Editing Written Chinese (section)

== Structure ==
[[Image:Shuowen.jpg|thumb|right|A 12th-century [[Song dynasty]] redaction of the ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'']]
Written Chinese is not based on an alphabet or syllabary.{{sfnp|Wieger|1915}} Most characters can be analyzed as compounds of smaller components, which may be assembled according to several different principles. Characters and components may reflect aspects of meaning or pronunciation. The best known exposition of Chinese character composition is the ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'', compiled by [[Xu Shen]] {{circa|100 CE}}. Xu did not have access to the earliest forms of Chinese characters, and his analysis is not considered to fully capture the nature of the writing system.{{sfnp|Schuessler|2007|p=9}} Nevertheless, no later work has supplanted the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' in terms of breadth, and it is still relevant to etymological research today.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=67}}

=== Derivation of characters ===
{{Main|Chinese character classification}}
According to the ''Shuowen Jiezi'', Chinese characters are developed on six basic principles.{{sfnp|Wieger|1915|pp=10–11}} (These principles, though popularized by the ''Shuowen Jiezi'', were developed earlier; the oldest known mention of them is in the ''[[Rites of Zhou]]'', a text from {{circa|150&nbsp;BCE}}.<ref name="LuXun1934">{{Cite book |last=Lu |first=Xun |author-link=Lu Xun |url=http://www.pinyin.info/readings/lu_xun/writing.html |title=Hawaiʻi Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture |year=2005 |editor-last=Mair |editor-first=Victor H. |editor-link=Victor H. Mair |chapter=An Outsider's Chats about Written Language |orig-date=1934 |editor-last2=Steinhardt |editor-first2=Nancy S. |editor-last3=Goldin |editor-first3=Paul R. |via=pinyin.info}}</ref>) The first two principles produce simple characters, known as {{zhc|c=文|p=wén}}:{{sfnp|Wieger|1915|pp=10–11}}

<ol>
<li>'''Pictographs''' ({{zhi|c=象形|p=xiàngxíng}}): in which the character is a graphical depiction of the object it denotes.
:''Examples'': {{zhc|c=人|p=rén|l=person}}, {{zhc|c=日|p=rì|l=sun}}, {{zhc|c=木|p=mù|l=tree}}.</li>
<li>'''Indicatives''' ({{zhi|c=指事|p=zhǐshì}}): in which the character represents an abstract notion.
:''Examples'': {{zhc|c=上|p=shàng|l=up}}, {{zhc|c=下|p=xià|l=down}}, {{zhc|c=三|p=sān|l=three}}.</li>
</ol>

The remaining four principles produce complex characters historically called {{zhc|c=字|p=zì}}, though this term is now generally used to refer to all characters, whether simple or complex. Of these four, two construct characters from simpler parts:{{sfnp|Wieger|1915|pp=10–11}}

<ol start="3">
<li>'''Ideographic compounds''' ({{zhi|t=會意|s=会意|p=huìyì}}): in which two or more parts are used for their meaning. This yields a composite meaning, which is then applied to the new character.
:''Example'': {{zhc|t=東|s=东|p=dōng|l=east}}, which represents a sun rising in the trees.</li>
<li>'''Phono-semantic compounds''' ({{zhi|t=形聲|s=形声|p=xíngshēng}}): in which one part—often called the [[radical (Chinese character)|radical]]—indicates the general semantic category of the character, such as being related to ''water'' or ''eyes', with the other part being another character used for its phonetic value.
:''Example'': {{zhc|c=晴|p=qíng|l=clear weather}}, which is composed of {{zhc|c=日|p=rì|l=sun}}, and {{zhc|c=青|p=qīng|l=[[Blue–green distinction in language|grue]]}}, which is used for its pronunciation.</li>
</ol>

The last two principles do not produce new written forms; they instead transfer new meanings to existing forms:{{sfnp|Wieger|1915|pp=10–11}}

<ol start="5">
<li>'''Transference''' ({{zhi|t=轉注|s=转注|p=zhuǎnzhù}}): in which a character, often with a simple, concrete meaning takes on an extended, more abstract meaning.
:''Example'': {{zhi|c=网|p=wǎng|net}}, which was originally a pictograph depicting a fishing net. Over time, it has taken on an extended meaning, covering any kind of [[Latticework|lattice]]: for instance, it is the word used to refer to computer networks.</li>
<li>'''Loangraphs''' ({{zhi|c=假借|p=jiǎjiè}}): in which a character is used, either intentionally or accidentally, for some entirely different purpose.
:''Example'': {{zhc|c=哥|p=gē|l=elder brother}} is not attested in formal writing prior to the Tang dynasty, and was created from the leftmost component of the more ancient character {{zhc|c=歌|p=gē|l=to sing}}. The ancient character {{zhc|c=兄|p=xiōng}} meaning 'elder brother' continues to be used in idioms and formal writing, whereas {{zhc|c=哥}} is used in daily conversation in most Chinese dialects. Some dialects such as Minnan which retain features of spoken Old Chinese continue to use {{zhc|c=兄}} exclusively for 'elder brother' in daily conversation.</li>
</ol>

In contrast to the popular conception of written Chinese as [[ideographic]], the vast majority of characters—about 95% of those in the ''Shuowen Jiezi''—either reflect elements of pronunciation, or are logical aggregates.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1984|p=84}} In fact, some phonetic complexes were originally simple pictographs that were later augmented by the addition of a semantic root. An example is {{zhi|c=炷|p=zhù|l=lampwick}}, now archaic, which was originally a pictograph of a lamp stand {{zhi|c=主}}, a character that is now pronounced {{zhi|p=zhǔ}} and means 'host', or the character {{zhc|c=火|p=huǒ|l=fire}} was added to indicate that the meaning is fire related.{{sfnp|Wieger|1915|p=30}}

Chinese characters are written to fit into a square, even when composed of two simpler forms written side-by-side or top-to-bottom. In such cases, each form is compressed to fit the entire character into a square.{{sfnp|Björkstén|1994|p=52}}

=== Strokes ===
{{Main|Chinese character strokes}}
Character components can be further subdivided into individual written strokes. The strokes of Chinese characters fall into eight main categories: "horizontal" {{angbr|{{hani|一}}}}, "vertical" {{angbr|{{hani|丨}}}}, "left-falling" {{angbr|{{hani|丿}}}}, "right-falling" {{angbr|{{hani|丶}}}}, "rising", "dot" {{angbr|{{hani|、}}}}, "hook" {{angbr|{{hani|亅}}}}, and "turning" {{angbr|{{hani|乛}}}}, {{angbr|{{hani|乚}}}}, {{angbr|{{hani|乙}}}}.{{sfnp|Björkstén|1994|pp=31–43}}

There are eight basic rules of stroke order in writing a Chinese character, which apply only generally and are sometimes violated:{{sfnp|Björkstén|1994|pp=46–49}}

# Horizontal strokes are written before vertical ones.
# Left-falling strokes are written before right-falling ones.
# Characters are written from top to bottom.
# Characters are written from left to right.
# If a character is framed from above, the frame is written first.
# If a character is framed from below, the frame is written last.
# Frames are closed last.
# In a symmetrical character, the middle is drawn first, then the sides.

=== Layout ===
{{Further|Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts|Chinese punctuation}}
[[File:HK Hung Hom 京都大酒樓 Capital Restaurant Ma Tau Wai Road 35 Fat Kwong Street KMBus Stop.JPG|thumb|right|Chinese written from top-to-bottom on restaurant and bus stop signs in Hong Kong]]

As characters are essentially rectilinear and are not joined with one another, written Chinese does not require a set orientation. Chinese texts were traditionally written in columns from top to bottom, which were laid out from right to left. Prior to the 20th century, Literary Chinese used little to no punctuation, with the breaks between sentences and phrases determined largely by context and the rhythms implied by patterns of syllables.<ref name="HuangEtAl2002">{{Cite conference |last=Huang |first=Liang |display-authors=etal |year=2002 |title=Statistical Part-of-Speech Tagging for Classical Chinese |conference=Text, Speech, and Dialogue: Fifth International Conference |pages=115–122}}</ref>

In the 20th century, the layout used in Western scripts—where text is written in rows from left to right, which are laid out from top to bottom—became predominant in mainland China, where it was mandated by the Chinese government in 1955. Vertical layouts are still used for aesthetic effect, or when space limitations require it, such as on signage or book spines.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=80}} The government of [[Taiwan]] followed suit in 2004 for official documents, but vertical layouts have persisted in some books and newspapers.<ref name="BBC2004">{{Cite news |date=4 May 2004 |title=Taiwan Law Orders One-Way Writing |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3683825.stm |work=BBC |quote=Official Taiwanese documents can no longer be written from right to left or from top to bottom in a new law passed by the country's parliament}}</ref>

Less frequently, Chinese is written in rows from right to left, usually on signage or banners, though a left to right orientation remains more common.<ref name="Go1995.P">{{Cite book |last=Go |first=Ping-gam |title=Understanding Chinese Characters |publisher=Simplex |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-9623113-4-5 |edition=3rd |location=San Francisco |pages=1–31 |language=en,zh}}</ref>

The use of punctuation has also become more common. In general, punctuation occupies the width of a full character, such that text remains visually well-aligned in a grid. Punctuation used in simplified Chinese shows clear influence from that used in Western scripts, though some marks are particular to Asian languages. For example, there are double and single quotation marks (『 』 and 「 」), and a hollow full stop (。), which is used to separate sentences in an identical manner to a Western full stop. A special mark called an ''[[enumeration comma]]'' (、) is used to separate items in a list, as opposed to the clauses in a sentence.