Orthography of Early Chinese Writing: Evidence from Newly Excavated Manuscripts

摘要

There have been very few dedicated studies on the subject of orthographic variability and ancient character forms in early Chinese writing, in English or even in Chinese scholarship. We are glad to see Professor Imre Galambos' significant volume coming out with new materials, approaches, and findings. Traditional views prescribe the evolution of early Chinese writing as along a single and simple line from Shang-Zhou oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions to Qin-Han small seal and clerical scripts. The effect of the Qin unification and standardisation of the writing system has been taken at face value. When explaining cases of variations, scholars have generally assumed that every character had a correct or standard form while all other forms were derivatives, and have attributed most of the differences to either temporal or spatial factors.