{點線} - An Exploration on Chinese Characters w/ Dots and Lines
Traditionally a Chinese character can be formed by 6 different ways — pictographs, ideographs, compound ideographs, phono-semantic compounds, shared-phonetics and derivative cognates. The most common form of characters are phonetically-shared characters.
古有《六書》造字，分象形、指事、會意、形聲、轉注、假借，文字又以形聲字為廣。
“From Oracle Bone Carvings (pictographs) to Modern Characters 由甲骨文（象形）至現代文字”
Aesthetics and technicalities aside, Chinese typographists have to craft over 5000 commonly used characters with the Big-5 Chinese character encoding method for a font, let alone a complete typeface (Link: Font vs Typeface). There are 10 different strokes available to form a character, including Diǎn 點, Héng 横, Shù 豎, Tí 提, Nà 捺, Piě 撇, Zhé 折, Gōu 鉤, Wān 彎 and Xié 斜.
撇除美感與技術含量，根據中文內碼Big-5常用字區字符集，字體設計師需要設計超過5000字才能建立一套較完整的字體，何況是建立一套完善的字型（連結：字體與字型的分別）。字的構成取於10種不同的筆畫，包括點丶横丶豎丶提丶捺丶撇丶折丶鉤丶彎和斜。
“Strokes 筆劃”
Words are weird, especially Chinese words. Each character can be a word with numerous of definitions, 2 or more characters combined can form a whole different meaning. Written Chinese is one of the few modern languages that can be depicted with visuals and sounds combined or separately, with stories in every character; purpose in every stroke. In a sense Chinese language is leaning towards being more theoretical than definitive, accounting uncertainties and imagination within.
文字，尤是中文，是奇異的產物。一字可成詞，多字詞義則異。中華書文是能單以字詞圖形，或拼以聲音同時描述敍事的少數語言之一，每一字丶一筆丶一劃都有其用意。中文語言注重意境，弦外往有別音，理論性比定義佔優。
“Replacing Strokes w/ Dots and Lines 以點線取代筆畫”
We are living in a confusing age. Human beings have been trying to express themselves via various arts in visuals, sounds, movements, smells and tastes, but are we getting better at it? The prevalence of slangs suggested definitions are not static (see Urban Dictionary), while by replacing the suggestive strokes in Chinese characters, these abstract symbols somehow portrayed a deeper definition in feelings. If we were to describe what/ how we feel, wouldn’t it make sense to define less and “feel” more? If the means no longer define the end, should excessive process be eliminated?
這是一個令人困惑的時代。自古人類以視丶聽丶嗅丶觸丶味五官藝術來表達自己，但我們的表達能力是否與日俱進？潮語盛行，文意隨水流，字義無限（見潮語字典）；以點線取代筆畫，文字化為象徵符號，無定理感受更深。若語言是用以表達對人丶事丶物的感覺/感受，那情感不是較定義為重嗎？言者所以在意 — 得意是否忘言？
The exploration continues.
讓我們繼續探索。
