Types of Chinese characters Chinese characters –
Pictographs Thought to be the oldest types of characters, pictographs were originally pictures of things. During the past 5,000 years or so they have become simplified and stylised. Ideographs Ideographs are graphical representations of abstract ideas. Phonographs Compound pictographs and ideographs combine one or more pictographs or ideographs to form new characters. Both component parts contribute to the meaning of the compound character.
Read more about types of Chinese characters, please read the complete article at: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese_types.htm#types