 Factors such as these are what must have led at least one well-known sinologist to claim that “The Chinese characters made Chinese civilization the culture of the book and not the orator” (Creel 1997: 447). This generalization was based in large part on the basis of Creel’s earlier work attempting to show the semantic basis of the majority of the characters, i.e., that they were basically ideographs (1936). Peter Boodberg replied quickly and in detail, offering phonetic explanations for graphs Creel had analyzed as semantic (1937). The debate continued, not without acrimony, with a response from Creel (1938), and a rejoinder from Boodberg (1940). More recently John DeFrancis argued long and hard for the phonetic interpretation of the Chinese script (1984), as did William Hannas, who 