Cangjie

Cangjie served as the imperial historiographer under the Yellow Emperor and was born with four eyes and double pupils, signifying extraordinary wisdom. In antiquity, people used knotted cords to record events; yet as affairs multiplied, this method became chaotic and unreliable, prompting Cangjie to resolve to create a system of writing. He studied the curved patterns of star constellations overhead and examined the markings on turtle shells and the footprints of birds and beasts below, synthesizing diverse natural forms to devise characters based on pictographic representation. Thus, the principles governing heaven and earth could at last be inscribed and transmitted across generations. The Huainanzi records: 'When Cangjie invented writing, millet rained from the sky and ghosts wept in the night'—for writing revealed the cosmos’s deepest secrets: the heavens celebrated with a downpour of millet, while ghosts wailed, knowing they could no longer hide. After the creation of writing, 'all artisans achieved order, and myriad things became clearly discernible'; civilization henceforth possessed a firm foundation. Successive generations of scholars have revered Cangjie as the ancestral founder of writing; schoolchildren traditionally pay homage to the Sage of Writing before beginning their studies. At the Cangjie Temple in Baishui County, Shaanxi Province, ancient cypress trees stand solemnly amid uninterrupted incense offerings spanning over four thousand years.