‘Ideographic’ originally referred to the expression of meaning or the transmission of thoughts and intentions. Its association with the issue of Chinese characters has undergone a complex process of discursive evolution. Western academia has sometimes used Chinese characters as a representative of ideographic writing systems to support the three-stage theory of world writing development, sometimes to support the construction of modern linguistic theories, and sometimes to support discourses on Chinese character education. After the Western concept of ‘ideographic writing’ entered China, the academic community, based on the structure and function of Chinese character symbols, developed a sub-conceptual system centered on ‘ideographic nature,’ refined the scope of discourse to adapt to different discursive contexts, and perfected the terminology system to create a distinctive conceptual framework; clarifying discursive positions, and redefining interpretive subjectivity. This process has localised the concept of ‘ideographic,’ forming a distinctive Chinese perspective on ideographic characters and research methodologies. The experience of the generation, variation, and reconstruction of the ‘ideographic’ concept provides important references for the construction of a Chinese-specific theoretical discourse in the field of writing systems.