Oracle bone inscriptions are characters written on tortoise shells or animal bones.
As we all know, the earliest writing recognized in our country is oracle bone inscriptions, which are the earliest forms of Chinese characters. The earliest picture of oracle bone inscriptions at present is located in Yinxu, Anyang City, Henan Province, about 3,600 years ago, during the Shang Dynasty. Cultural products, and the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed by archeology this time have shocked the academic world at home and abroad.
Oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered in the late Qing Dynasty, when an epigrapher who met Wang Yirong accidentally discovered them. It is reported that Wang Yirong was also an archaeologist, and he was suffering from illness so he asked his students to go there. To grab medicine, one of the broken dragon bones in the medicine the student grabbed had different patterns, so he studied it and the oracle bone inscriptions were reproduced.
After the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions, antique dealers across the country are looking for oracle bone inscriptions. As a result, tens of thousands of oracle bone inscriptions have been scattered all over the world. It is reported that so far, 1,000 oracle bone inscriptions have been unearthed. There are more than 100,000 pieces, most of which are in China. After expert research, there are about 2,000 characters that can be read from the oracle bone inscriptions so far.
Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest mature writing in China and are a precious cultural heritage in today's human society. Oracle bone inscriptions were mainly used by the royal family in the late Shang Dynasty in ancient China for divination. Since oracle bone inscriptions are carved with knives, , coupled with the material of the tortoise shell itself, the oracle bone inscriptions can be preserved to this day.
It can also be seen from the oracle bone inscriptions that although ancient China did not have paper and pen like we do now, people at that time already had standards for answering questions in calligraphy. The oracle bone inscriptions already had pen, knot and Rules and regulations. It is understood that through the joint research of many experts and scholars, it was found that the keels used in writing these oracle bones were actually tools for divination during the Shang Dynasty, mainly tortoise shells and ox shoulder blades.
Extended information:
Characteristics of oracle bone inscriptions:
Oracle bone inscriptions are more than 3,000 years old. Systematic information is also an important asset for studying oracle bone calligraphy. From the perspective of calligraphy, oracle bone inscriptions already have the three basic elements of calligraphy: pen use, word knotting, and composition.
Judging from the characters on the oracle bones, they already possess the three elements of Chinese calligraphy: brush use, word knotting, and composition. The lines he used were strict and thin, with both straight and thick strokes, and his strokes were folded in many directions, which had an impact on the pen and knife used for seal cutting in later generations. Judging from the structural font, the characters not only change, but are of different sizes, they are relatively balanced and symmetrical, and also show a stable pattern.
From the perspective of the pen, oracle bone inscriptions are carved on hard tortoise shells or animal bones with knives and carvings. Therefore, straight lines are mostly used for engraving, and curves are also carved by short straight lines. The thickness of the strokes is mostly uniform; since the starting and closing of the knife are straight, most of the lines are slightly thicker in the middle and slightly thinner at the ends, making them appear thin, solid, straight and sharp, and full of three-dimensionality.
As far as knot characters are concerned, the shape of oracle bone inscriptions is mostly rectangular with a few squares, which has the beauty of symmetry or the beauty of one word and multiple shapes. In addition, the oracle bone inscriptions also have a structural form of combining square and circle, opening and closing, and some characters have more or less traces of pictographic pictures, showing the naivety and vividness of the initial development stage of characters.
From a organizational point of view, the entire inscription is clear and the text size is well-proportioned. Although there are changes in the density of each line up and down, left and right, the whole article can maintain a lively situation of flowing energy, large and small dependent on each other, corresponding left and right, and echoing from front to back. Moreover, those with a large number of words are compactly arranged throughout, giving people a dense feeling, while those with a small number of words appear sparse and ethereal. In short, they all present a simple yet romantic interest. ?
Baidu Encyclopedia—Oracle