Episode 25: The Chinese Folktale "Cangjie Creates Writing" (Part 2)

In the previous episode, wediscussed how, in a time without written language, Cangjie, as a historian, notonly worked tirelessly but also struggled to pass on knowledge and experienceto others. Everything had to be figured out on one's own. One day, the patternson a turtle's shell unexpectedly inspired Cangjie to create written characters.From that day onward, Cangjiebegan to carefully observe the world around him: the shapes of the sun andmoon, the appearance of birds, beasts, insects, and fish, human movements, theforms of objects, and the postures of plants and trees. It is said that Cangjiehad four eyes, making his observations more detailed than others'. Hediscovered that everything had its own unique features, which becameincreasingly fascinating to him. Next,Cangjie began using lines to create symbols representing each object.