The earliest practical word "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" in China was discovered in Shang Dynasty more than 3,500 years ago.

China's earliest practical word "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" was found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty more than 3,500 years ago.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions, also known as "Wen Qi", "Oracle Bone Inscriptions", Yin Ruins or "tortoise shell and animal bones".

Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded and reflected the political and economic situation of Shang Dynasty, which mainly refers to the words carved on tortoise shells or animal bones by the royal family in China in the late Shang Dynasty (14 ~ 1 1 century), and their contents are generally the things asked or the results obtained by divination.

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The usage of Oracle Bone Inscriptions:

During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, rulers believed in ghosts and gods. From state affairs to private life, they all use Oracle bones to predict bad luck, decide what to do, and carve problems on Oracle bones. The Oracle Bone Inscriptions used here is mostly the tortoise's bellybutton, carapace and shoulder blade of cattle.

Before divination, the Yin people sawed Oracle Bone Inscriptions neatly, and drilled round deep pits and shallow grooves on the back (note: Oracle Bone Inscriptions scholars called it "drilling"). When divining, first pray to ghosts and gods for what they want to ask, and then bake Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and judge success or failure according to the length, thickness, straightness and concealment of cracks.

After divination, it is necessary to engrave the contents and results of divination in the vicinity of divination, that is, Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

For divination, the Shang Dynasty set up special institutions and fortune tellers. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was kept as a national archive and piled in a pit. These Oracle bones reflect all aspects of social life at that time and are the true records of the history of Shang Dynasty.

1 1 century BC, Zhou Wuwang lost its commerce, and the once prosperous commerce was destroyed and reduced to ruins. With the demise of Shang Dynasty, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was also buried deep underground, and later generations only knew Shang Dynasty, but not Oracle bones.

Since then, the prosperous Shang Dynasty has become a "lost dynasty". Oracle Bone Inscriptions has been silent for more than 3,000 years.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Oracle Bone Inscriptions