ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chinese wen

Hello! Do you know what Chinese Wen is? It's actually an ancient form of Chinese writing that was used long, long ago in China.

Back in those days, there were no computers or phones to send messages to each other. So, people used special tools called brushes to write characters on a type of paper made from mulberry trees.

These characters were not like the letters of the alphabet that you learn in school. They were pictures that represented different things like animals, people, and objects.

Now, the tricky thing about Chinese Wen is that there are thousands of different characters that people had to learn, which is a lot more than the 26 letters of the English alphabet.

It was like a secret code that only some people could read and write! But it was very important because it helped people communicate and keep records of important events.

Even though Chinese Wen is not used as much today, it's still considered a very important part of Chinese culture and history.