Detailed explanation of ancient prose

The earliest known systematic writing form in China is Oracle Bone Inscriptions, also known as "Wen Qi", "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" or "tortoise shell and animal bones", which mainly refers to the characters carved by the royal family on tortoise shells or animal bones for divination in the late Shang Dynasty (14 ~1century).

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, no articles were invented to record words, but bamboo slips and silks were used to record words, but silks were expensive, bamboo slips were bulky and the number of words recorded was limited. In order to record more things on a roll of bamboo slips, it is necessary to delete unimportant words so as to carry the most information with the least words.

The early ancient prose was mostly used by the ruling class for divination, sacrifice and publication.

In the Western Han Dynasty, bamboo slips were replaced by paper. When "paper" is used on a large scale, the habit of using "official documents" among the ruling classes has been stereotyped, and the ability to use "classical Chinese" has evolved into a symbol of reading and literacy.

Ancient prose mainly refers to the characters in ancient books, such as the Book of Changes, The Analects of Confucius, Chunqiu, Shangshu, Zhou Li, Shilu Chunqiu and Xiaojing. This is an early writing style.

Kong's ancient prose called the latter "Biography of Teachers". King Lu Gong (BC 155 ~ BC 129) destroyed Confucius' residence and got The Book of Rites, Shangshu, Chunqiu, The Analects of Confucius and The Book of Filial Piety.

Wei zhengshi's (240~248) three-body stone sutra, the first ancient prose, was only carved into Shangshu and Chunqiu.