Template:Did you know nominations/Chinese characters

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 20:27, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Chinese characters

(

)

Oracle bone inscription on an ox scapula, 11th century BCE

... that according to legend, the invention of Chinese characters (oracle bone pictured) caused grain to rain from the sky and ghosts and demons to wail in frustration? Source: According to one tradition, Chinese characters were invented during the 3rd millennium BCE by Cangjie, a scribe of the legendary Yellow Emperor. Cangjie is said to have invented symbols called 字 (zì) due to his frustration with the limitations of knotting, taking inspiration from his study of the tracks of animals, landscapes, and the stars in the sky. On the day that these first characters were created, grain rained down from the sky; that night, the people heard the wailing of ghosts and demons, lamenting that humans could no longer be cheated.^[1]^[2]
- ALT1: ... that the oldest known Chinese characters were recorded on oracle bones (example pictured)? Source: The oldest attested Chinese writing comprises a body of inscriptions produced during the Late Shang period (c. 1250 – 1050 BCE), with the very earliest examples from the reign of Wu Ding dated between 1250 and 1200 BCE.^[3]^[4]
- Reviewed:

Improved to Good Article status by Remsense (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has less than 5 past nominations.

Remsense诉 04:25, 30 May 2024 (UTC).

I really like that first hook. Article is in great shape and eligible (congrats on the GA, btw), and I was able to confirm the story through Google Books keyword searching. QPQ is not needed. Looks like we're good to go. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 03:05, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
Oh no, I've just realized that I somehow forgot that images need to be used in the article. I chose this one as the oracle bone image used in the article itself actually already appeared on DYK and I didn't think it'd look that good, so I selected another one we've used from Commons. Is there anything elegant I can do here, do you think? Remsense诉 06:20, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

References

^ Yang, Lihui; An, Deming (2008). Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-195-33263-6.
^ Boltz 1994, pp. 130–138.
^ Boltz, William G. (1999). "Language and Writing". In Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. pp. 74, 107–108. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via Google Books.
^ Liu, Kexin; Wu, Xiaohong; Guo, Zhiyu; Yuan, Sixun; Ding, Xingfang; Fu, Dongpo; Pan, Yan (2021). "Radiocarbon Dating of Oracle Bones of the Late Shang Period in Ancient China". Radiocarbon. 63 (1): 155–175. Bibcode:2021Radcb..63..155L. doi:10.1017/RDC.2020.90.

[1] Yang, Lihui; An, Deming (2008). Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-195-33263-6.

[FOOTNOTEBoltz1994130–138-2] Boltz 1994, pp. 130–138.

[3] Boltz, William G. (1999). "Language and Writing". In Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. pp. 74, 107–108. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via Google Books.

[4] Liu, Kexin; Wu, Xiaohong; Guo, Zhiyu; Yuan, Sixun; Ding, Xingfang; Fu, Dongpo; Pan, Yan (2021). "Radiocarbon Dating of Oracle Bones of the Late Shang Period in Ancient China". Radiocarbon. 63 (1): 155–175. Bibcode:2021Radcb..63..155L. doi:10.1017/RDC.2020.90.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]