汉字，你从哪里来？
你认识这些字吗？
Can you recognize these characters?
这二十八字相传是由仓颉所造，在宋朝时被“破译”出来，但是这究竟是不是“正确答案”，依然有争议，还有很多神秘待后人揭开。
It is said these 28 characters were invented by Cangjie, a legendary Chinese figure. They were “deciphered” in the Song dynasty (960-1279), but whether these are the “correct answers” is still debatable, and many mysteries remain to be revealed.
传说上古黄帝时期，有一位史官叫仓颉，他观察山川脉络、鸟兽足迹、草木器具的形状，并从中受到启发，按照事物形状造出种种不同的符号，仓颉把这种符号叫做“字”。中国最原始的象形文字出现，从而结束了远古结绳记事的蒙昧时代。据史料《说文解字》中记载，仓颉造书两卷，隋朝战乱时丢失，现存只有二十八字。
It is said that Cangjie was an official historian of the Yellow Emperor (third of ancient China's mythological emperors). In his life, Cangjie observed mountains and rivers, footprints of birds and beasts, as well as shapes of plants and objects. Inspired by these, Cangjie invented various symbols based on the shapes and appearances of different things, and named them Zi (character). These most ancient Chinese pictographs have ended the time when people tie knots to record their lives. According to the Han dynasty’s (202 BC – 220 AD) Chinese dictionary Shuo Wen Jie Zi (discussing writing and explaining characters), Cangjie wrote two scrolls, which were lost during wars in Sui Dynasty (581-618). Now the 28 characters are all that remain.
近现代的学者们认为，汉字由仓颉一人创造，恐怕只是一个美好的传说。有很多象形文字的出现都要早于仓颉造字，汉字的起源并非全部出自仓颉，仓颉是汉字的整理者，在汉字创造的过程中起了重要作用。汉字是中华民族先民长期累积发展而来，随着时代更迭，经过几千年的演变，经历了甲骨文、金文、篆书、隶书、楷书等阶段，现在中国人普遍使用楷书，并逐渐由繁入简形成今天的汉字简体。
Scholars in contemporary times tend to believe it’s probably a beautiful tale that Cangjie alone invented the Chinese characters. Many Chinese pictographs actually came into being before Cangjie, so he couldn’t have invented all the Chinese characters. Cangjie is more like the one who collocates Chinese characters, which is also an important role. Chinese ancestors accumulated and developed the Chinese characters, iterating through hundreds of years, during which time the Chinese characters evaluated from oracle bone script to bronze script, seal script, clerical script, and finally to standard script. Nowadays, the Chinese people commonly use the standard script, whose traditional version was gradually simplified and used by most Chinese. (universally used in the Chinese mainland.)
关于仓颉造字，还有一个美丽的后续。相传当时天下正遭受旱灾，仓颉造字有功，感动了天帝，天降瑞雨，雨后遍地都是绿油油的谷子。人们便把这—天称为“谷雨”，成为中国传统二十四节气中的一个。
Cangjie’s legend also has a beautiful ending. It is said that people had been suffering from drought when Cangjie invented those characters. But moved by such achievements, the god of heaven let rainfall cover the land. After that rain, green grain sprouted up all over the land. Hence, people named this day Guyu (Grain Rain), which marks one of the 24 solar terms of China.
2010年，联合国中文日被选定在“谷雨”这一天，以纪念仓颉造字的贡献。如今，越来越多的外国人正在学习中文，现在，除中国外全球平均每31个人中就有1个人学习中文。学习中文是了解中国的一把钥匙，是感受中华文化魅力的方式。中文有优美的音调、形象的文字，虽然很多外国朋友都说汉字“难学”，但如果走近它、了解它，会发现汉字真的很美。
In 2010, the UN Chinese Language Day was set on the day of Guyu, in memory of Cangjie’s contribution. Nowadays, more and more people around the world are studying Chinese. Outside China, 1 in every 31 people is studying Chinese. Learning Chinese is more like a key to knowing China and feeling the charm of Chinese culture. The Chinese language has poetic tones and picture-like characters. Although many regard Chinese characters difficult to learn, if you get to know them more, you will be able to appreciate their beauty.
