The Chinese themselves have always been diligent students of their
written language, and at a very early date (probably many centuries
B.C.) evolved a sixfold classification of characters, the so-called
[Ch][Ch] _liu shu_, very inaccurately translated by the Six Scripts,
which may be briefly noticed:--
1. [Ch][Ch] _chih shih_, indicative or self-explanatory characters. This
is a very small class, including only the simplest numerals and a few
others such as [Ch] "above" and [Ch] "below."