Computer Friendly I Ching Chinese Character Font

[nightsky]

If there is anybody out there that knows of a website or software that would enable me to print out some of the Chinese Calligraphy "Characters" that are in the Wilhelm/Baynes book or the R.L Wing workbook, I would sure appreciate it. I am an artist who carves these characters into my pottery, and I want to provide a write-up that has the characters included in it. My understanding is that these characters are NOT in the modern Chinese language.....they are very ancient. I would like to know more about them.
Thanks

[micheline]

Nightsky...did you check the emoticons utility on this site under Help on the left side of the screen? I think you can print out all the characters for each hexagram from there.....I am not sure if this is what you are looking for?

[nightsky]

Micheline, that was very kind of you to send me to Emoticons....I am actually looking for the ancient chinese characters that are in the Wilhelm/Baynes book. They look like modern chinese writing, except that they are no longer used in China. thanks for your suggestion.

[bradford_h]

There are actually three ages of characters.
I don't have a set of the oldest, but you can see these on LiSe's fun web site (with discussion) and in the emoticons on Clarity.
The ones I just sent privately are just over 2000 years old and are called Hanzi or Han Dynasty Characters or Traditional Chinese.
The modern version is called "Simplified Chinese".
I don't have those either.

[nightsky]

I was able to download your files with no problem.
Thank you VERY much. I will go to LiSe's website next. I sent you an email. I'm not yet sure if the characters you sent me will match the ones in the Wilhelm/Baynes book.....we shall see.....

Do you know if any of the Hanzi or Han Dynasty characters are still in use in China now?? Or is it the Simplified Chinese that has completely taken over?
Thanks again.....Joan

[bradford_h]

Nightsky-
The ones I sent match Wilhelm and the others you're likely to see. They just aren't as cursive or calligraphic - they're a more formal font.

The tradiional characters are still used in Taiwan and elsewhere. But in mainland China it's mostly Simplified characters.

[val]

Hi Nightski...


I know what you're looking for. http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/messages/48/730.html#POST6612

I have the fonts... specifically YiJing characters... probably even TrueType... that went right into my systems folders. I d/led a zip file that contained at least five different styles. Only I don't remember the site. I'm still looking. Will let you know when I find it.

Love,

Val

[val]

LMAO...

And blushing... it was right under our noses.

It's Harmen's old site.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/harmen.mesker/. He's got about 22 styles in that one zip file, and they are indeed TTF. He's got them in PostScript as well (Mac users). How wonderfully generous of him!

It was more than I could have dreamed of. I'm sure it'll be more than you hoped for as well, Nightsky.

Love,

Val

[val]

And nightsky...

If you don't already have it, d/l winzip here ---> http://www.tucows.com/preview/194294. And then install it so you can open zip files with it.

Do avoid going to download.com for freeware and shareware. You can pick up things like spyware and browser hijackers there real easily. Tucows.com has always been safe for me in the past.

Love,

Val

[val]

Hi Nightsky...

I d/led and installed the fonts myself here on my puter at work. Then did a quick sample of four of the styles in MS Word and made a screen print.

Love,

Val

[val]

<center>http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/messages/48/5371.gif</center>

[heylise]

Joan is looking for the 'ancient' characters in Wilhelm-Baynes, but as far as I know they are not ancient. I think it is a font which is in use in Taiwan right now, and quite modern. They are 'traditional', and in mainland China they have simplified the characters, so that is why she calls them ancient maybe?

The oldest forms are found on the Oracle Bones characters, and after them come the ones on bronze vases. There are indeed many characters which are not in use anymore.

An example: the old character of yi, change. Or I should say one of the old characters, becasue they were often written in slightly different ways.
http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/messages/48/5373.gif
Its meaning was to pour and to give. Many languages still combine the two, like in German 'schenken'. Two hands hold a vase and pour the contents into another vase.
Slowly in the course of time it was drawn simpler and simpler, until it resembled a lizard or chameleon. Passing through a phase of looking like sun and moon.
More about it here http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/origins/yi-change.htm

In my website I have searched for the oldest characters, and that are also the ones here in the emoticons.

LiSe

[val]

Hi LiSe...

Oh dear. I didn't get that she was looking for "ancient" at all. I got that she meant she was looking for the character style used in the Wilhelm Baynes book and she thought it might be difficult to find because her understanding was that it was ancient.

It never dawned on me to explain to her that the Wilhelm Baynes characters indeed are not ancient either! And that's a good thing really... because who better to tell her than YOU... with all the wonderful ancient pictographs you've collected on your site! She might very well decide to go with the pictographs rather than the Chinese characters used by Wilhelm/Baynes.

I don't have my Wilhelm/Baynes with me here at work, so I'm working from memory... sketchy memory because it's been ages since I've even opened W/B, but I sort of remember the character for creative as being sort of like the Kai font family... with the Xing Kai font sort of registering loudest in my ever-so-dim memory.

<center>http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/messages/48/5375.gif</center>

Would someone who's got the W/B version handy please let me know if I came even a little bit close?

Thanks!

Love,

Val

[heylise]

it is none of these, but the Xingkai does come very close
Thanks for your nice words http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/clipart/happy.gif

LiSe