Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Objects in Chinese

In ancient China, people inscribed the characters on the bronze objects and called it Jinwen. When you come to learn Mandarin in China, you may also hear this kind of inscriptions were also called the inscriptions of bell and ding (a kind of ancient vessel) because they are the representatives of bonze instruments in ancient China. Foreigners who learn Mandarin should know the bronze ware was originally the daily vessels and then functioned as symbols of telling the noble and ordinary apart.

About the inscriptions on the bronze objects, some has only one character and some two or three. Students who learn Chinese language may know it’s getting longer in Western Zhou Dynasty. The writing materials and methods are different from those of the inscriptions on tortoise shells. One thing the students who learn Mandarin should know is the application duration of this kind of inscriptions is 1200 years. There was great difference among the inscriptions in the early stage, middle age and the late age. Some characters in the inscriptions on bronze wares were more vivid than those on tortoise shells.