Oracle Bone Inscriptions, shining with the light of Chinese civilization for more than 3,000 years.
▲ This is the China Literature Museum in Anyang, Henan Province (taken by drone on October 18th).
▲ Tourists watch the exhibition of Bu Jia at Yinxu Museum in Anyang, Henan Province (photo taken on October 12, 2018).
Chen Nan, a professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts, shows the Oracle Bone Inscriptions emoticon he designed and released in his studio in Tsinghua University (photo taken on September 24th).
▼ Archaeologist Liu Yiman pointed to the restored Oracle bone pit in the East of the Garden Village in Yinxu Museum, Anyang, Henan Province, and introduced the situation during the excavation (photo taken on October 14, 2018).
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee photo
On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a remarkable commemorative activity was held in the Great Hall of the People.
"Today’s mountains and rivers are effective, and it has been leaked for three thousand years, and it is suitable for my life. Therefore, it is my responsibility to spread it and stay away." More than a century ago, when Luo Zhenyu, a scholar, first saw Oracle bones, he was shocked and delighted, and his feelings reflected the aspirations of China intellectuals. Since then, generations of Oracle Bone Inscriptions researchers have been searching up and down, determined to crack the code of ancient civilization.
After 120 years, the value of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s and later generations’ characters is being cherished more and more. As the carrier and witness of the inheritance of Chinese civilization, Chinese characters have evolved for more than 3,000 years without changing their shape. With strong national cohesion and endless history, they have confirmed the footprints of the Chinese nation’s progress and demonstrated its outstanding wisdom and great innovative spirit.
The origin of Chinese characters
Inheritance of Chinese genes
Located in Anyang, Henan, China Chinese Language Museum, a Chinese character class for kindergarten classes is going on.
On the screen, several Oracle Bone Inscriptions characters such as "Man", "Day" and "Tian" are displayed, which are very close to modern Chinese characters in terms of glyphs, and some children hesitate to read them out one after another. When the teacher told them that it was written by their ancestors more than 3,000 years ago, with a pair of eyes that widened instantly, the whispers merged into a neat "wow".
"Since the Oracle Bone School was opened, similar scenes have occurred repeatedly regardless of whether the participants are adults or children." Yang Junhui, head of the Oracle Bone School of China Literature Museum, said that many people discovered the magic of Chinese characters here for the first time, and it was the original intention of this public welfare class to let the public know about Oracle Bone Inscriptions and understand the inheritance and history of Chinese characters.
When foreigners visit Anyang, apart from the famous Yin Ruins at home and abroad, the China Literature Museum has increasingly become another must-see.
As the first national museum with the theme of characters in China, relying on the essence of thousands of cultural relics, it systematically interprets the configuration characteristics and evolution of China characters, which can be called "a landscape-style writing ceremony for the world to appreciate Chinese civilization".
Feng Qiyong, the first curator, once commented on the establishment of the China Literature Museum. In many people’s minds, as the hometown of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Anyang deserves to be the home of Chinese characters in China.
In 1899, Wang Yirong, a drink offering in imperial academy, found a mysterious symbol on the bones sold by antique dealers, which was Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Today’s people are familiar with this story for a long time, but it is difficult to understand how a piece of Oracle bones shocked the world from a few narratives.
Luo Zhenyu, the founder of Oracle bones, commented on Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s birth after three thousand years. At a time when the national fortune was declining and western learning was spreading to the east, some scholars even began to doubt Chinese civilization, and the voice of "abolishing Chinese characters" was rampant. Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s discovery made the wandering intellectuals see a glimmer of light.
From Dong Zuobin, who presided over the excavation of Yin Ruins for many times, to Wang Guowei, who verified the Wangshi family of Shang Dynasty, to Hu Houxuan & Hellep, the editor of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Collection, which is a masterpiece of Oracle Bone Inscriptions research; … Generations of scholars have gone wave after wave, and their lifelong mission is to unlock the ancient code of civilization.
"Yin ruins unearthed a wealth of cultural relics, but Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the heaviest category. Because it is a reflection of people’s thoughts and a direct record of history, it allows us to understand many events and figures in the Shang Dynasty, and also allows us to directly face the civilization height of the Shang Dynasty. " Tang Jigen, who presided over the archaeological excavation of Yin Ruins for more than 20 years, said that Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Yin Ruins completely confirmed the legendary Shang Dynasty, and China’s written history advanced for a thousand years.
As the earliest mature script used by the Chinese nation, although it has been buried deep underground for thousands of years, Oracle Bone Inscriptions can be partially read as soon as it is unearthed. In the past 120 years, about 4,500 non-repetitive Oracle characters have been found, about one third of which have been read, and the rest are mostly names and places. It seems incredible, but it is the uniqueness of Chinese characters.
"Unlike the cuneiform characters in the two river basins, the sacred script characters in ancient Egypt, the seal characters in the ancient Indian River basin, and the Mayan characters in Central America, Oracle Bone Inscriptions did not die and has been passed down and evolved into the Chinese characters that are popular today." Song Zhenhao, director of the Research Center for the History of Yin and Shang Dynasties in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of China Academy of Social Sciences, said that as one of the oldest self-generated scripts in the world, Chinese characters are the only ones that have been used to this day, which can also play an important role in decoding other ancient scripts.
Song Zhenhao and Oracle Bone Inscriptions have been attached to each other for more than forty years. Most of the time, they are sitting on the bench, but they enjoy it. He said: "Oracle Bone Inscriptions is still alive today. This is a great thing. If we don’t do research, who will?" There is a sense of pride and mission of scholars in it. "
After more than 3,000 years of elutriation, Chinese characters are constantly challenged, but each time they can resolve the crisis and improve themselves, showing strong vitality and stability.
"In the word-making stage, Chinese characters have broken through the form to express meaning and embarked on ‘ Phonetic ’ Road, heaven and earth is one of the wide; The emergence of official script broke through the dilemma of low efficiency in writing ancient seal script; In the 20th century, Chinese characters abandoned the road of pinyin and completed the modern transformation. " Huang Dekuan, a professor at Tsinghua University and director of the China Literature Museum, said that poverty means change, change means communication, and the general rules last for a long time. Chinese characters are constantly adapting to the needs of social development, and Chinese character civilization is the embodiment of the wisdom of Chinese civilization.
From Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions to the big seal script, small seal script, and then to official script and regular script, the structure of Chinese characters has not changed for thousands of years, and people have been able to break through the limitation of time and space to communicate. This inheritance is the real Chinese gene. It has written down the dreams of Shang kings, Confucius’ thoughts and Sima Qian’s history books. It has recorded the charm of Tang poetry and Song poetry and the suffering and glory of Chinese civilization, and will continue to write chapters of the new era.
Soul of Chinese characters
The root vein of Chinese civilization
As the curator of the China Literature Museum, Huang Dekuan was asked the same question by young people on different occasions: "In the information age, just talk to your mobile phone if you want to communicate. Voice and video can be stored for a long time. Is the text still so useful?"
Even though he has already answered many times, Huang Dekuan is not stingy with repetition. He believes that the value of words needs to be examined, and it is even more necessary to face up to it. "The information stored in language and words can best stand the test of history. The Internet is a new technology for transmitting information and cannot replace the function of language and words. From the birth and development of Chinese civilization, Chinese characters have played a key and fundamental role. "
Before Oracle Bone Inscriptions was unearthed, the existence of Shang Dynasty was an unsolved mystery. Where did China come from, and where is the credible beginning of China’s history? This topic, which concerns the origin of civilization and national identity, dawned because of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s rich records. The victory of war, the escape of slaves, the king’s dream, the outbreak of meteor shower … … Oracle Bone Inscriptions restored a vivid Shang world.
"Oracle Bone Inscriptions has great cultural relics value, historical data value and academic research value, and is an important material for rebuilding the ancient history of China and seeing through the social life of Yin and Shang dynasties three thousand years ago." Song Zhenhao said that Oracle Bone Inscriptions is not only a material and cultural relic that can "prove classics and supplement history", but also a common cultural memory of the Chinese nation.
From Oracle Bone Inscriptions to the present, Chinese characters in the same strain have kept the inheritance of Chinese civilization uninterrupted, and the stability and continuity of Chinese civilization have made Chinese characters more vital. Li Yunfu, a professor at Beijing Normal University and director of the Chinese Character Civilization Research Center of Zhengzhou University, said: "Chinese characters are not only the symbol of the formation of Chinese civilization, but also the carrier of recording Chinese civilization, and also the root vein and link to trace the origin of Chinese civilization."
Today, in China’s vast land of 9.6 million square kilometers, no matter how different dialects, accents and customs are, people can communicate their thoughts and feelings without any obstacles through common characters. This seemingly ordinary scene is backed by Chinese characters, a cultural cornerstone accumulated for thousands of years. Historically, Chinese characters have also contributed to promoting multi-ethnic unity and become a symbol system with strong national cohesion.
"The unique features of China’s historical memory and the formation of Chinese character cultural circle and Confucian cultural circle in East Asia are closely related to Oracle Bone Inscriptions and the Chinese character system developed from it." At the recent international symposium to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Anyang, a speech by Gao Xiang, vice president of China Academy of Social Sciences, was warmly responded by the participants.
China has been in a leading position in the history of human civilization for a long time, and has profoundly influenced many neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam, forming a "Chinese character cultural circle". These countries and regions not only used Chinese characters to write their history, but also their own characters, cultures and customs were influenced by Chinese civilization.
Today, Chinese characters still attract the attention of the whole world with their unique charm. With the promotion of China’s international influence, more and more foreigners have embarked on the road of learning Chinese, and the "Chinese fever" has become popular in many parts of the world. Some of them are completely interested in Chinese characters.
"Many people learn Chinese characters by rote. In fact, each component has the source of hieroglyphics. I want to find the original intention and logic of this hieroglyph. Every Chinese character has a story." Richard sears, an American who is called "Uncle of Chinese Characters" by netizens, has been obsessed with the study of Chinese characters for decades, and has also set up a website of Chinese characters etymology with all his money, which is available to people who like Chinese characters all over the world for free.
While attending an international symposium commemorating the 120th anniversary of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s discovery in Anyang, richard sears visited the China Literature Museum. Facing Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Jinwen and other ancient characters at close range, he praised: "Chinese characters are the ones that have been used for the longest time and still exist today, which is very remarkable!"
Richard sears moved to China to study Chinese characters. Now, he is not only a Chinese character researcher, but also a disseminator of Chinese character culture. He has set up a WeChat official account to analyze Chinese character glyphs in both Chinese and English, and he has also appeared on TV programs such as Chinese Bridge to tell Chinese character stories, hoping to tell the world the beauty of Chinese characters.
Beauty of Chinese characters
Rediscover Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
Like richard sears, beyond practical functions, countless people are captured by the inherent beauty of Chinese characters.
As a hieroglyph, Oracle Bone Inscriptions has been the carrier of beauty since its birth, providing a broad space for artistic creation. For thousands of years, with the evolution of Chinese characters, a unique and long-standing calligraphy art has been formed, such as han li’s vivid and fluent, Wei Bei’s majestic atmosphere, Tang Kai’s solemn statutes, Wang Xizhi’s elegant and elegant show, and Yan Jinliu’s vigorous and free and easy … … It edifies the sentiments of Chinese from generation to generation.
"Both horizontal and vertical are strong, and Chinese characters contain the spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation, conveying Chinese’s unique personality style and temperament interest." Li Yunfu said that it is gratifying that the extensive and profound Chinese calligraphy art is still increasing its categories and enriching the connotation of the beauty of Chinese characters.
Recently, oracle calligraphy, who made a concentrated appearance in Anyang, Henan Province, made people shine. An exhibition of oracle calligraphy seal cutting with 116 masterpieces at home and abroad showed the unique charm of Yin Qi, and 120 calligraphy lovers demonstrated their creations on the spot.
"Different sizes, different titles, and the word" all "can better reflect the beauty of managing and receiving each other. This is the essence of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s aesthetics." Qiao Yanqun, vice president of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Research Institute of Tang Yin Shang in Jingshi University, who has works in the exhibition, said that to inherit and carry forward Oracle Bone Inscriptions, it is necessary to explore its beauty deeply and pass this aesthetic feeling on to more people.
Chen Nan, a professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts, endowed this ancient writing with fashionable beauty in a more fashionable way. He has successively launched Oracle Bone Inscriptions animated film Shooting the Sun, the world’s first set of Oracle Bone Inscriptions design fonts, Oracle character paintings, Zodiac Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Oracle Bones Panda Man and other mobile phone expression packs with different themes, which made the words sleeping in Oracle bones and books come alive, and many of them became "explosions".
"Oracle Bone Inscriptions is mostly pictographic ideographs close to pictures, with the pure visual aesthetics of ancient humans, and it will be more interesting to design it." Chen Nan said frankly that in the past, the spread of traditional characters was somewhat rigid and daunting. At the beginning of creating Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s works, they considered the needs of ordinary people and paid attention to the lively and modern design context.
"Oracle Bone Inscriptions is not only an excellent traditional cultural symbol, but also a creative character that conforms to the current trend. Integrating it into modern design is the inheritance of historical civilization and the progress of human spirit, far exceeding the meaning of words and fonts themselves." Chen Nan said.
With the ignorance of ordinary people and the initiation of interest, Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s professional research has also stepped onto a new level. It is found that in the past 120 years, Oracle bone inscriptions have developed into an international discipline, with researchers all over China, the United States, Japanese and other dozens of countries, and become an important tool for understanding the early history and ancient civilization of China.
Recently, "Yinqi Yuan Wen" Oracle Bone Inscriptions Big Data Platform was officially released. This Oracle Bone Inscriptions resource sharing platform, which is free and open to the whole world, plans to collect all Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s descriptions and documents. At present, more than 20,000 papers have been entered, and more than 246 kinds of Oracle bone inscriptions will be included in the later period, which can be queried and used by anyone interested in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
"This is a milestone in the study of Oracle bones." Song Zhenhao said that Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s materials were numerous and complicated, and it was very difficult to obtain them in the past. It took his teacher Hu Houxuan more than 20 years to compile a Collection of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in pursuit of Oracle bones. Now Oracle bones is welcoming more wisdom with a more open mind and more convenient conditions.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Ding Guijuan Shuangrui
(Xinhua News Agency, Zhengzhou, November 2nd)
Xinhua commentary
Baishi Oracle bone
Chunqiu yongchuan
Horizontal and vertical, iron-painted silver hook; Long Feihu lies down, and the phoenix flies back. Chinese characters are the oldest characters that are still widely used by human beings. They carry the Chinese civilization and cultivate the Chinese spirit. And 120 years ago, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, who reappeared on the "keel" of traditional Chinese medicine blindly, was an important stage in the development of Chinese characters, and it was an immortal mark engraved on the backbone of the Chinese dragon.
As an important demonstration, Oracle Bone Inscriptions laid down some principles of Chinese characters, which provided an important carrier for the inheritance of ancient Chinese civilization. Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded a great deal of information about the Yin and Shang Dynasties in ancient times, which made a solid link in the history of Chinese civilization. Attaching importance to recording and using history is also the ancient spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation.
It has been 120 years since Oracle Bone Inscriptions was discovered, but it has not been far away from us. Regardless of whether ancient scholars are still trying to decipher it or calligraphers are still trying to copy it, teachers will use some simple Oracle Bone Inscriptions to explain Chinese characters to students in the enlightenment Chinese class, and they will know that it is still lively and interesting. Culture is such a long river that comes from ancestors and flows to the future.
The history of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s discovery and protection tells us that it is Chinese’s cherishment of Chinese culture from generation to generation that has kept the long river of Chinese civilization for more than 5,000 years pregnant with the vitality of the gathering of hundreds of rivers. Even in the troubled times of the Chinese nation more than 100 years ago, there were a group of masters who worked hard for Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
Cultural inheritance needs relay from generation to generation, and what can make relay persist requires far-reaching cultural self-confidence and pragmatic scientific attitude. It has been the 120th anniversary of the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, but our knowledge of it and even the origin of Chinese characters is far from enough. We still need to explore and crack the cultural codes left by our ancestors with our heart, so as to realize the inheritance and development. Only with firm faith and scientific spirit can the inheritance and development of culture be carried forward step by step.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan
(Xinhua News Agency, Hangzhou, November 2nd)