The art of Chinese calligraphy began in the generation stage of Chinese characters. "The sound cannot be transmitted in different places, but stays in different times, so the characters are born. The characters are the traces of meaning and sound.". The first works of calligraphy were not words, but some descriptive symbols -- hieroglyphs or pictographs

The symbols of Chinese characters first appeared on pottery. The initial characterization symbol only represents a general concept of chaos, and has no exact meaning

More than 8000 years ago, Cishan and Peiligang cultures appeared in the Yellow River basin. On the handmade ceramics unearthed in Peiligang, there are many character like symbols. These symbols are the chaotic combination of the communication function, the recording function and the decorative function of the ancestors. Although these characters are not recognizable by modern people, they are indeed the embryonic form of Chinese characters

Immediately after the Banpo Site of Yangshao Culture about 6000 years ago, some painted pottery with simple descriptions similar to characters was unearthed. These symbols have been distinguished from patterns and patterns, which has further advanced the development of Chinese characters. This can be said to be the origin of Chinese characters

Then there is Erlitou culture and Erligang culture. In the archaeological excavation of Erlitou culture, there are 24 kinds of pottery tablets with carved marks, some of which are similar to the inscriptions on oracle bones in Yin Ruins, all of which are single and independent characters. Erligang culture has found a written system. There were three bones with characters found here, two with one character and one with ten characters, which seemed to be carved for practice. This makes civilization take another big step forward

The origin of primitive characters is an instinct of imitation, which is used to image a specific thing. Although it is simple and chaotic, it already has a certain aesthetic taste. This simple writing can therefore be called prehistoric calligraphy