When did the ancient books in China rise, and what was the situation in each period?

China's earliest book form-Jane Silk Book-Oracle Bone Inscriptions Books in Shang Dynasty generally refer to books in which knowledge is recorded on certain materials with words, pictures or other symbols and bound into volumes. From the appearance of characters to the formation of books in the modern sense, it has experienced an evolutionary process. At the end of primitive society, graphic characters appeared in China. By the late Shang Dynasty, Chinese characters had developed into characters with certain grammatical structure and capable of expressing certain ideas. Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed from Yin Ruins in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province confirmed this point. There are about 4,500 characters used in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, and about 1700 characters have been identified so far. In the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Oracle Bone Inscriptions had four forms: pictographic characters, ideographic characters, knowing characters and pictophonetic characters of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which laid the foundation for the development of Chinese characters later. Oracle Bone Inscriptions carved the events and results of divination at that time on tortoise shells and cattle shoulder blades. Shang people attached great importance to these Oracle Bone Inscriptions and kept them as documents for future reference.

With the development of social economy, bronze wares made of copper-tin alloy appeared. In the late Shang Dynasty, some people had cast or carved characters on bronzes to record important historical facts. We call the inscriptions on these bronzes "Bronze Inscriptions" or "Zhong Dingwen". In the Zhou Dynasty, most inscriptions were written to celebrate meritorious deeds and awards (lài), and battles, capture and awards were recorded. The inscription is very specific. However, all the above-mentioned Oracle Bone Inscriptions or bronzes with inscriptions have been endowed with some functions of books, but they are not books in a strict sense, and there is still no purposeful collection. The earliest forms of books in China are bamboo slips and silk books. Jane, those made of bamboo are called bamboo slips and those made of wood are called wooden slips. Shapes are long strips of different sizes, most of which are about 2 feet 4 inches (about 55 cm) long. In order to prevent moth and moisture, bamboo is cut into strips and then baked with fire to evaporate water. This treatment is called "enzyme inactivation".

This is also the source of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and it is still called "fixing green". Such bamboo slips are written in pen and ink and become Jane. This is a board, about a foot square, used for writing. Jane books refer to a bunch of Jane books that are put on in order by ropes. Usually made of two ropes. In order to be firm, some use leather ropes, also called "guards".

Ancient books recorded that Confucius liked reading Zhouyi in his later years. Because of his frequent reading, he broke the leather rope of compiling simplified books three times, which is known as "Bian Wei's Three Musts" in history. The earliest record of bamboo slips can be found in Shangshu Toz: "Only the ancestors of the Yin Dynasty had books", but no real Shang slips have been found so far. At the end of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, bamboo slips such as Shangshu, Book of Rites, Analects of Confucius, and Filial Piety were found in the walls of Confucius' residence, which was the earliest bamboo slips found. In the fifth year of Xianning (279), Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty found more than 2,500 bamboo slips in Wei Xiangwang's tomb in Jixian County, Henan Province, which was later called zhǒnɡ Shu.

There are 16 kinds of ancient books in Oracle Bone Inscriptions during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, including Annals of Bamboo Books, Guoyu and Mu Zhuan. Since the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 30 bamboo slips have been unearthed in * *, including more than 1000 pieces of Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng, Hubei Province in 975. There are also silk books in circulation, also called jiān books. Silk is the general name of silk fabrics, and silk books are books that write words on silk fabrics. When books are mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, they are all bamboo and silk. For example, in Mozi, there is a reference to "bamboo and silk of books, carved stones, carved dishes and jars". Han Feizi, Yan Zi Chunqiu, etc. I also mentioned silk books repeatedly. Silk books were not very popular in the Spring and Autumn Period, but they were quite common in the Warring States Period.

At present, the earliest silk book unearthed is the book of the Warring States Period (zēnɡ) discovered in 1942. Although silk is more convenient to use than bamboo slips, it is expensive, so it has not become a widely used writing material to replace bamboo slips. Before paper appeared, bamboo slips and silk books were the main forms of China's books. This time is about from the Warring States to the Three Kingdoms, that is, from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD, with a history of about 700 to 800 years.