| dc.description.abstract | Due to the strong graphic features in Chinese characters, we can take a glimpse at the epitome of the social and cultural phenomena of the ancients from the study of Chinese characters. Chinese characters reflect not only the meaning of words but also the cultural information related to ancient society. The process of analyzing ancient characters was like travel through ancient culture, where the lives of ancient people vitalized in front of us. Every single Chinese character is a piece of living fossil. The gathering and accumulating of these Chinese characters have established a rich historical database for studying the history of the Chinese nation.
Among the category of the study of Chinese character, the book ＂Shuowen＂ written by Xu Shen in Eastern Han Dynasty occupies an extremely important position in grammatology. Based on the interpretation of the characters listed in Xu Shen′s ＂ Shuowen＂, this article traced back to the glyphs such as oracle bone script (甲骨文) and Chinese bronze inscriptions(金文) and supplemented with classics and literature, as well as the evidence of archaeological artifacts. With marriage, procreation, and funeral as its key concepts, this article attempts to construct the prototype of the etiquette within ancient society.
By the means of tracing back the Chinese characters in the chapter on Chinese characters and marriage, it helps to understand the wedding customs, the title for relatives and other related word groups, and it also discusses the special marriage customs in ancient time— the origin of the marriage by capture, the marriage by purchase, and the concubine marriage. As for the chapter on Chinese characters and procreation, in addition to the ancient fertility cult and belief, the word groups from pregnancy to delivery, it also explains the fertility concept in ancient time. In the chapter on Chinese characters and funerals, it highlights the word groups of how the ancient people disposed of the dead bodies, the burial system, and even the utensils in tombs, as well as funeral ceremonies. In addition to recording the close relationship between Chinese characters and Chinese culture, this article attempted to correct the interpretation mistakes Xu Shen made in the era when he was confined to the data insufficiency of ancient characters. | en_US |