CHINESE writing began as individual symbols thousands of years before the characters were brought together to create a true written language. Symbols that resemble Chinese characters appear on tortoise shells in graves dating back to 6500 BC at a site called Jiahu in Henan Province.
Specialists usually define a written language as representing a series of spoken words. The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia are credited with developing the first written language about 3000 BC, with Chinese writing appearing over a thousand years later. The ancient Chinese symbols at Jiahu appear singly, so are not writing in the conventional sense, says…
