Khitan scripts

Origin
The Khitan people, who dominated a large chunk of Manchuria between  916 and 1125 AD, used two different scripts - the "large  script", which came into use in about 920 AD, the "small  script", which was reputedly created in about 925 AD by the  Khitan scholar Diela, who was inspired by the Uighur alphabet.

The two scripts were used in parallel and appear to have little in  common in terms of the forms of the characters and the ways they were  assembled into compound characters.

Used to write
Khitan, an extinct Altaic language which was once spoken in Manchuria.

The "Large Script"
The "large script" was written in vertical columns running  from top to bottom and from right to left. Some of the characters were  taken from Chinese, while others were independent inventions.

The Jurchen script, which is also known as Jurchi, Jurchin or Southern  Tungusic, was created by Wanyan Xiyin in 1120 and officially introduced  in 1145. It was modelled on the Khitan  script and contains a large number of characters from Chinese, many  of which were modified or distorted.

The script is known from fragments of manuscripts and inscriptions  on monuments of the Jurchen empire, from the Sino-Jurchen glossary and  documents of the Ming Bureau of Translators and from Ming inscriptions  dating from 1413.

The Jurchen people lived in the northeast of Manchuria before the 12th  century. Then in 1115 they conquered a large part of northern China,  including the lands of the Khitan people, and set up the Jin dynasty.  The Jin dynasty fell to the Mongols in 1234. The Jurchen people became  known as Manchus in the 17th century when they conquered the whole of  China and established the Qing dynasty (1680-1911).

Notable features

• According to the Sino-Jurchen glossary, the Jurchen script contains  720 characters - a mixture of logograms, which represent whole words  without any phonetic element, and phonograms, which represent sounds. Compound words consisting of two or more characters were also used.

• The Jurchen characters have a system of radicals similar to  Chinese characters and are ordered according to radical and stroke  count.

Used to write
Jurchen/Manchu, a member of the Tungusic branch of the Altaic language  family. There are currently about 9 million Manchus living in northeastern  China, of whom between 70 and 1,000 speak Manchu. Most speak only Chinese.

There are also about 20,000 Manchu speakers in Xinjiang in the west  of China who are known as Sibe, Xibo or Sibo. The Sibe were moved to  the region in 1764 by the Ch'ing emperor Qianlong.

There are also Manchus in North Korea and Siberia.

Origin
The Manchu alphabet was commissioned in 1599 by the Manchu leader Nurhaci  (1559-1626), the founder of the Manchu state. The letters are based  on the Classical Mongolian  alphabet while the phonetics are based on Jurchen,  an earlier Manchu script. The alphabet was modified slightly in 1632.

In 1644 the Manchus conquered China and established the Ch'ing (Qing)  dynasty, which lasted until 1911. For the first 200 years or so of the  Ch'ing dynasty, Manchu was the main language of government in China  and served as a lingua franca. By the mid 19th century many of the Manchus  had adopted Chinese as their first language, however they continued  to produce Manchu version of Chinese documents until the end of the  dynasty and for sometime afterwards.

Notable features

• Manchu is written in vertical columns running from top to bottom and from  left to right.

• Each letter has three different forms: initial, medial and final  form, which are used at the beginning, middle and end of a word respectively.

• Numerals are the same as for the Mongolian  alphabet.

Used to write:
Manchu, a member of the Tungusic group of Altaic languages. There  are currently about 9 million Manchus living in north-eastern China,  of whom between 70 and 1,000 speak Manchu. Most speak only Chinese.

In Xinjiang in the west of China about 20,000 people of Manchu origin,  who are known as Sibe, Xibo or Sibo, still speak Manchu. The Sibe were  moved to the region in 1764 by the Ch'ing emperor Qianlong.

There are also Manchus in North Korea and Siberia.

Kulong, please avoid the use of "Manchurian". It's a term that Western Imperialists set up in order to divide Northeast out of China, just like how they did/do to "Tibet".

Calling China's Dongbei "Manchuria" maybe. But what other word would you use to refer to the language of the Manchus?

But what other word would you use to refer to the language of the Manchus?

Therefore, a place named "Manchuria" doesn't exist at all, unless you're supporting Western Imperialism.

Manchurians suck! They invaded China and screwed us up by acting like a bunch of complete pansies when the West came knocking on our doors . They also forced us to wear those ridiculous hairstyles (head shaved except for a long tail on the back). Come on, guys. Celebrating manchurian culture is no different than celebrating Japanese culture (both groups invaded us and screwed us over).

If I were alive back in the day, I'd so suicide-bomb the Dowager Empress Cixi. Disguise myself as an imperial servant and be like: "Here's your tea, my lady... sike! Pow!"

They invaded China and screwed us up by acting like a bunch of complete pansies when the West came knocking on our doors .

They also forced us to wear those ridiculous hairstyles (head shaved except for a long tail on the back).

Celebrating manchurian culture is no different than celebrating Japanese culture (both groups invaded us and screwed us over).

It's the language of the manchu people though isnt it? So it still is called Manchurian.

So other nations call it by other names because they can't pronounce it so what's the problem? Korean isn't called Chosun, Japan isn't called Nippon.

And what should Tibet be called?

Manchurians suck! They invaded China and screwed us up by acting like a bunch of complete pansies when the West came knocking on our doors . They also forced us to wear those ridiculous hairstyles (head shaved except for a long tail on the back). Come on, guys. Celebrating manchurian culture is no different than celebrating Japanese culture (both groups invaded us and screwed us over).

If I were alive back in the day, I'd so suicide-bomb the Dowager Empress Cixi. Disguise myself as an imperial servant and be like: "Here's your tea, my lady... sike! Pow!"

I don't mean to digress, but I have to say the statement about Mao is highly debatable. This is a propaganda that has been used during the cold war, and is still often quoted by many anti China crowd. I have been searching for original sources or data, and has not been succesful. If there are verificable or official sources, please let me know.

Awesome I want to get Manchu name!

Hm. I chose...

Shinkoan Ahun (Falcon Elder Brother)


Not bad. Im going to find Manchu font...

why do people keep stealing my names ( kulong and shao)

Interesting, Manchu writing really looks like Mongolian writing, characters more like picture drawing. I'd like to learn too.

The Manchu alphabet was commissioned in 1599 by the Manchu leader Nurhaci (1559-1626), the founder of the Manchu state. The letters are based on the Classical Mongolian alphabet while the phonetics are based on Jurchen, an earlier Manchu script. The alphabet was modified slightly in 1632.

The Jurchen script, which is also known as Jurchi, Jurchin or Southern Tungusic, was created by Wanyan Xiyin in 1120 and officially introduced in 1145. It was modelled on the Khitan script and contains a large number of characters from Chinese, many of which were modified or distorted.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/manchu.htm



http://www.omniglot.com/writing/jurchen.htm