page_title: Chinese family of scripts
section_title: Scripts influenced by Chinese
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese family of scripts / Scripts influenced by Chinese
caption_attribution_description: English: Bronze Edict Plate with Western Xia characters. Western Xia Dynasty (A.D. 1038 - 1227) Created by the Dang Xiang ethnic group, the Western Xia characters used modified Chinese scripts. This bronze plate, when joined together perfectly with its matching half, proves the bearer's identity. On this plate is written Western Xia characters; the interior of the other is decorated with stylized patterns. Edict plates were used to send urgent documents and messages, under imperial orders.
context_page_description: The Chinese family of scripts are writing systems descended from the Chinese Oracle Bone Script and used for a variety of languages in East Asia. They include logosyllabic systems such as the Chinese script itself, and adaptations to other languages, such as Kanji, Hanja, Chữ nôm and Sawndip. More divergent are Tangut, Khitan large script, and its offspring Jurchen, as well as the Yi script and possibly Korean Hangul, which were inspired by Chinese although not directly descended from it. The partially deciphered Khitan small script may be another. In addition, various phonetic scripts descend from Chinese characters, of which the best known are the various kana syllabaries, the zhuyin semi-syllabary, nüshu, and some influence on hangul.
  The Chinese scripts are written in various calligraphic hands, principally seal script, clerical script, regular script, semi-cursive script, and cursive script.
context_section_description: Between the 10th and 13th centuries, northern China was ruled by foreign dynasties that created scripts for their own languages.
  The Khitan large script and Khitan small script, which in turn influenced the Tangut script and Jurchen script, used characters that superficially resemble Chinese characters, but with the exception of a few loans were constructed using quite different principles.
  In particular the Khitan small script contained phonetic sub-elements arranged in a square block in a manner similar to the more sophisticated Hangul system devised later for Korean.
  Other scripts in China that borrowed or adapted some Chinese characters but are otherwise distinct include Ba–Shu scripts, Geba script, Sui script, Yi script and the Lisu syllabary.
caption: Bronze edict plate with Tangut characters
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-N2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "459/2", "Image YResolution": "459/2", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:25 17:09:54", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "304", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "830", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5967", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:10:25 14:35:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:10:25 14:35:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "9", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1836", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2295", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}