Abstract:
Owing to its enormous influence, the legend of Cang Ji’s invention of characters resulted in Cang Ji worship to a certain degree. However, in terms of philology, Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty’s view was more rational. Xu thought that Chinese characters came into being in a certain period of historical development, which sounded more closer to the practice of the rise and growth of ideographs. In contrast, from the perspective of culture, the cultural influence of the legend of Cang Ji’s invention of characters moved and inspired later generations of the Chinese in form of mythical legend, hence forming deeprooted and consistent worship of Chinese characters.
