History of China: It's all in ancient language of the shells and bones
A visitor enjoys the displays at an exhibition of oracle bone inscriptions as a series of events opened on Tuesday, to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the discovery of these ancient Chinese characters at National Museum of China in Beijing.
As a series of events being held to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the discovery of ancient oracle bone inscriptions this month, the spotlight is being shined on ancient Chinese characters once again.
The ancient Chinese script has drawn the world’s attention since its discovery back in 1899.
For years, archeologists and researchers have been fascinated by and dedicated to the mystery behind the characters.
With the development of modern technologies, the mysterious shells and bones were given new life, inspiring the young generation and spreading traditional Chinese culture in a new way.
“Unlike the other four ancient scripts, oracle bone inscriptions did not disappear. They were handed down and evolved into today’s Chinese characters,” said Song Zhenhao, head of the research center of oracle bone inscriptions and Shang Dynasty history under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and one of the leading scholars of the field.
The other four ancient scripts, all extinct, include hieroglyphs from ancient Egypt, cuneiforms from ancient Babylon, Indus script, and Mayan glyphs from Mesoamerica.
An oracle bone inscription is showed in the exhibition.
Jiaguwen, or oracle bone inscriptions, are an ancient Chinese script named for their inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones. They are a primitive form of Chinese characters and the oldest fully developed characters in China.
Oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered in 1899 by Beijing academic and antiquarian Wang Yirong, although farmers had been unearthing the relics in Anyang, Henan Province, for many years. Wang noticed symbols that looked like writing on animal bones and tortoise shells.
The world-shocking find resulted in the identification of the earliest known Chinese writing.
The interpretations of the inscriptions on tortoise shells or bones, believed to be the earliest Chinese characters, gradually painted a picture of what Chinese society and people were like more than 3,000 years ago in the Shang Dynasty (16th century-11th century BC).
The tortoise shells and bones bear testimony to the development of one of the world’s oldest writing systems, ancient beliefs and social systems, according to UNESCO.
“Oracle bone inscriptions are of great cultural relic value, historical data value and academic research value.
They are important materials for the reconstruction of ancient Chinese history and the perspective of social life in the Shang Dynasty,” Song said.
In 120 years, researchers found around 4,500 characters on the oracle bones and identified about one-third of them. For thousands of years, despite the historical changes and social development, the structure of Chinese characters never changed.
“Many people learn Chinese characters by rote. Every component has its hieroglyphic origin. There is a story behind each Chinese character,” said Richard Sears from the United States, known as “Uncle Hanzi” (meaning Chinese characters), who has dedicated his life to the study and research of Chinese characters.
The city of Anyang became world-famous after Chinese archeologists discovered a complex of ruins in Xiaotun Village in 1928.
These were later confirmed to be the site of the Shang Dynasty capital Yin and most known for its large discovery of oracle bone inscriptions.
