Cang Jie, The Inventor of Chinese Characters: A Story in English and Chinese

Age range 3 to 8

In ancient times (circa 2500 B.C) under the reign of Yellow Emperor, people kept records by piling stones and tying knots. One day, Cang Jie, a historical official who kept records for Yellow Emperor, unexpectedly made a big mistake. Feeling very guilty over his error, he became determined to create a better way to keep records. He went back to his hometown and thought the problem over for many days and nights. Eventually, he began to observe the movement of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as the birds and animals. At the same time, he traveled around collecting signs created by fishermen, farmers, hunters, and soldiers. In the end, he created the Chinese characters still widely used today.