This project rests on one central claim: the generative mechanism of Chinese characters was designed as a whole, at once, rather than evolving by accretion; the generation of every basic character encodes a rationale about the world and life — its zili. That rationale can be recovered systematically, and taught systematically.
What we study
The make-up of a Chinese character is a structure of relations among form, meaning and sound, at three levels: within a single character, among a group of characters, and across the script as a whole. This discipline asks where that structure comes from, by what rules it is built, and how it can be learned.
The central claim Axiom
The generative mechanism of Chinese characters was designed once and as a whole; their designers were accomplished cultivators of great wisdom (Cangjie, who created the seal script, and Wang Cizhong, who created the regular script); truthfulness, compassion and forbearance (zhen shan ren) are the most basic rationale of character formation.
These belong to the author’s position; we keep them whole and do not replace them with more “neutral” wording, while marking them as premises (axioms) of the system rather than empirically established conclusions. We draw the line against the evolutionary account usual in Chinese philology instead of blurring it: every explication gives the common reading (the accepted scholarly and everyday understanding) and the design reading (the rationale recovered from how the character was built) separately.
Two lines of thought
| Line | Question | Gist |
|---|---|---|
| Formation (the New Six Scripts) | Why are characters built as they are? | Two Modes of form and meaning + Four Images of rationale, form, sound and intent, extended by the Five-Phase method and the trigrams; the character rotor |
| Education (the return to the source) | What is education for, and how? | Education helps people regain what they originally are; it makes explicit the yin-yang and four-image properties and rationales lost in modern teaching |
The two lines meet in the rationale itself: it is what research recovers, what teaching passes on, and the source to which education returns. Research, teaching and cultural transmission are therefore three faces of one task — on this project, every research entry doubles as a teaching unit.
Relation to the Science of Generation Method
This project instantiates LI Xutong’s Science of Generation (conceptual generation theory) in one concrete sign system, Chinese script; it is a field where that system is applied and tested.
| Science of Generation | In the study of characters |
|---|---|
| Mutual arising (relations and entities arise from each other) | Form and meaning arise from each other as yin and yang, not as sign and referent; paired characters are designed in pairs |
| The rotor (self-defining mechanism) | The character rotor: the meaning of a basic character is its own rule of formation |
| Dual-track conceptual generation | Existence track (common reading, corpora, induction) / generation track (design reading, composition) |
| Proper classes, non-well-founded self-reference | A component that is also a character makes the formation tree self-referential |
| Circular recognition | Character families define one another and must be presented as wholes |
Epistemic labels
Five labels separate position from evidence: Axiom (a premise of the system), Method (an established norm), Measured (backed by computation or data, with the side measured), Done, Planned. Please keep them when you quote.
Five strands
Chinese teaching, AI-assisted courses, research, the classics library, traditional culture.
Explications
- Chinese 365: Day 12
- The New Six Scripts and the Character Rotor: A Cultural Reading of the Design Principles of Chinese Characters
- Chinese 365: Day 13
- Three Secrets Hidden in Chinese Surnames
- Breaking the Seal on Chinese Characters, Part 4: Why Understanding the Origin of Chinese Characters Matters (Continued)
- (Original, First Published) Exploring the Sealed-Away Design Principles of Chinese Characters, Part 3: Understanding the Origin of Chinese Characters Matters (Continued)
Project pages
The New Six Scripts
New Six Scripts = the Two Modes of form and meaning + the Four Images of rationale, form, sound and intent, extended by the Five-Phase method and the trigrams; the key concept is the character rotor.
Subject map
Exploring the Design Mysteries of Chinese Characters: three parts, nine chapters — thesis, theory, verification.
Strokes and layout
What the basic strokes mean, how joins carry meaning, and the nine-square layout — the fixed code behind every design reading.
Key concepts
The basic terms of the discipline and what exactly they mean.
History of the script
Continuity through change: the two transmissions, three scripts, simplified and traditional forms, and the history of pronunciation.
Research method
Three layers, two tracks calibrating each other, falsifiable tests and the anti-circularity gate — and the work in progress.
Bibliography
Foundational literature: the book, the classics and modern studies.
Review policy
Review status, epistemic labels, admission of new senses and corrections.
How to cite
Formats for citing the book, articles and pages, and keeping epistemic labels.
Submission guide
How to write and submit explications, lesson plans and research papers.
Latest explications on Reasoning Chinese
- Chinese 365: Day 12
- The New Six Scripts and the Character Rotor: A Cultural Reading of the Design Principles of Chinese Characters
- Chinese 365: Day 13
- Three Secrets Hidden in Chinese Surnames
- Breaking the Seal on Chinese Characters, Part 4: Why Understanding the Origin of Chinese Characters Matters (Continued)
- (Original, First Published) Exploring the Sealed-Away Design Principles of Chinese Characters, Part 3: Understanding the Origin of Chinese Characters Matters (Continued)
- Exploring the Sealed Design Principles of Chinese Characters, Part 2: Understanding the Origin of Chinese Characters Matters
- Exploring the Sealed Design Principles of Chinese Characters, Part One
Learning the characters
The project’s results become courses, worked examples and a learning app on Reasoning Chinese (hanyu.school). Learners, parents and teachers, please go there.