Oracle bone inscriptions were identified by antique dealers and epigraphers in 1898. Later, large-scale excavations were carried out in the Yin Ruins (Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province). A large number of tortoise shells and animal bones were unearthed, plus sporadic collections from other places. , hundreds of thousands of pieces have been collected so far, among which the longest single article is more than a hundred words long, which shows the prototype of practical articles. (Excerpted from "The Prototype of Practical Writing—Oracle Bone Inscriptions" from the 1992 issue 3 of the monthly "Applied Writing")
There is another story about the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions: During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Wang Yirong. The official in charge of the Imperial College, the highest academic institution at that time. One time, he saw a traditional Chinese medicine called dragon bone. He felt strange and looked through the residue. Unexpectedly, there was a pattern that looked like words on it. So he bought all the keels and found that each keel had a similar pattern. He was convinced that this was a kind of writing that was relatively complete and should be from the Yin and Shang dynasties. Later, people found the place where the dragon bones were unearthed - Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province, where a large number of dragon bones were unearthed. Because these keel bones are mainly the oracle bones of turtles and beasts, people named them "oracle bone inscriptions", and the discipline that studies them is called "oracle bone inscriptions".
Among the total of more than 100,000 oracle bones with characters, there are more than 4,000 different characters and graphics, of which about 2,500 characters have been identified.
Phytophonetic characters account for about 27% of the oracle bone inscriptions, which shows that the oracle bone inscriptions are already a quite mature writing system.
Oracle bone inscriptions are an ancient Chinese writing system and are considered to be the early forms of modern Chinese characters. Oracle bone inscriptions are also called deed inscriptions, tortoise shell inscriptions or tortoise shell and animal bone inscriptions. Oracle bone inscriptions are a very important ancient Chinese character material. Most of the oracle bone inscriptions were found in the Yin Ruins. Yin Ruins is a famous site from the Yin and Shang Dynasties, covering Xiaotun Village, Huayuanzhuang, Houjiazhuang and other places in the northwest of Anyang City, Henan Province. This place was once the location of the capital of the Central Dynasty in the late Yin and Shang Dynasties, so it is called Yin Ruins. These oracle bones are basically divination records of the rulers of the Shang Dynasty. The rulers of the Shang Dynasty were very superstitious, such as whether there would be disaster within ten days, whether it would rain, whether there would be a good harvest of crops, whether the war would be won, which sacrifices should be made to ghosts and gods, and whether fertility, disease, etc. Divination is needed to understand the will of ghosts and gods and the good or bad luck of events. The materials used for divination are mainly the plastron and carapace of tortoises and the shoulder blades of cattle. Usually, some small holes are dug or drilled on the back of the oracle bones that are to be used for divination. Such small holes are called "drilling" by oracle bone scientists. During divination, heating these small pits will cause cracks on the surface of the oracle bones. This kind of crack is called a "sign". The word "divination" in oracle bone inscriptions for divination looks like a omen. People who engage in divination judge good or bad fortune based on the various shapes of divination signs. Judging from the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the Chinese characters at that time had developed into a writing system that could be complete and in the Chinese language. In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin Ruins that have been discovered, the number of single words that appear has reached about 4,000. There are a large number of characters referring to things, pictographic characters, knowing characters, and many pictophonetic characters. There is a huge difference in appearance between these characters and the characters we use today. But from the perspective of word formation methods, the two are basically the same.
Currently, about 150,000 oracle bones and more than 4,500 single characters have been discovered. The contents recorded in these oracle bone inscriptions are extremely rich and involve many aspects of social life in the Shang Dynasty, including not only politics, military, culture, social customs, etc., but also science and technology such as astronomy, calendar, medicine, etc. Judging from the approximately 1,500 single characters that have been identified in oracle bone inscriptions, it already possesses the character creation methods of "pictogram, meaning, phonetic sound, reference, transfer, and pretense", demonstrating the unique charm of Chinese characters. Documents based on tortoise shells and animal bones from China's Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty (approximately 16th century BC to 10th century BC). It is the earliest known form of Chinese literature. The characters engraved on armor and bones were previously called deeds, oracle bone inscriptions, oracle inscriptions, tortoise edition inscriptions, Yinxu inscriptions, etc., and are now commonly known as oracle bone inscriptions. Due to superstition, the emperors of the Shang and Zhou dynasties used tortoise shells (the most common ones were tortoise shells) or animal bones (the most common ones were the ox shoulder blades) for divination. The omen results, verification status, etc.) were engraved on the oracle bones and kept as archival materials by the royal historian (see Oracle Bone Archives). In addition to the inscriptions on divination, there are also a few inscriptions on oracle bones to record events.
The contents of the oracle bone documents involve astronomy, calendar, meteorology, geography, country, lineage, family, characters, officials, conquests, prisons, agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, transportation, religion, sacrifices, diseases, fertility, disasters, etc. It is extremely precious first-hand information for studying the social history, culture, language and characters of ancient China, especially the Shang Dynasty.
[Edit this paragraph] Basic attributes
Features
Judging from the number and structure of fonts, Oracle has developed into a more rigorous system of writing. . The "six books" principle of Chinese characters is reflected in oracle bone inscriptions. However, the traces of the original picture text are still quite obvious. Its main features:
(1) In terms of character structure, some pictographic characters only focus on highlighting the characteristics of the physical object, but the number of strokes, forward and backward are not uniform.
(2) Some ideographic characters in oracle bone inscriptions only require that the radicals be combined to have a clear meaning, but not fixed. Therefore, there are many variant characters in oracle bone inscriptions, and some characters can have more than a dozen or even dozens of ways of writing.
(3) The shape of oracle bone inscriptions is often determined by the traditional or simplified version of the object represented. Some characters can occupy the position of several characters, and they can be long or short.
(4) Because the characters are carved on harder animal bones with a knife, the strokes are thinner and mostly square.
Since oracle bone inscriptions are carved with knives, and the knives can be sharp or blunt, and the bones can be thin or thick, hard or soft, the strokes carved out are of varying thicknesses, and some are even as thin as a hair. , the joints of the strokes are peeling off again, and they are thick and heavy. Structurally, the length and size are not certain, they may be sparse and intricate; or they may be densely layered and very solemn, so they can show a simple and colorful infinite interest.
Although the oracle bone inscriptions vary in size and vary intricately, they already have a symmetrical and stable pattern. Therefore, some people believe that Chinese calligraphy, strictly speaking, began with oracle bone inscriptions, because oracle bone inscriptions have already prepared the three elements of calligraphy, namely the use of pens, word knotting, and composition.
Development
Oracle bone inscriptions are named after they are engraved on tortoise shells and animal bones. They are handwriting circulated by the Yin and Shang Dynasties; the content records the two hundred and seventy years between Pan Geng's move to Yin and King Zhou. The inscriptions dated ten years ago are the earliest writings. The Yin Shang Dynasty had three major characteristics. The tortoise shells used by King Wuding of the Yin Dynasty for divination were for keeping history, drinking wine, and worshiping ghosts and gods. Because of this, these tortoise shells, which determine many things such as fishing, conquest, and agriculture, can be seen again in later generations and become important for the study of Chinese characters. information.
The Shang Dynasty already had sophisticated pen and ink, and the calligraphy style was thin and sharp, with the edge of a knife. Affected by the rise and fall of writing styles, it can be divided into five periods, which are introduced below.
1. The Majestic Period:
From Pan Geng to Wu Ding, about a hundred years ago, influenced by Wu Ding's prosperous period, the calligraphy style was grand and majestic, which was the ultimate in oracle bone calligraphy. Generally speaking, the starting point of the pen is round and the ending point is sharp. The straight and straight strokes are staggered and full of variety. Regardless of whether they are fat or thin, they are all very powerful.
2. The following period:
From Zu Geng to Zu Jia, about forty years. Both of them can be regarded as conservative and virtuous kings. The calligraphy of this period generally inherited the style of the previous period, abided by the conventions, and created very few new things, but it was no longer as vigorous and bold as the previous period.
3. Decline period:
From Linxin to Kangding, about fourteen years. This period can be said to be the decline of the literary style of the Yin Dynasty. Although there are still many neat calligraphy styles, the paragraphs are scattered and uneven, and they are no longer so regular, but a bit childish and chaotic. In addition, there are many typos.
4. The peak period:
From Wuyi to Wenwuding, about seventeen years. Wen and Wu Ding were determined to restore ancient times and strive to restore the majesty of the Wu Ding era. The calligraphy style became vigorous and powerful, showing the atmosphere of the ZTE. In the thinner strokes, there is a very strong style.
5. The strict period:
From Emperor Yi to Emperor Xin, about eighty-nine years. The calligraphy style has become more rigorous, slightly closer to that of the second issue; the length has been lengthened, but it is more rigorous, and there is no decadence or majesty.
The thin handwriting on the oracle bones is also affected by the knife carving. When doing divination, "yes" or "no" is often engraved on both sides of the longitudinal line in the center of the tortoise shell, and written from this center line to the left and right, so the two sides are symmetrical and harmonious, and have the beauty of symmetry. After the deed is carved, the large and small characters are filled in ink and ink, or the front and back are filled in ink and ink, which is more artistic and can be called a miracle in the history of calligraphy.
Content
Most of the contents of Oracle Bone Inscriptions are records of divination by the Yin and Shang royal families. People in the Shang Dynasty were superstitious about ghosts and gods, and they had to ask for divination on big and small things. Some of the divination contents were about the weather, some were about the harvest, some were about illness, and some were asking for children. Major events such as hunting, war, and sacrifices required divination. Asked! Therefore, the contents of oracle bone inscriptions can provide a vague understanding of the living conditions of the people of the Shang Dynasty, and can also learn about the historical development of the Shang Dynasty.
Oracle Bone Calligraphy
Anyang Yin Ruins oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest known systematic writing in my country and are also relatively mature writing. The dots, horizontal strokes, and dense structure of ancient characters, viewed from today's perspective, have indeed begun to take shape in the key points of calligraphy such as brushwork, structure, and composition. They nurture the beauty of calligraphy art, which is worthy of appreciation and taste. As far as oracle bone inscriptions are concerned, Guo Moruo praised its calligraphy in the preface of "Yin Qi Cui Bian" published in 1937: "The inscriptions are inscribed on the tortoise bones. The precision of the inscriptions and the beauty of the characters have impressed our generations for thousands of years." Later generations were fascinated by the style of writing, which varied from person to person and from time to time. Generally speaking, in Wu Ding's time, the writing style was more vigorous, while in Emperor Yi's time, the writing was sparse and dense, and the structure of the writing was well-organized. The existing text of the deed is actually a calligrapher of the first generation, and the person who wrote the deed was Yanliu, the king of the Yin Dynasty."
"Zhongwang Yanliu" refers to the four great calligraphers in ancient times. The "Zhongwang Yanliu" of the Yin Dynasty were the historians and diviners who wrote and carved inscriptions. It was they who left behind rich historical materials and precious ancient calligraphy works for future generations. If you take a cursory glance at the form of oracle bone deeds, you will find that the early fonts were larger. For example, many of the inscriptions from the Wuding period included in Luo Zhenyu's "Yin Xu Shuqing Jinghua" were very grand and eye-catching; During the Xin Dynasty, the characters became small and cumbersome; as for the oracle bone inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, they were as thin as a millet hair.
Oracle bone inscription style types: the first is strong and powerful; the second is beautiful and light; the third is neat and regular; the fourth is sparse and delicate; the fifth is plump and ancient. In short, although the oracle bone inscriptions are words carved out of a contract, the writing style is full of meaning, and the various styles are mixed, or the bones are open, and have a relaxed interest;
The so-called "oracle bone calligraphy" generally has two meanings.
The first refers to calligraphy works that are based on the font structure and calligraphy characteristics of oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and are neatly copied. This type of work can collect ancient characters and combine them into new sentences as needed. The content is new, but the characters are as elegant and interesting as those written by the Yin people three thousand years ago. However, the oracle bone inscriptions only have more than 2,000 characters in total, and there are still many strange characters that have not yet been released (especially names of people and places). Not many of them are really useful. Therefore, once you encounter a character that is not in the oracle bone inscriptions and cannot be replaced in the written couplets or inscriptions, you have to dismantle the characters and splice them together yourself; if you still can't spell them out, you have to seek help from other ancient characters such as bronze inscriptions. The main person who carried out this creation was Luo Zhenyu. In 1921, while doing research, he wrote the oracle bone inscriptions into couplets with a brush and published "Collection of Yinxu Characters and Couplets". Subsequently, Zhang Yu, Gao Dexin, Wang Jilie and others also followed suit in creating calligraphy. Some predecessors in paleography such as Dong Zuobin, Shang Chengzuo, Tang Lan, Yu Shengwu, etc. are also good at oracle bone calligraphy, which is a work of oracle bone calligraphy in the true sense.
Another meaning refers to modern calligraphy works that draw on the characteristics of oracle bone inscriptions and create their own. They regard oracle bone inscriptions as a kind of inspiration, just a hint of inspiration in artistic creation, rather than pursuing "likeness". Therefore, they did not strictly follow the calligraphy characteristics of oracle bone inscriptions, but may have combined the characteristics of various ancient characters such as oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and Warring States characters. Although this kind of calligraphy art is related to ancient philology, it does not follow the same trend.