Technology Connects the "Silk Road" | Strokes and Dots Awaken Chinese Character Cultural Resonance

"Form and Melody" spans across countries along the Silk Road, conveying the charm of Chinese character culture. The connection between technology and humanities reveals the hidden mysteries of Chinese characters. Language and writing are not only symbols and indicators of culture but also the genes and roots of civilization.

Through innovative research paradigms, the process of learning Chinese characters no longer requires initial recognition of pinyin (phonetic transcription), but instead focuses on the shape of the characters. By analyzing the shape of the characters, one can infer their application in various fields and determine whether they are pronounced with a flat or oblique tone.

Discovering the Unique Features of Chinese Characters

"During our research, we have found that foreign learners of Chinese characters face three main difficulties. Firstly, they lack sufficient understandings of the relationship between the shape, pronunciation, and meaning of Chinese characters. Secondly, the teaching systems and paradigms are relatively rigid. Lastly, there is a lack of comprehensive environmental promotion," explained team members Chen Yuxuan and Liu Yuqing to the reporters, summarizing the research findings of the project.

The "Form and Melody Chinese Characters" team from Sichuan University have conducted several surveys and interviews with over a thousand individuals from 24 countries along the “Belt and Road” Initiative who are learning Chinese or involved in the dissemination of Chinese character culture. This has provided a rough understanding of the situation regarding the learning of Chinese by non-native speakers, giving a more concrete impression of their attitudes, and the dissemination environment. In order to address the aforementioned problems and optimize the dissemination of Chinese character culture, the team has been approaching the research from an innovative perspective. Instead of focusing on individual characters, they have studied groups of similar characters as a whole, breaking free from the traditional paradigm of tracing the origins of individual characters. By utilizing unique pixel overlaying techniques and sound pattern analysis, they have conducted a macro-level study of thousands of characters to explore the overall characteristics of a particular group of characters.

In conversations with team members Wu Shihan and Hu Jingwei, the journalists learned that most flat-toned characters are associated with animals. For example, the radicals such as 马 (horse), 月 (moon), 牛 (cow), 隹 (short-tailed bird), 鱼 (fish), and风 (wind), are frequently used in flat-toned characters and exhibit a strong correlation with animals. The frequency and animal sounds associated with flat tones are also similar. The project team made the first significant discovery of the significant correlation between tone class and morphological structure of Chinese characters.

Bringing Chinese Characters to Public Spaces in Cities

This unique research outcome vividly presents the features of Chinese characters to Chinese language learners, allowing foreigners to first understand the overall characteristics of Chinese characters before studying the single character of its form, pronunciation, and meaning. This approach significantly improves the efficiency of learning Chinese characters.

"The research achievements made by the students have great significance for the innovative development of liberal arts, and what's more valuable is that they fully utilize the important online and offline public spaces in international communication, exploring new ways of disseminating Chinese character culture," said the team's supervisor, Song Yao, to the reporters.

The success of this project provides new ideas and methods for the field of Chinese character learning, and it holds significant importance in promoting the dissemination and understanding of Chinese culture. The team plans to continue their research and intends to extend the results to a wider range of educational fields, providing convenience and innovative learning methods for more Chinese-character learners.

Currently, the project's interactive website and brochures based on the project's research findings have been fully integrated with international public spaces. The project has entered into cooperation with the volunteer training department of the Universiade to construct an atmosphere of friendly communication of Chinese characters through the close communication between international volunteers and foreigners during the course of large events. Through multi-temporal and full-platform communication and propaganda, a new space for friendly communication of Chinese characters is constructed in order to help more non-native Chinese speakers learn Chinese characters and understand Chinese culture.