Page:The Chinese language and how to learn it.djvu/25

Rh Hsüan Wang, who is supposed to have reigned from B.C. 827 to 781. Only a small portion of these inscriptions is legible, but a facsimile is appended of a rubbing taken from one of the stones in the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127).



It is not until a much later period that anything like examples of a thoroughly systematized form of writing can be found. Silk preceded paper as a material for writing upon, and it was in the first century A.D. that paper was invented. The introduction of a hair pencil or brush is ascribed to a general of the Emperor Shih Huang Ti (B.C. 221).

The various styles of writing recognized as orthodox by the Chinese may be reduced to six, if we exclude a fanciful ancient form