The history of Chinese characters

The earliest evidence of Chinese writing has been found on oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty, dating to around 3000 years ago. They were used to record predictions and advice concerning the future. Although there did exist more than one script at the time, by the Zhou dynasty, seal script had evolved and it was standardized and adopted as the script for all of China during the Qin dynasty (You may remember the Qin emperor from the Jet Li movie, Hero). That script has since then slowly evolved into the form used today.

In the 1950s and 60s, the PRC on mainland China adopted a simplified script, while Hong Kong, Macau and the ROC on Taiwan have. Many of the simplifications adopted by the PRC had been in existence in informal contexts for years or were in existence in earlier times, such as during the Shang Dynasty, as the proper character or as an acceptable variant.