Cangjie (
Wade-GilesWade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system for the Mandarin language used in Beijing. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles' was the main...
,
Ts'ang-chieh) is a very important figure in ancient
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(c. 2650 BC), claimed to be an official historian of the
Yellow EmperorHuang-di, or the Yellow Emperor, is a legendary Chinese sovereign and cultural hero who is considered in Chinese mythology to be the ancestor of all Han Chinese. He was one of the legendary Five Emperors. He was mentioned in the Shiji by historian Sima Qian . Tradition holds that he reigned from...
and the inventor of
Chinese characterA Chinese character, also known as a Han character , is a logogram used in writing Chinese , Japanese , less frequently Korean , and formerly Vietnamese , and other languages...
s. Legend has it that he had four eyes and
eight pupilsPolycoria is a pathological condition of the eye characterized by more than one pupillary opening in the iris. It may be congenital or result from a disease affecting the iris.-See also:*Eye injury*Iridodialysis*Monocular diplopia...
, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained
milletThe millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
. He is considered a
legendA legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
ary figure rather than a historical figure, or at least, not considered to be sole inventor of Chinese characters. The
Cangjie methodThe Cangjie input method is a system by which Chinese characters may be entered into a computer by means of a standard keyboard...
, a Chinese character input method, is named after him. A rock on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
, visited by the Mars rover
SpiritSpirit, mission designation MER-A , is the first of the two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars on 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin Opportunity landed on the other side of the planet...
, was named after him by the rover team.
Legend of character creation
Shortly after unifying China, the Yellow Emperor, being terribly dissatisfied with his "rope knot tying" method (e.g.,
QuipuQuipus or khipus were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. A quipu usually consisted of colored spun and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It could also be made of cotton cords...
) of recording information, charges Cangjie with the task of creating characters for writing. Cangjie then settles down on the bank of a river, and devotes himself to the completion of the task at hand. After devoting much time and effort, however, he's unable to create even one character. One day, Cangjie suddenly sees a phoenix flying in the sky above, carrying an object in its beak. The object falls to the ground directly in front of Cangjie, and he discovers it to be an impression of a hoof-print. Not being able to recognize which animal the print belonged to, he asked for the help of a local hunter passing by on the road. The hunter told him that this was, without a doubt, the hoof-print of a
PiXiuPixiu or Pi Yao originally known as Pi Xie is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature considered to be a very powerful protector to practitioners of Feng Shui. It resembles a winged lion. Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an influential and auspicious creature for wealth...
, being different from the hoof-print of any other beast alive. His conversation with the hunter greatly inspired Cangjie, leading him to believe that if he could capture in a drawing the special characteristics that set apart each and every thing on the earth, this would truly be the perfect kind of character for writing. From that day forward, Cangjie paid close attention to the characteristics of all things, including the sun, moon, stars, clouds, lakes, oceans, as well as all manner of bird and beast. He began to create characters according to the special characteristics he found, and before long, had compiled a long list of characters for writing. To the delight of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie presented him with the complete set of characters. The emperor then called the premiers of each of the nine provinces together in order for Cangjie to teach them this new writing system. Monuments and temples were erected in Cangjie's honor on the bank of the river where he created these characters.