The Chinese script is an ideographic writing system, in which the graphic structure is directly related to the meaning. Hence the first step toward mastery of Chinese characters is to learn the characteristics of their composition.

In the study of the composition of Chinese characters, there is a traditional theory known as Liu Shu (six writings). That is, there are six types of characters in the terms of their composition: xiangxing (pictographic), zhishi (indicatives), huiyi (ideographic), xingsheng (phonetic compounds), zhuanzhu (mutual explanatory), and jiajie (phonetic loans). Strictly speaking, only the first four refer to the ways of composing Chinese characters, the last two are concerned with the ways to use them. The traditional view that Liu Shu is a summary of the different ways of composing characters, therefore, is not very accurate. Nevertheless the Liu Shu theory is basically correct in revealing the general pattern in the creation and development of Chinese characters. It may help learners better understand the composition of Chinese characters and their original meanings, and hence use them more accurately. 

  Pictographs

Pictographs in Jiaguwen

A pictograph is a depiction of a material object. Chinese characters mostly originated from picture writing. In other words, most Chinese characters were originally pictures of objects. However, there is a fundamental difference between pictographs and pictures: the former, usually rough sketches of objects(e. g.  "sun" ,  "moon" , ¡¡ "mountain" ,  "river" , "man" ,  "big" ) or consisting of a characteristic part only (e.g. ª¾ "ox",  "sheep" ), are much simpler than the latter. More important is that pictographs are associated with definite meanings and pronunciations, and have become symbolic, and as a result of increasing simplification and abstraction, pictographs of the later ages are quite deferent from their originals. Compared with those in the Oracle-Bone Inscriptions, pictographs in the Regular Script are no longer picture like. In a sense they are not really pictographic, but simply symbolic.

Pictographs are based on the external form of material objects, but the abstract concepts in language are formless, which renders it impossible to depict them. This impossibility inevitably hinders the growth of pictographs, and that is why their number is limited. However, pictography remains the most important method of composing Chinese characters. The others are only developments on this method and variations. 

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