The Sui script (Sui: ''le1 sui3,''

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 水书,

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

: 水書,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Shuǐshū)'' or Shuishu, is a

logographic In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, a ...

writing system with some

pictographic A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...

characters that can be used to write the

Sui language The Sui language () is a Kam–Sui language spoken by the Sui people of Guizhou province in China. According to Ethnologue, it was spoken by around 300,000 people in 2007. Sui is also unique for its rich inventory of consonants, with the Sandon ...

(Wei 2003:xxix). However, traditionally only shamans were familiar with the writing system, and it is not utilized for everyday use by ordinary Sui people. This system is used for

geomancy Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy invo ...

and divination purposes. There are at least 500 different Sui characters, known as ''le1 sui3'' in the Sui language (Wei 2003:xxix). According to tradition, these characters were created by ''ljok8 to2 qong5'' (Chinese: Lù Duógōng 陸鐸公). Some of these characters are pictorial representations, such as of a bird or a fish, and a few are schematic representations of a characteristic quality, such a snail represented by a drawing of an inward curving spiral. Many of these characters appear to be borrowings from

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

s and are written backwards, apparently for increased supernatural power.

History

It has been proposed by some that the Sui script bear somewhat similarities to the Xia Tao symbols in the Erlitou site,

Yanshi Yanshi District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in western Henan province, China. Yanshi lies on the Luo River and is the easternmost county-level division of Luoyang. History After the Zhou conquest of Shang in mid-11th ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. The Sui script can be used to roughly interpret its meaning, which has attracted the attention of the archaeological community. Furthermore, the possibility has risen that the ancestors of the Sui people originally came from more to the north or that the Xia Tao symbols influenced the Sui script. The Sui script is in acute danger of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

, although the Chinese government is currently attempting to

preserve The word preserve may refer to: Common uses * Fruit preserves, a type of sweet spread or condiment * Nature reserve, an area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or other special interest, usually protected Arts, entertainment, and media ...

it. In 2006, Shuishu was placed on the Chinese

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...

list. File:EAP143 1 1 3 Shuishu manuscript from Libo.jpg, 19th-century Shuishu manuscript from the Shui archives in Libo, Guizhou File:水书吉凶经.jpg, Manuscript in Sui script File:水书抄本 4119.jpg, Manuscript in Sui script

Characteristics

The Sui script was handed down from generation to generation, and its shape is similar to the

Oracle bone script Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or Turtle shell#Plastron, turtle plastrons used in pyromancy, pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millen ...

and the

Bronze script Chinese bronze inscriptions, also commonly referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, are writing in a variety of Chinese scripts on ritual bronzes such as ''zhōng'' bells and '' dǐng'' tripodal cauldrons from the Shang dynasty (2nd mi ...

. It is mainly used to record cultural information such as astronomy, geography, religion, folklore, ethics, philosophy and other cultural information. The Sui script is not phonetic and one needs special knowledge to interpret a text. The script is written mostly vertically downward and from right to left, and does not employ punctuation. The script can not fully represent the Sui language.

Characters

The Sui script contains three types of characters: Chinese variants, primitive pictographs and abstract symbols. Each character expresses a concept and stands for a syllable. The characters can be classified in three categories: logographs, dubbing characters and prompting characters. About half of the Sui characters are derived from mirrored, upside-down or slightly twisted Chinese characters. The other half of the characters are original creations and some are primitive pictographs. Lastly, dubbing characters supplement syllables in a sentence, while prompting characters indicate that the reader should read or sing the sentence aloud.

Unicode

As of 2018, discussion on Sui script integration into

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

were ongoing.

References

External links

"Cracking the Chinese code"
''People's Daily Online,'' September 16, 2008

''People's Daily Online,'' December 28, 2005 {{list of writing systems Obsolete writing systems Writing systems derived from the Chinese Logographic writing systems