The oldest systems of graphic communication in the world -- Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the earliest Chinese script, all emerged between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, with each coming into existence from an earlier protosystem made up of counting marks and pictographic representations, where the meaning and the image were the same.
世界上最古老的图形交流系统， 苏美尔楔形文字、埃及象形文字、 最早的中国文字， 都出现于4000到5000年前， 而且每种文字的原型 都是更早期的计数符号和象形图画。 所谓象形图画就是以图表意、图意同源，