Chinese characters have evolved from pottery and pictures on rock walls in ancient times into symbols, and then to Yin Shang Bu ci engraved on turtle shells and cow bones three thousand years ago, becoming the best ideographic symbol that condenses Chinese thoughts and emotions, from the rusty gold text cast on bronze to the ink that flies on bamboo, and finally develops into a unique calligraphy art, along the way, relying on and confirming each other, telling the enduring story of the Chinese land. It conveys the pain and happiness, glory and dreams experienced by Chinese civilization in the long river of time.
The oracle bone is a kind of divination sacrifice text of the Shang Dynasty, engraved on the tortoise shell or animal bone, so it is also called "QiWen", "Oracle Bone Bu Ci", "Yin Ruins Script" or "Tortoise Shell Animal Bone Script". It is the earliest mature Chinese character that can be seen in the mainland, with a relatively strict structure system, and the "six books" principle of Chinese characters is reflected in the oracle bone.
The appearance of the oracle bone is inseparable from a professional "witch", that is, a priest. In the oracle bones, the word "wu" resembles the props used by ancient wizards; the word "wu" in the small seal resembles the dancing shape of a witch with two sleeves; in terms of glyphs, the upper and lower horizontal lines of "witch" represent heaven and earth, which means that people who can communicate with heaven and earth are the medium between gods and people, and they are the executors of reaching heaven and earth.
In pre-Shang eras, after receiving the will of the heavens, the "witch" would be recorded on the pottery or jade with a special symbol. During the Shang Dynasty, the "witches" found better carriers "tortoise shells" and "animal bones". The "tortoise shell" is the belly carapace of the turtle, and the "animal bone" is mainly the shoulder blade of the cow. Because turtles have a very long lifespan, they are believed to be psychic. After the combination of the spirit turtle and the snake, it became the ancient Chinese sacred beast "Xuanwu" that guarded the north. The cow is the taijo of sacrifices, the best sacrifices offered to the sacred and the ancestors.
Merchants believe in ghosts, every day, in case of trouble, big things and small things must be bu, the "witches" take the "turtle armor" or "animal bones", use the jujube core chisel on it to hit a few eyes, and then take the fire to burn on the eye, burning the oracle bone cracks, the wizards explain the results of divination according to these cracks. Because they had to divinate no matter what they did, they left a lot of divination records, and these oracles were carved on the oracle bones with bronze or jade knives, which is the oracle bones seen today.
In the exhibition "Why China", two Shang Dynasty carved tortoise shells and one carved bone are exhibited. "Ding Shubu, Bin, Virgins Do Not Get Rid of Diseases, 1234567" "Zhen: Women's Diseases." One-two-three-four little notice five-six"" "癸巳布, and Yu Wanghai. Two "... The bu ci recorded the content of the Shang king's sacrifice to the ancestors and praying to the gods to bless the wind and rain, involving astronomy, calendar, geography, war, sacrifice, field hunting and other matters, which was the enlightenment obtained from the communication between man and god.
These words must have played an important role at that time, and decided many major events that shocked the world and wept ghosts.
So far, a total of 150,000 oracle bones have been found, and the oracle bones found have more than 4,000 words, and more than 1,000 words can be recognized. Through these more than 1,000 words, experts can basically read through the content of many divinations, providing first-hand materials for interpreting the main contents of the social history, politics, economy and culture of the Shang Dynasty, and unveiling the historical facts of the late Shang Dynasty from Pan Geng to the fall of the Shang Dynasty.
When it comes to Oracle research, we can't help but say "Oracle Bone Four". Four modern scholars: Luo Zhenyu, No. Xuetang, Wang Guowei, No. Guantang, Dong Zuobin, Ziyantang, Guo Moruo, Zidingtang. They all made outstanding contributions to the study of Oracle, and because they all have a hall in their names, people call them "Oracle Bone Four Halls". Later scholars summarized the achievements of the four as follows: "Since Xuetang guided the way, Guantang followed the examination of history, Yantang District and its era, Dingtang issued its resignation, which has been extremely prosperous."
Luo Zhenyu began to collect oracle bones in 1906, which can be said to be the first person in China to systematically study oracle bones, and he was the first to correctly determine the nature of oracle bone inscriptions and the place where they were unearthed. Since the oracle bones have been noticed by collectors and scholars, antique dealers have concealed the real land in order to seek high profits. From the beginning of Luo Zhenyu's research on the oracle bones, he devoted himself to investigating their true origin land, and determined that these oracle bones were unearthed in the capital of the late Shang Dynasty and belonged to the royal relics of the Shang Dynasty. The examination of the land and nature of the oracle bones directly led to the excavation of the Yin Ruins in Anyang later. He has been working hard to collect oracle bones and various takubens from many sources, and finally collected as many as 30,000 oracle bones. Not only did he publish the "Yin Ruins Book Deed Before and After Compilation", "Yin Ruins Book Deed Jinghua", "Tieyun Hidden Turtle", but also collected a large number of bronzes excavated from Yin Ruins and other materials, and finally completed the "Yin Ruins Book Deed Examination Interpretation", an epoch-making work in the history of Chinese oracle osteology.
Through examining the oracle bones, Wang Guowei found that the names of the shang dynasty kings and dukes listed during the sacrifice could actually correspond to the lineage of the Shang dynasty recorded in the "History of Yin Benji". In January 1917, he published the epoch-making "Examination of the Duke of Yinxian", published the famous articles such as "The Continuation Examination of the Duke of Yinxian", "Theory of the Yin Zhou System" and "Yin Li Shuwen". The creative use of the contents contained in the oracle bone proves that the record of Yin Shang in the "Records of History" is credible, creating a precedent for the history of oracle bone writing, and also laying the foundation for the creation of the independent discipline of oracle bone.
Dong Zuobin was born hardworking, and due to his poor family, he once made a living by copying lecture notes to others at Peking University in his youth. His diligence was appreciated by Feng Youlan, Gu Jiegang and other famous artists, and he was allowed to observe at Peking University. Changing Dong Zuobin's academic and life path was Fu Sinian, then president of the Academia Sinica. In August 1928, Fu Sinian invited Dong Zuobin to visit Xiaotun in Anyang. Dong Zuobin submitted the "Report on the Trial Excavation of Anyang Xiaotun in October of the Seventeenth Year of the Republic of China" submitted at the end of the visit, indicating that there are still oracle bones under the Yin Ruins and that it is urgent for the state to organize scientific excavations. This report not only ended the antiquities era of antiques studied in easy chairs, but also paved the way for systematic excavations of this famous site. Dong Zuobin has excavated yin ruins 15 times, and obtained a large number of written oracle bones and wordless artifacts, the most important of which is the "Fourth Edition of the Great Turtle" excavated on December 12, 1929, which has caused a sensation in Chinese academia.
Dong Zuobin also began to conduct a comprehensive and systematic study of oracle bones, which lasted more than 60 years, and was the first to put forward 10 standards for oracle bone generations, and presided over the research of major topics such as the genealogy of the Yin Dynasty emperor lineage, the title of Yin Xianwang, the surname of The Yin Emperor, the excavation tomb section, the exotic place names, the characters described in the inscription, the grammatical structure of the inscription, the ideographic standard of the inscription, and the writing form of the inscription. Dong Zuobin edited and published more than 2 million words of works and papers such as "Yin Calendar Seen in Bu Ci", "Research Examples of Oracle Bone Dating", "Yin Xu Character A Compilation", "Yin Li Di" and "Yin Xu Character B Series", etc., and achieved world-renowned achievements, making him one of the most famous archaeologists in China at that time and a generation of oracle bone masters.
Guo Moruo's involvement in Oracle research was late and somewhat passive. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's coup d'état, Guo Moruo wrote a memorial to the moment" "Please see Chiang Kai-shek today". This article greatly boosted Guo Moruo's reputation, but he was also wanted by Chiang Kai-shek. In 1928, he was forced into exile in Japan. When he first arrived in Japan, Guo Moruo had no money to buy books, so he had to go to the bookstore every day to borrow books. In June 1928, he saw Wang Guowei's "Examination of the Book of Yin Ruins" written by Wang Guowei in a bookstore in Tokyo, and began to study the Oracle. Later, with the help of a friend, he contacted Kannosuke Ishida, the director of the Toyo Bunko, and got permission to read for two months. In just two months, he read almost all the records of oracle bones found in Chinese archaeology, and visited almost all the oracle bone collectors in Japan.
During his ten years in exile in Japan, Guo Moruo continued to study and write, and wrote books such as "Bu Ci Tong", "Yin Qizhi Compilation", "Oracle Bone Script Research", "Yin Zhou Bronze Inscription Research" and "Ancient Chinese Society Research", and grew into a generation of oracle bone researchers. In his later years, Guo Moruo organized the compilation of the "Oracle Bone Collection", which included 41956 pieces of oracle bones, which was praised as the greatest achievement in the collation of ancient books in New China. This led to the further development of Oracle's research.
In the process of sorting out the materials, I also saw two words related to "rain", which I felt were very poetic, and perhaps had enlightening significance for the development of Chinese poetry in later generations. "No rain. Its rainy night, allowed. This night its rain, get the elephant. "It's raining today. Its rain from the west? Its rain from the east? Rain from the north? It's raining from the south?"
The "Qiwen" section of the "Why China" exhibition has aroused my interest in Oracle, collected information into this article, has a little understanding of the history of Oracle research, and hopes to help my favorite friends.
(Some pictures from the Internet)