Jinwen
This style of Chinese character writing takes its name from the media on which it has survived — bronze objects from the Shang, Western and Eastern Zhou (西周 and 东周, Xi Zhou and Dong Zhou, approximately 1046–771 and 770–220 BCE respectively), Qin and Han (秦 and 汉, Qin and Han, 221 BCE – 219 CE). Writing on metal coexisted with other media: initially bones, shells, and stone in the Shang and Zhou states, and in Qin and Han times wood, bamboo, silk, and others.
During the transition from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty, the most significant changes occurred in ritual. Inscribed bronze ritual vessels and bells became features of Zhou ritual. Both were essential to sacrificial ceremonies honoring an ancestor who had brought glory to the family and received the favor of the Zhou emperor. Sacrificial ceremonies requiring specially made inscribed vessels were also performed following various grants and important legal acts — court decisions, the demarcation of land, and so on. In such cases, inscriptions on sacrificial vessels stated who was being appointed to an office or receiving another favor, for what services, and what a court had decided. Ritual vessels thus served as charters of grants and judicial rulings, confirming their owner’s rights and privileges. Compared with jiaguwen, jinwen characters were more stylized and acquired features resembling later forms of writing.
Archaeological finds allow three stages to be distinguished in the history of inscriptions on metal:
- The early period – the reigns of King Wu ( 武王, Wu wang), King Cheng (成王, Cheng wang), and King Kang (康王, Kang wang). In this period, inscriptions contained relatively few characters; the characters themselves were broad and substantial, and heavy pressure was applied to the brush when writing.
- The middle period – the reigns of King Zhao (昭王, Zhao wang) and King Mu (穆王, Mu wang). During this period, the style of writing changed slightly, and the characters no longer looked so «bulky».
- The late period – the appearance of the characters changed. They became more slender and compact, were spaced relatively far apart, and acquired a more proportionate square shape.
The earliest known attempt to codify Chinese character forms is the «List of Historiographer Zhou» (史籀篇, Shi Zhou Pian, the earliest known list of Chinese characters), compiled as early as the Western Zhou dynasty. According to tradition, this list consisted of 15 chapters, with characters arranged in a meaningful order. It is possible that the characters in this list were already organized into subject categories, as seen in later lists.