What role did Oracle Bone Inscriptions play in the cultural field of China?

The epoch-making significance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery and its influence on China culture

1994 The International Academic Commemorative Conference on the 95th Anniversary of the Discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Anyang, China is an important academic conference sponsored by the Yin and Shang Cultural Society of China. This article specially introduces the general situation of the conference.

It has been 95th anniversary since Wang Yu 1899 discovered Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins. To commemorate this great discovery, the International Academic Commemorative Conference on the 95th Anniversary of the Discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Anyang, China in 1994 was jointly sponsored by China Yin Shang Culture Society and Anyang Tourism Bureau, and hosted by Anyang Yin Ruins Museum, Anyang Calligraphy Association, Anyang Yin Shang Culture Research Institute and Anyang Oracle Bone Inscriptions Research Institute. Nearly 60 representatives from China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Italy attended the meeting. The conference received 35 academic papers.

This commemorative meeting focused on the epoch-making significance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's influence on China culture, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the history of Yin and Shang Dynasties and the history of archaeology. Here is a simple overview.

Researcher Yang believes that Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery greatly promoted the study of China's ancient history and culture, and opened up a new era for the study of China's ancient civilization. Mainly in: 1. It is confirmed that the history of Shang Dynasty is the history of our country, which promotes the study of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. 2. It promotes the emergence and development of modern archaeology. 3. It promotes the collation of ancient documents and increases their credibility. 4. Promoted the development of ancient philology. 5. Promoted the development of art in oracle calligraphy. Wang Yuxin's scientific excavation of Yin Ruins brought epigraphy into the track of archaeology. It is believed that the excavation of Yin Ruins, which started in 1928 by the Archaeological Group of the Institute of History and Linguistics of Academia Sinica, marked the birth of modern archaeology in China, put an end to the old Oracle Bone Inscriptions and traditional epigraphy, and embarked on the road of combining with archaeology. Mr. Dong Zuobin used the stratigraphic relationship to date Oracle Bone Inscriptions by stages. Comrade Guo Moruo's application of archaeological knowledge to the study of bronze dating is the most convincing proof. Associate professors Wang Jiajun and Guo Shengqiang wrote The Influence of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins on China Culture. By analyzing Oracle Bone Inscriptions's position in the history of China characters and Oracle Bone Inscriptions's influence on later calligraphy, seal cutting and later literature, art and legal system, it is considered that Yin is the pioneer of Chinese civilization, the culture of Yin ruins in the Shang Dynasty is splendid, and Anyang, where Yin ruins are located, is a complete physical textbook of the history of the development of oriental society and China culture. With 1949 as the boundary, Associate Professor Chang divided the study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions subgroup Oracle Bone Inscriptions into two different periods, redefined the concept and category of subgroup Oracle Bone Inscriptions based on the basic standard of font classification, and compiled all the materials into a source table, which provided convenient conditions for further study of subgroup Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Professor Fan Yuzhou's textual research on the comet records of Shang Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, based on his Oracle Bone Inscriptions of the comet records found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, proves that these inscriptions are credible inscriptions on the comet records of Shang Dynasty, and thinks that these inscriptions are the earliest comet records in the world, about 5 ~ 6 centuries earlier than Babylon. Associate Professor Zheng Huisheng's article "The Book of Sacrifice in Shang Dynasty Originated from the Sacrifice Spectrum of Zhou Dynasty" holds that the merchants named their ancestors by the names of Japanese dry stems, and in order to avoid repetition, some different words such as big, medium and small were added before the names of Shang kings. Since Wuding, the distinguishing words of large, medium and small have been used up. Due to the need of memorial spectrum of Zhou Ji, people used the important deeds of my late king as distinguishing words at that time. For example, Wu Ding is good at martial arts, Wen Ding is good at writing, and Kang Ding's world is Taikang. These sacrificial names, which are distinguished by personal life stories, are the official beginning of funeral ceremonies in later generations. Professor Meng's "Oracle Bone Inscriptions has rhyme" and lecturer Du Aiying's "Supplementary Certificate" both think that Oracle Bone Inscriptions has many rhymes, and 14295 Oracle Bone Inscriptions in "He" is a document for holding a blessing ceremony on New Year's Day. On the basis of these inscriptions, the author has done further research, and the article has also discussed the formation of Chinese characters and the rhyme of pottery inscriptions to varying degrees. Associate Professor Song Xinchao compared the bronze mirrors unearthed in Yin Ruins with those unearthed in northern areas in the article "Cultural Factors of Northern Nationalities in Yin Ruins", and thought that the bronze mirrors unearthed in Yin Ruins were compared with bronze ritual vessels and weapons unearthed in the same period, and the casting process was rough and the decoration was obviously different. However, it is very similar or identical to the ancient mirrors found in Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, western Liaoning and other places outside the scope of Shang culture. Therefore, it is speculated that China bronze mirror was originally invented and used by ancestors in Gan Qing, and then it became popular in Gan Qing and the first-line area of the Great Wall with the same natural environment. In the late Shang Dynasty, due to the close contact and communication between Shang Dynasty and the ancients in the northern and northwestern border areas, bronze mirrors were introduced into the Central Plains. Yang Xizhang and Liu Yiman's article "The Main Harvest Discovered in Yin Ruins since 1980s" mainly introduces the new archaeological achievements since 1980s, such as the re-understanding of the area, scope and overall situation of Yin Ruins, the excavation of the defense palace in the palace area, the excavation of the site of the Northeast Palace in Xiaotun, the excavation of the tombs in Northwest Gang and Hougang, the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions pit east of Huayuan Village, and the m1of Guojiazhuang. Professor Shen Bin's article "Seismic Exploration of Hidden Bases and Tombs" uses the principle of shallow seismic exploration, that is, the time-distance curve made by the relationship between the time when refracted waves and reflected waves return to the ground, the receiving point and the focal distance, to determine the coverage thickness, the base site, the distribution of sites and tombs, the occurrence factors and the structural form. The author also made two shallow seismic exploration profile tests on the base site of the ancient palace in front of the Yin Ruins Museum. The inferred spatial distribution of rammed earth foundation sites is basically consistent with the actual situation, which proves that the data detected by shallow seismic exploration method can meet the requirements of archaeological work.