Social Sciences in China, 2025

Vol. 46, No. 1, 2025

Continue the Chinese Classics and Civilizaton: The Living Legacy of Chinese Paleography

(Abstract)

Feng Shi

Chinese civilization stands as the only great civilization in human history to have endured uninterrupted for at least eight millennia. At the heart of this continuity lies the unbroken transmission of its writing system. Unlike the scripts of other ancient civilizations, which have long since faded into fossilized relics of the past, Chinese characters have retained their vitality from antiquity to the present day. As vessels of knowledge and bearers of thought, these characters have shaped a unique conceptual framework for Chinese culture. The survival of the written word signifies the endurance of the civilization itself, rendering the study of the native script indispensable for reconstructing the historical trajectory of Chinese civilization and safeguarding its cultural heritage. This treatise traces the historical evolution of Chinese characters and elucidates the scholarly value and contemporary relevance of paleography in the reconstruction of ancient history and the perpetuation of cultural tradition.

Keywords: China, paleography, civilization, culture, contemporary relevance