[General_Zhaoyun]

In traditional chinese writing format, you will start by writing from right to left and from top to bottom, column by column... (see below). This is also the sequence on how to read chinese in traditional format.



This traditonal format is still preserved today in Taiwan, where books were published in this style. PRC format are usually using modern format from left to right, row by row, as a result of influence from the west.

Why is the traditional chinese writing from right to left?

I'm not too sure about its historical origin, but my chinese linguistic teacher had once explained that it could be due to the way how the inscription was done on the oracle bone of Shang dynasty (i.e. the Jiaguwen 甲骨文). The Jiaguwen (oracle inscription) of Shang dynasty was the earliest chinese writing found in China and at that time, inscriptions were carved using knife onto a turtle shell or bone. There wasn't any 'pen' at that time, thus to inscribe the words, you would have to hold the turtle shell using the left hand and use your right hand to hold a knife and inscribe the writing onto the turtle shell.

Now, it would naturally be more convenient and easier (handy) to inscribe the writing from right to left (assuming you're right-handed and bearing in mind that you need a certain force to use a knife to inscribe the characters on the turtle shell).


Oracle Bone Inscription of Shang dynasty (Jiaguwen)


I'm not too sure whether this kind of explanation is valid. Why do you think the traditional chinese writing is from right to left, and not from left to right? Any comments and explanation is appreciated.

[Liang Jieming]

What I understand is that the European left to right is due to scribes using ink which needs time to dry. Most scribes being right-handed would hence be writing towards the right side and so won't have the sleeve rub against the undried ink.

The Chinese had established the right to left system well before the invention of ink so it must be because of something inherent in carving/chipping stone/bamboo that "fixed" it right to left.

[snowybeagle]

I believe the explanation related to characters originally being carved rather than written would be accurate.

This is also the observation of my ex-neighbour from Israel. The convention applies not only to Chinese writings, but to most writings whose origins were based on carvings, including traditional Arabic and Hebrew.

See section on Directionality in http://en.wikipedia....Writing_systems

[lanjingling]

But why do many radicals are at the left of the character , & not at the right , when the writing is from right to left ?

[fcharton]

lanjingling, on Jun 23 2006, 02:11 PM, said:

But why do many radicals are at the left of the character , & not at the right , when the writing is from right to left ?

In fact, at the character level, the writing is pretty much left to write (you usually write the left part before the right part, horizontal strokes are written from left to right...).

So, when you look closely :
- at the character level, it is globally left to right (and top to bottom)
- at the "line level", it is vertical (ie chinese write in columns whereas most other languages write in lines)
- at the "top level" it is right to left (just as western languages are written from top to bottom)

Of course, when you read a book, the top level is the most visible, because it determines the order in which the pages are read, but in my opinion, the hallmark of chinese writing is "top to bottom", and the comparisons with arabic and hebrews are a bit far fetched...

Francois

This post has been edited by fcharton: 23 June 2006 - 07:52 AM

[snowybeagle]

fcharton, on Jun 23 2006, 08:51 PM, said:

but in my opinion, the hallmark of chinese writing is "top to bottom", and the comparisons with arabic and hebrews are a bit far fetched...

Not at all.

First, right to left origins is because of how one carves before the brush/pen was invented.

Next, the top to bottom origins is because of bamboo scrolls, which no other culture seemed to use.

Middle Eastern societies had scrolls, but those were papyrus etc., not bamboo.

Anyone is welcomed to try an experiment - make a scroll, a long one, of bamboo or wooden strips.
See which is more comfortable - lay the scroll sideways or up-down for writing.

IMHO, our panoramic view tends towards landscape rather than portrait.

Nonetheless, after paper and book binding is invented, portrait shape is found to be easier to handle rather than landscape.

[fcharton]

snowybeagle, on Jun 23 2006, 03:04 PM, said:

First, right to left origins is because of how one carves before the brush/pen was invented.

Next, the top to bottom origins is because of bamboo scrolls, which no other culture seemed to use.

But, aren't the Jiaguwen older than bamboo scrolls, and weren't they written from top to bottom? My impression is that the top to bottom order comes from the shape of the turtle carapaces, people would naturally tend to hold them in the "correct direction", and one can write longer sentences in the vertical direction than in the horizontal direction. And a text with a few long lines is easier to read than one with many short lines...

I must say I am unconvinced about the carving explanation: in the west, many ancient carvings are "boustrophedonic" (one line right to left, the next one left to right, etc...) which shows that there is no "privileged" direction for writing when carving.

Francois

[qrasy]

fcharton, on Jun 23 2006, 08:51 PM, said:

In fact, at the character level, the writing is pretty much left to write (you usually write the left part before the right part, horizontal strokes are written from left to right...).

Why is that the line-alignment direction reverse of general character writing order? And when it's on labelling pavilions, there is only one character per column, so it's reversed.

fcharton, on Jun 23 2006, 09:27 PM, said:

I must say I am unconvinced about the carving explanation: in the west, many ancient carvings are "boustrophedonic" (one line right to left, the next one left to right, etc...) which shows that there is no "privileged" direction for writing when carving.

If I recall correctly, Europeans once used horizontal scrolls and boustropedon forced them to unwind and rewind again and again?

This post has been edited by qrasy: 23 June 2006 - 08:38 AM

[oliverarodriguez]

Well I have seen old hand writing documents from chinese people from XIX century where they write in colums from right to left, from up to down, but other documents where they write from down to up. I asked about it to an old man and he explained to me that ancient chineses used to do it that way because it was "a sign of wisdom" he says that the texts that read in both ways had sense and diferent intepretation were very appretiated. Have anyone heard anything like this??????

[KaLing]

It's a bit relavant to this topic...I've always wondered why in China, it is "East, South, West, North". Why is the East/right side more "respected" than the West/left?

[Liang Jieming]

My own take on this, the traditional threats to China almost always came from the north and west.