Amazing Chinese Characters (745）Qiang - 羌

The sell bone script of character Qiang is

The top is the horns of goat, the bottom is a person. The character means shepherd. Qiang was a big ethnic lived in Western China in Shang Dynasty, they are shepherds.

The bronze script of character Qiang is

The top is the goat, actually it is the top of character Goat (Post 6)

Let's see the bronze script of character Goat

The bottom is character People (Post 37)

Let's see the bronze script of character People

However, there is a dot on the character People in character Qiang. What does it mean? It is an indicative point which emphasizes the main meaning of the character is the People where the dot is located. That is the character indicating the person who is shepherd, not the goat. If the dot is on the top, it means the goat raised by people, not wide goat. 

The big seal script of character Qiang is 

The top is the top of character Goat, the bottom is character People.

The clerical script of character Qiang is

The top is the top of character Goat, the bottom is character People. 

The Pinyin of character Qiang is Qiang1.

Ethnic Qiang was defeated by Shang, many Qiang were killed by Shang in sacrificing. There is a Qiang ethnic in Sichuan, South East China, with population about 300,000. People believe that they are the dependents of Qiang in West China, they escaped to Sichuan and survived. 

The character is very old, but right now, it is only used for the ethnic people, ether lived in Western China tin Shang Dynasty, or live in Sichuan right now.

Amazing Chinese Characters (744) Wedge - 楔

The big seal script of character Wedge is

The left is character Wood (Post 10), the right is character Deed (Post 742). Deed is something binding two parts together, same as mortise and tenon structure which binding two or more parts together.

However, people used the character to present Wedge as well.

which is not original meaning, just the shape is similar, but the purpose is to split the fire wood, not to make close connection of two parts.

The small seal script of character Wedge is

Similar to big seal script.

Clerical script of character Wedge is

Similar to older scripts.

The Pinyin of the character is Xie4.  

Amazing Chinese Characters (743) Clean - 洁（潔）

 The big seal script of character Clean is

The left is character Water (Post 13), the right top means a deed carved on wood, the bottom is character Silk (Post 36). In ancient time, silk was very rare, very expensive, only King or high rank officers could afford to use. Here the silk is used to tie the deed wood because the deed is very important. The water on the left means the deed wood is washed by water often to keep it clean. 

The small seal script of character Clean is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Clean is

The left is Radical Three Water Drops, the right is similar to the older script right parts.

The simplified song typeface of the character Clean is

The right change to character 洁 - Lucky, not only the meaning is different, but the pronunciation is different: Ji2. A very bad simplification.

The Pinyin of the character Clean is Jie2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (742）Deed - 契

The big seal script of character Deed is

The top

is character 㓞 (Pinyin Qi4), which means "engrave text on wood". The character is not used long time ago, most dictionaries don't collect it but still exist in many compound characters.

The bottom is character Big (Post 76), meaning a big man who is trustable, and responsible person.

People negotiate each other, make agreement, then engrave the agreement on the wood as a document both will follow. It is similar to deed in modern times.

The small seals script of character Deed is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Deed is

Similar to old scripts.

Pinyin of the character is Qi4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (741) Thirty - 卅

The bronze script of character Thirty is

One rope has three ends, each has a big knot. As we learnt in the previous posts, one knot means ten, therefore the character means thirty. It is ancient Chinese to count and record the number.

The big seal script of character Thirty is

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of character Thirty is

There are three crosses, each cross means a knot. There are three separate ropes, which is different from the old scripts in which all knots linked on the same rope. 

The clerical script of character Thirty is

Changed a lot, it looks like all knots on one straight rope without any branch. 

The Pinyin of the character is Sa4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (740) Twenty - 廿

The shell bone script of character Twenty is

A role folded to two lines, one line represents Ten (Post 739), two lines represent twenty. 

The bronze script of character Twenty is

One bent rope has two knots, one  represents ten, so total is twenty.

The big seal script of character Twenty is

The two knots are replaced by a horizontal line.

The small seal script of character Twenty is

Similar to its big seal script.

The clerical script of character Twenty is

Similar to big and small seal scripts.

The Pinyin of the character Twenty is Nian4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (739）Ten - 十

The shell bone script of character Ten is

which is a vertical line, very confusing.

The bronze script of character Ten is

There is a big dot in the middle of the vertical line, which is a rope knot to represent Ten. We then know that the shell bone script above is a rope. Probably a rope represents Ten in very early time, later on, people use a knot in rope to represent Ten.

Before any character was created, ancient Chinese used knotting on rope to record the quality, amount, and number they got. In most documents, people believe that ancient Chinese used knotting to record what happened. I don't believe because it is impossible to represent the time, the place where the event happened, and what happened by knotting on rope. But it is easy to record the number by knotting.

The small seal script of Character Ten is

The big dot in bronze script horizontal line is replaced by a horizontal line, which is unique feature of small seal script: all dots are replaced by short line, either horizontal or vertical.

The clerical script of character Ten is

Similar to its small seal script.

The Pinyin of the character Ten is Shi2.