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The Chinese rhetoric started in The Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty started to write their thoughts. The Chinese invented the writing system known as the inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces. The priests using the inscriptions divined what would happen the future. The inscriptions were not the vehicle of human thought, were the supreme authority of the Lord on High. It came from respect of all things in nature, and was imitated the nature and the principle of nature. The Western Zhou Dynasty tried to deny The Shang Dynasty’s theocratic rule. It means the start of humanities times in ancient China. Through making a lecture and writing on their thought, ‘all philosophers and scholars’ were to awaken the true meaning of all things in the universe. It was the beginning of rhetoric in the ancient China. The rhetorical origin took rise in 『Zhouyi』said “use a flowery style, must be in the right frame of mind.(修辭立其誠)”. They generally used water as a rhetorical device, and the source of all things in the universe. For example, Confucius said “Some people like mountains while others like water.(樂山樂水)”, Lao-tzu said “Water`s virtue is the highest goodness.(上善若水)”. They utilized the chief element of water. The Period of Wei, Jin and Northern & Southern Dynasties was a kind of the Renaissance period in Chinese art and literature. Especially Luji’s 『Wenfu』, Liuxie`s 『The literary mind and the craving of dragons』and Zhongrong`s 『Shipin』made many meaningful arguments about shaping and developing of rhetorical device, and the correlation of natural object during the ancient China. The nature and the principle of nature played an important role on the shaping and developing of the Chinese rhetoric.
