As the Internet has stepped into people’s daily lives, text messages and writing articles online have become closely connected with human activities. Imagine that you are chatting with someone, but there are no proper words to express your feelings. What will you do then?
According to the research, almost 90 percent of people will use emoji. Emoji use different symbols to express various emotions. They are more vivid than letters because emoji substantially are a kind of picture. Furthermore, they can also convey information in an easier way. For instance, if I want to say I
am really embarrassed, I can use 
instead of saying “it makes me feel embarrassed.”
Emoji are a great expression tool, right? However, do you know that in ancient China there was also a system for expression and communication with no actual words in it? The system was called Dongba character, and stunningly the role of this system worked as same as the emoji.
A Dongba character is made up of three parts: image, implication and pronunciation. Its text appeared exceedingly hoary, even earlier than the oracle bone inscriptions. Dongba characters were used for writing the Nakhi language, which is spoken by the Nakhi people who lives in Yunnan and Sichuan, China. The most famous work that was written in Dongba characters was called the “Dongba Classic”, a religious text and encyclopedia of the Nakhi nationality. Since this kind of writing was mastered by Dongba priests, it was called the Dongba script.
The Dongba script is the only pictographic writing system that is still in use today. Others, such as oracle bone inscriptions, are not used now. Dongba characters transmit the traditions of the Dong Ba. The people here have done a good job in terms of cultural transmission and preservation.
What are the features of Dongba characters? Dongba character are like a drawing, or picture. Dongba characters are relatively abstract, expressing the meanings with pictures and describing objects with symbols.
The Dongba script has obvious pictorial characteristics. The image of character comes from objective things, and their bodies often directly depict all external features of objects, such as the shape of a fish 
, or the portrait of a peacock 
. Other examples include 
- 
and 
- 
. The first group of characters here are pot covers and the second group of characters are keys. The images are different although the meanings are the same – rather like some emoji!
Although the Dongba character is similar to emoji, there are still some differences. First, emoji can only express one kind of feeling or a single word. For example, if you are happy, you might use 
, or if you want to say family, you can use 
, but one Dongba character can describe an object or action, and even a fragment.
The Dongba character system is incomplete because it is not a full writing system, it’s a set of marks or signs. For instance, Nakhi people can sing a whole song with only six or seven Dongba characters. Many objects were not being included in the Dongba character system, so how did people at that time
make conversation without many words?
They invented a system called “Borrowed characters”. It refers to the word or meaning that is intended to be expressed by borrowing the characters with the same or similar sound. It makes up for the defects of Dongba writing at that time.
Dongba character is written down on wood and stone, because ancient Chinese used to regard wood and stone as divine beings. They wanted to write their wishes and their history in a sacred place. Therefore, they chose to write on these two objects. Contrarily, Emoji can be written and typed anywhere; they are really common in our daily lives.
What role did Dongba character actually play in Nakhi culture? Firstly, they were the marks for gods. People used Dongba characters to draw these symbols, and these marks were the early form of the Dongba characters.
Next, they were for sacrifices. At major sacrificial festivals, Dongba priests would read some of their classics, which laid the foundation for the pronunciation of Donga characters later.
Then, since Dongba characters were very complicated, that was because people at that time needed to use the complexity of characters to distinguish gods. If you confused gods, you showed great disrespect to them, and it would bring you misfortune. So, words with very simple components will definitely worsen the condition, because they look alike. Surprisingly, people at that time believed these characters were the only way that they were able to communicate with their gods. The Nakhi culture of singing, dancing, scripture, writing, drawing, historical records, sacrifices, and divination culture were collectively referred as Dongba culture. We could know that Dong Ba characters were the carrier of its culture, because all of its citizens were recording their daily life in Dongba characters.
Is Dongba writing as perfect as it looks? My answer is, definitely not. Dongba characters were only mastered by some elite like priests or the people who were born in powerful families. The majority of people did not even know how to write it down.
Language is not for only elites, but for everyone. Everyone should have the right to be educated no matter the which civilization it is. Further, Dong Ba characters were so complicated that they took a lot of time to write. I think characters should be convenient and simple. If it was complicated, it should be called “art” but not language.
Although Dongba character was the carrier of its culture, it was deserted for a long time until Yunnan became a tourist attraction, and the local government wanted to promote the local culture by Yunnan became a tourist attraction, and the local government wanted to promote the local culture by setting up many slogans on both side of the street in Dongba characters, and this is the time when Dongba characters are reconsidered by people again.
Dongba characters were a powerful tool of expression for the Dongba priests; now, similarly, emoji have become a powerful tool for our time. As culture changes in the future and new cultures emerge, it will be exciting to see the new tools of expression that arise with them.