The oracle bone script is the oldest and systematic script ever seen in China, so named because it is carved on the turtle shell and animal bones, it is also known as "Qiwen". The oracle bone is a relic used by the Yin people for divination, and the content of the account is widely related to the meteorological, agricultural, political, military and daily life aspects of the time, which can be called the treasure of Chinese civilization. Since the late Qing Dynasty, the excavation, collation and research of oracle bones have been gradually carried out, and they have become spectacular.
In order to better present the results of Oracle's research results and help academic research, the "Yin Xu Oracle Database" was officially launched in the Zhonghua Bookstore Gulian (Beijing) Digital Media Technology Co., Ltd. "Www.ancientbooks.cn", which brings together many years of oracle bone research results, integrates the original text, interpretation and oracle bone dictionary, and solves the problem of dispersion of oracle bone results.
▲The home page of "Yin Xu Oracle Database"
"Yin Xu Oracle Database" is an Oracle special database jointly developed by Zhonghua Bookstore Gulian Company and Professor Chen Nianfu of Zhejiang Normal University. The library is based on professor Chen Nianfu's oracle bone text collation results, supplemented and revised. The whole library contains 59591 pieces of oracle bones, 143856 articles of buci, referring to dozens of oracle bone bibliographies at home and abroad, each of which contains two parts of imitation and interpretation, and marks the classification of the theme of the buci, the specific source and the font group to which it belongs. On this basis, the results of oracle bone conjugation in the academic community over the years have been sorted out, making the content displayed in the library more complete and comprehensive.
The oracle bone text library specially developed by the database also allows the oracle bone imitation results to be presented to the majority of readers in digital form.
The first problem in making the Oracle Font Library is that the glyphs are complex and varied. Professor Chen Nianfu carefully sorted out the results of his predecessors and compiled more than 13,000 oracle bone prototypes into more than 4,000 characters (including hewen). With the help of the built-in Oracle Auxiliary Input Method, it is possible to achieve the input of imitation glyphs, filling the gap in this search field in the existing market.
▲Oracle font library
In order to make Oracle research more convenient, Professor Chen Nianfu referred to the conjugation opinions of many scholars and compiled a set of conjugation tables reflecting the latest research results of the academic community. According to this table, the "Yin Ruins Oracle Database" associates all the excavated oracle bones, and supports the functions of retrieval and comparison, so as to better present the relevant research results in a digital way, solving the problem of chaotic oracle bone conjugation in the paper book era.
▲Oracle bone conjugation association
It is reported that the database is also accompanied by Professor Chen Nianfu's important research results - oracle bone online dictionary. The dictionary provides a comprehensive picture of oracle prefixes, pronunciations, glyphs, decipherments, and definitions, containing about 3900 prefixes and 6700 prefixes. It can be used to consult a single word, and it can also read the explanatory content of the Oracle vocabulary containing the word. On the one hand, it provides reference materials for the interpretation of Oracle bones, and on the other hand, it also provides convenient service tools for relevant practitioners in the field of literature and history to use Oracle resources.
▲Oracle bone dictionary
The "Yin Xu Oracle Database" clearly and completely compiles and publishes the research results of the past oracle bones in a digital form, providing users with more comprehensive and convenient services, which is not only the beam of scholars' learning, but also the key for ordinary enthusiasts to peek at the leopard. It is reported that Gulian Company will continue to build the "Yin Ruins Oracle Bone Database" to present more oracle bone research results in digital form to help the inheritance of Chinese civilization.
Author: Wen Wei Po reporter in Beijing Li Yang
Editor: Jiang Shengxin
Photo: Courtesy of Zhonghua Bookstore Gulian Company
Editor-in-charge: Lu Zhengming
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.