TITLE: Exploration on the relationship between Chinese characters and ergonomic affordances
KEYWORDS: Chinese characters, Motion Economy consists , hand radical
ABSTRACT: The process through which people understand the world tends to begin with their surrounding objects and activities, and often involves becoming aware of the function and usage of their hands. The idea of "hand" constantly enters a person's thoughts and consciousness, as it can be seen as a necessity of life, a culture connected to thoughts, and a symbol of representation. In Chinese writing systems including Chinese characters, the oracle bone script and Chinese bronze inscriptions, many characters are constructed partially with the symbol of手 (sou), which expresses thoughts and concepts richly associated with the hand. In the developmental history of Chinese characters, the hand has been continuously made more abstract and transformed into various symbols. Nevertheless, characters such as 手 (shou), 爪 (zhua), 又 (you), 勺 (shao) and characters containing these parts share many characteristic features. This paper seeks to discuss the meanings behind the common understanding of "images or situation models contained in Chinese characters," and how these meanings are connected to the development of creativity in arts and design. The research process utilizes philology materials, assisted by semiotic studies and the affordance theory in ergonomics, to further describe and examine the topic. The research attempts to trace the various sources of ideas relating to "hand" in Chinese characters, and discuss these in terms of ergonomic affordances with the aim to explore the corresponding relationships within a situation model.
