What is the role of Oracle Bone Inscriptions?

Category: entertainment and leisure >> Cartoons and animations

Problem description:

Emergency operation

Analysis:

Western countries do not recognize that China has a civilization of 5,000 years. It was not until the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the early 20th century that the history of China was extended to 3000 years ago. The recent "Xia Shang Zhou Dating Project" is a huge project to find the lost chronology of Chinese history. However, due to the lack of written records, it is still pending. Even if some theories are put forward, they are far-fetched, which is the charm of words.

The bronze tripod and other containers are the carriers of inscriptions on bronze, and the animal bones and tortoise shells are the carriers of Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Brief introduction of Oracle Bone Inscriptions

-

Ay * * * wd200565438+1October 27th

Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a name in ancient Chinese characters. Yin people used tortoise shells and animal bones (mainly the shoulder blades of cattle) for divination. After divination, the date of divination, the name of the diviner, and the things of divination are all engraved with a knife next to divination, and some even engraved with good or bad luck that has been fulfilled for several days. The most detailed word is nearly 100. Scholars call this kind of record Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and this kind of writing is Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was found in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, and it was a relic of the Shang King who died after he moved to Yin (from mid-4th century BC to mid-4th century BC 1 1 century BC). It has been more than 3000 years.

At first, Oracle Bone Inscriptions appeared naturally and no one paid attention to it. 1899, Wang recognized it as a Shang dynasty script and collected it. 1903, Liu Eyin's "Tieyun Hidden Turtle". Early researchers included Sun Yirang, Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei. Luo Zhenyu also collected physical objects for rubbings, such as Shu Zheng of Phonetic Sequences, and made textual research. The archaeological excavation of Yin Ruins in Anyang started at 1928 and lasted for * * *. The biggest harvest was the pit 127 excavated in the summer of 1936, and more than 7000 pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions/kloc-0 were unearthed. Combined with previous harvests, Yin A-Bian and B-Bian were selected, numbered * * * Shoujiagu 13047. Based on unearthed materials, Dong Zuobin wrote A Case Study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Dating, which was divided into five periods in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and elaborated the evolution of grammar, glyphs and calligraphy, and was revised from time to time. Chen's careful induction in the Summary of Yinque Oracle Inscriptions shows that the theory of dating is basically credible. There are many textual research scholars in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, among whom Guo Moruo and He Yu have made outstanding achievements. Sun Haibo collected and compiled it into Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and the first edition was revised and reprinted in 1934 and 1964. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Institute of History of China Academy of Social Sciences collected 4 1956 pieces of * * * Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed in the Yin Ruins of Anyang in the 80 years since Oracle Bone Inscriptions 1899, which were edited by Guo Moruo and Hu Houxuan, and compiled into the Collection of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In 1970s, the Institute of Archaeology excavated 4589 pieces of Oracle bones in Yin Ruins.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the oldest extant script in China, with about 4,500 characters and about 1/3 recognizable characters. Its basic vocabulary, basic grammar and basic glyph structure are the same as those of later Chinese languages. Taking Xu Shen's six books as the object of investigation, it is found that in terms of glyph structure, meaning, shape, sound and understanding are all complete; In the use of literal meaning, it is also clear that annotation (mutual training, that is, meaning is close to universal) and borrowing (sound is close to universal). Oracle Bone Inscriptions can date, sooner or later. We can learn a lot about the development of Chinese characters from the changes of some commonly used words. For example: ① Simple and complicated characters are getting simpler and simpler, and strokes are getting less and less. (2) Pictophonetic characters, which are added with phonetic symbols, and foreign words are added with phonetic symbols to become pictophonetic characters. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written and engraved by a fortune teller, which has its limitations and does not necessarily include all the characters of Shang Dynasty. And some divination terms may not be common to ordinary people. Because it is carved with a knife, it is inevitably deformed, which is not easy to understand at first glance.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions originally referred to the Yin Ruins in Anyang. It has been more than 80 years since it was discovered. With the efforts of many scholars, it has made great achievements, which can be said to be a unit in the history of China characters. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), written Oracle bones of Zhou people were found all over the country, such as three pieces of Oracle bones unearthed from Zhangjiapo, Anfengxi, Shaanxi Province, 1 piece of Oracle bones unearthed from Fangdui Village, Hongdong County, Shaanxi Province, three pieces of Jiabu unearthed from Baifu Village, Changping County, Beijing, 292 pieces unearthed from Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, and 1 piece unearthed from Qijia Village, Fufeng County, among which Qishan and Fufeng are more important. These materials are unearthed in scattered places, with different ages, simple contents and different glyphs from Yin Ruins. It is indeed a new discovery in China archaeology, but judging from the history of China characters, it has not solved any problems.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions mainly refers to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, which was written by the royal family on tortoise shells and animal bones in the late Shang Dynasty in China (14 ~ 1 1 century). It is the earliest and most complete ancient Chinese character discovered by China.

In the 25th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1899), Oracle Bone Inscriptions was first known by epigraphist Wang and bought at a high price. In the following ten years, Wang Xiang, Meng, Liu E, Luo Zhenyu, and Farlian of the United States successively searched for Oracle bones, Shouling and the United Kingdom, Taifu Lin of Japan, and Canadian ones. , * * * got tens of thousands of pieces of Oracle bones. From 1928 to 1937, the archaeological team of the Institute of History and Linguistics of Academia Sinica carried out a planned excavation of Yin Ruins, which was carried out for 15 times, and about 25,000 pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions were obtained. Since then, Oracle bones have been unearthed in Yin Ruins. 1973, the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences excavated more than 4,000 pieces of Oracle bones in Xiaotun South, Anyang, Henan. In addition to the Yin Ruins, two inscribed Oracle Bone Inscriptions pieces were also found in Zhengzhou 1953 and 1954 sites in the middle of Shang Dynasty. /kloc-since 0/954, about 300 inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells have been unearthed in Hongdong, Shaanxi, Changping, Zhouyuan Fenghao Site and Feng Chu, Qishan, Shaanxi.

Since Oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered, more than 50,000 pieces of Oracle bones/kloc-0 have been unearthed in Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province, Hong Kong and Macao, Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, France, the Soviet Union, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries, and South Korea also has collections.

Most of the unearthed Oracle bone inscriptions have been recorded and published, such as Liu E's Tieyun Hiding a Turtle, Luo Zhenyu's Yinxu Shuqi and Yinxu Shuqi Later Edition, James Mellon Menzies's Yinxu Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Lin Taifu's Tortoise and Beast Bone Essays, and Wang Xiang's Essays on Stan Yin Qi. Later, there were Dong Zuobin's A Collection of Yin Ruins and A Collection of Yin Ruins, and Hu Houxuan's A Collection of Newly Acquired Oracle Bones in Nanjing and Shanghai after World War II. After World War II, there were records of Oracle bones seen in the north and south, and Oracle bones were newly acquired in Beijing and Tianjin after World War II. The Collection of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, edited by Guo Moruo and Hu Houxuan, systematically and scientifically sorted out hundreds of thousands of pieces of Oracle bones found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in recent 80 years, collected all the unearthed Oracle bones extensively and classified them by stages. * * * collected about 40,000 pieces of Oracle bones and compiled them into thirteen volumes, which provided systematic data for the study of Oracle bones and Shang history. In addition, 1973 Oracle bones unearthed in xiaotun south have been included in the book xiaotun south Oracle bones. Oracle bones in Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union, Germany and other countries have also been recorded and published respectively.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a relatively mature character, and the main methods of word formation are pictographic characters, pictographic characters and phonetic characters. Today's Chinese characters are still pictographs based on pictographs, so Oracle Bone Inscriptions has the basic form of Chinese character structure in later generations. Grammatically, there are nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and their sentence patterns and structural order are basically consistent with later grammars.

Because Shang Wang knew everything, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's content involved all fields of Shang society. According to the information about the Shang class and country in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, slaves and civilians in Shang Dynasty were composed of people with different identities, such as the masses, peasants, Qiang people, servants, Xi, concubines and so on. The nobles of slave owners include former princes and their spouses, such as Gao Cong, Yan Mou, Mu Hou, Zi Ruzi and Duo Zi. Officials at all levels include Shangshu, Yin and Shi. The army has divisions, brigades, etc. Penalties include beheading, beheading and setting up a prison. Oracle Bone Inscriptions also recorded the human sacrifice in Shang Dynasty, which is directly related to solving the social nature of Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty often waged wars with foreign countries, and the conquered countries paid tribute to the Shang Dynasty. In Oracle bone inscriptions, it is often recorded that families have come and entered horses, cattle, sheep and turtles.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions was a rich social means of production in Shang Dynasty. In agriculture, there are records of plowing and ploughing fields, as well as the names of various crops such as millet, millet, wheat, thunder and rice. The king is concerned about the abundance of agricultural harvest and the influence of rain and rain on agricultural harvest, and often makes predictions of setting up millet, saving millet, praying for the new year and telling autumn. Horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs and tapirs in animal husbandry. They are all recorded, and there are a large number of livestock and special stables. A large number of cattle and sheep are often used for sacrifice. Fishing and hunting still played a certain role in the social life of Shang Dynasty. The prey recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions include deer, elk, tapir, elephant, tiger, fox, fish and various birds. Hunting methods include wild hunting, hunting, chasing, trapping and shooting. There are also commercial and transportation information about shellfish, friends, nobles, ships, cars and even transportation systems in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions also enriched the ideological and cultural content of Shang Dynasty. In the astronomical calendar, there are solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, birds and stars, new stars and big stars. , and leap month data such as March and Shi Shuo at different time periods every day. In meteorology, there are many records about rain forecast, wind forecast, changing sun, clouds, thunder, hail, snow and rainbow. There are medical records of head diseases, dental diseases, nasal diseases, speech diseases, elbow diseases, foot diseases, heel diseases and other diseases, and there are also records about fertility, which shows that the expected date of delivery can be accurately inferred at that time.

The king is still a ghost, who can predict everything. The content of divination is mostly centered on the king. On the issues of concern, such as ancestor worship, natural ghosts and gods, wind, rain, water, astronomical phenomena, farming, years of success, etc., virgins ask gods, ghosts and gods, the first male and the first king, etc. , so as to predict good or bad luck, pray for blessing. The divination materials are mostly tortoise shell (and a small amount of back shell) and cattle scapula, which are corrected before use and drilled on the back (and a small amount of cattle scapula on the front). In Oracle inscriptions, Oracle bones are burned with fire before drilling holes in the back, and there are "Bu"-shaped cracks in the front to judge good or bad luck. After divination, record the divination on the Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions usually carved vertical paintings first, then horizontal paintings, then signs, auspicious words and characters, and then divination, so he was also called Oracle Bone Inscriptions. A complete Oracle Bone Inscriptions should include narrative, fate, occupation and proof, while most Oracle bones often omit occupation or proof. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, some are painted with vermilion or ink, some are written on Oracle Bone Inscriptions with a brush, and some are written first and then engraved.

The distribution of Oracle Bone Inscriptions is regular. Generally speaking, the words engraved with welcome omens are related to some omens. On the right side of tortoise shell, the omen is left and the text is right; On the left, the omen is right and the text is left; The Oracle Bone Inscriptions at the bridge head, tail and side are all from the outside to the inside. In Shang Dynasty, divination was often questioned from both positive and negative aspects, which reflected that there were corresponding "left and right chastity" on the tortoise shell of cattle scapula, with the right scapula divining on the right and Oracle Bone Inscriptions on the left; The left scapula is the opposite. Only two Oracle Bone Inscriptions near the upper bone mortar read from the middle, left and right, left and right. Oracle Bone Inscriptions on Oracle bones is carved from bottom to top, or from top to bottom. There is often a boundary between them, and everything is repeated. However, there are also different hexagrams staggered, which are "alternate inscriptions"; There is no room for Oracle Bone Inscriptions on the front, but the back is carved, which is a "positive and negative connection"; Some people ask the same thing over and over again, but the Oracle bones with basically the same content are engraved on several versions of Oracle bones, but the order of each version is different, which is called "the same Oracle bone".

In the late Shang Dynasty, Pan Geng moved its capital to Zhou Wang, which lasted about 273 years and experienced eight emperors and twelve kings. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in this period should also be divided into early and late periods. There are many methods to date Oracle bones in Shang dynasty, which are divided into stages. At present, Dong Zuobin's five-stage theory is mainly adopted, which is divided according to the ten standards of lineage, appellation and chastity, that is, the first stage; Pan Geng, Xiaoxin, Xiao B, Wu Ding; The second stage: Zu Geng and Zujia; The third issue: Yan Xin and Kangding; The fourth period: martial arts, Wen Ding; The fifth issue: the first issue and Di Xin. Some of these issues are still under discussion.

1904, Sun Yirang wrote The Example of Wen Qi, which is the first book to research Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Since then, scholars have adopted the method of "tracing back to the ancient characters of Xu Shu and getting a glimpse of Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the ancient characters", made a comparative analysis of the radical stippling of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and used phonology and exegetics to interpret the characters. Among them, scholars and major works that have made great achievements are: Luo Zhenyu's Textual Research on Yin Ruins, Notes on Yin Ruins in Tang Lan, An Introduction to Ancient Chinese Characters, Yang Shuda's Theory of Living, Guo Moruo's Textual Research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Compilation and Research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions by Nazi Party in Yin Qi, and Exegesis on Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yu. Since 19 17 Wang Guowei used Oracle Bone Inscriptions to study the history of Shang Dynasty, Guo Moruo, Dong Zuobin and Hu Houxuan have written Studies of Ancient Society in China, Yin Lipu and Series of History of Shang Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions respectively. Chen's Summary of Oracle Inscriptions in Yin Ruins also contains a lot of content about the study of Shang history. In recent years, many young scholars have also made valuable contributions to the study of business history by using Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Great progress has been made in the study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, but there are still many problems to be discussed, such as textual research, dating by stages, Shang society, slave status and many problems in Shang history. In addition, the study of Oracle bones in the Western Zhou Dynasty is still in the primary stage, and there are still many controversies. These are all topics that need to be further studied and solved.