Leadership Insights | Illustrated Lectures: Oracle Bone Inscriptions: The Origins of Chinese Characters

Chinese characters are indispensable to the formation and development of the Chinese nation. In this regard, archaeology has played a pivotal role. We should continue to value and strengthen archaeological work, and promote the project of exploring the origins of Chinese civilization. Throughout its long history, Chinese civilization has never been interrupted, shaping our great nation, which will remain great in the years to come.

Yinxu, meaning the ruins of Yin, located in the northwest suburbs of Anyang City, Henan Province, was the capital of the late Shang Dynasty from the 14th to 11th century BC. It is the first capital site in the late Shang Dynasty that has been confirmed and verified by both historical records and archaeological excavations. In addition, Yinxu is the largest ancient capital site with the longest time and number of excavations in China. In July 2006, Yinxu was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List as the top one of China’s 100 great archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.

Among the many archaeological findings unearthed in Yinxu, oracle bone inscriptions are the most important since they preserve the writings of 3,000 years ago, pushing China’s proved history by about 1,000 years earlier than before. They are also the oldest mature writing system ever discovered in China, and are thus dubbed the source of Chinese characters and the root of fine traditional Chinese culture.

The oracle bone inscriptions discovered in Yinxu mainly record the divination activities of the Shang Dynasty, reflecting that the Shang kings depended on divination to deal with important matters like disasters, weathers, and wars. The materials used in divination were tortoise belly shells and ox shoulder bones, on which the divination results and their fulfillments were engraved. These scripts are thus called oracle bone inscriptions. Most of these scripts were carved with knives, with only a few written with brush pens. The total number of oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty has reached about 4,000. Though different from modern Chinese characters, oracle bone inscriptions have a similar hieroglyphic composition method.

The emergence of scripts was an important indicator for human beings to enter the era of civilization. The Chinese writing system was closely related to the formation of the pluralistic and integrated structure of the Chinese nation. Chinese characters and Chinese classics are the philosophical and cultural foundation for the formation of early China and the Chinese nation, as well as an important bond to maintain the sense of community for the Chinese nation.