History of Writing part 4:

Chinese writing is purely a visual language. Every letter has a different shape lines, Chinese was first written in approximately 1800BCE. The earliest ever Chinese writing is on “Chiaku-wen” or “bone-and-shell” script. This script was used to communicate the Chinese citizens with the gods and their long-dead ancestors.

This is example of Chiaku-wen:

The symbolism is abstract, and is more difficult to read than the Egyptian hieroglyphs. it is also stated there are approximately forty eight thousand characters in the language and each one means something different. There are 128 characters on this stone piece.

“Bone-and-shell”

Paper:

They also invented paper; Ts’ai Lun is known to be the first of papermakers. In early times the Chinese use to write in bamboo slats using a bamboo pen with a dense and durable ink.

Printing

Printing is one of the finest things in graphic design, and in art. Printing was also invented by the Chinese. This was used in order to create seals or stamps on paper. How it worked: This was basically a ceramic piece that left a symbolism on the paper, this worked by having the flat surface bottom surface of the ceramic to being inked and getting a sheet of paper, pressing on the sheet of paper will result into a marked sheet.

Printing in Europe:

Easter influence arrived in Europe, printing arrived on paper. Creating playing cards, religious prints,  were some early manifestations. By early 1300s pictoral designs were printed on textiles in Europe. The first ever European block printing were devoted to prints of saints:

 The pieces were hand draw, and also early uses of typography can be seen.

Here is another example in the early 15^th century this piece demonstrates how powerful hand-painting, symbolism and printing can get, at such an early time too! 

Reference: 

 Philip.B.Meggs, Alston W.Purvis Megg's History of Graphic design 5th Edition,1998, New Jersey.