Cangjie

Legendary inventor of the Chinese writing system, historian · Scientists

Cangjie is a legendary figure in Chinese mythology, said to have been an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet.

Cangjie is read about 154 times a day, in 24 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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Portrait of Cangjie (National Palace Museum)

Bronze relief of Cangjie (as Ts'ang Chieh) by Lee Lawrie, 1939, at the Library of Congress's John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.

About this person

He is considered a legendary rather than historical figure, or at least not considered to be the sole inventor of Chinese characters. Cangjie was the eponym for the Cangjiepian proto-dictionary, the Cangjie method of inputting characters into a computer, and a Martian rock visited by the Mars rover Spirit, and named by the rover team.