese characters in ancient times

When writing the word Armor, the majority is from top to bottom. (Illustration)

Based on the unearthed historical documents, it has been determined that the ancient Chinese wrote letters in an uncertain order and direction.

In the An dynasty, when writing the Giap bone script, most of them were from top to bottom, some characters were written from left to right and some were written in the right-to-left direction. Why does this happen? That's because, when using turtle shells, bones, etc. to make inscriptions, carving from left to right or right to left does not make a big impact.

When bamboo and wooden cards became the main materials for writing letters, the new writing direction was gradually fixed. Sinologist Cun Qian Huan (1910 -2015) and other researchers have shown that, although it is impossible to confirm the cause of the vertical writing style, the vast majority of characters use a brush to write letters. are all top to bottom and right to left.

The reason for writing kanji from right to left

 After the Xinhai Revolution, the order of writing Chinese characters changed.

The reason why the ancients wrote vertically was because before writing paper was born, the ancients wrote on bamboo, bamboo (bamboo simplicity), and wood (rustic) cards. These bamboo and wooden cards are long and narrow, so they can only hold one line of text. They were made into sheets and rolled into books (like bamboo and bamboo blinds today). Even the word book '册' itself has the image of bamboo and wooden cards.

In the past, there was no table, so when writing, people used the left hand to hold a bunch of cards, the right hand to write from top to bottom along the card. After writing a card, fold it to the right and write on the next card. People write in turn from far to near the left hand like that until the end. This is the reason why the ancients wrote in the right-to-left direction (this is the rule of writing on bamboo cards). When opening a book, it is natural that the right hand is easier to lift heavy objects, so the right hand will hold the book, the left hand will open the book.

Since the Xinhai revolution, the Chinese have consulted Western culture, so the order of writing Chinese characters has changed to what it is today, which is to write horizontally from left to right.