Oracle Bone Script: Early Chinese Writing

The oldest well-known Chinese writing

Oracle bone script is the earliest large body of Chinese writing that scholars can read in a connected way. The inscriptions were carved or brushed on the shoulder bones of oxen and on the undershells of turtles. They date from the late Shang period, a time of bronze-working and royal ritual, which falls broadly in the second millennium BCE. Earlier marks on pottery and other objects have been found, and researchers discuss whether they count as writing, but oracle bone script is the first system that is clearly an established, flexible form of Chinese writing.

The Shang and Zhou article covers the wider setting of that early age. Here the focus is on the script itself and the strange way it was used.

What the bones were for

The bones were used for divination. In general terms, the process worked like this:

1. A bone or shell was prepared and smoothed, and small hollows were drilled or chiseled into the back.
2. A question was put to ancestors or spirits. The question was commonly posed as a statement that could be confirmed or rejected.
3. Heat was applied to the hollows, which made the bone crack with a popping sound.
4. The pattern of cracks was read as an answer, and the result was interpreted by a diviner or by the king.
5. In many cases, the question, and sometimes the outcome, was then carved into the surface.

Some bones were stored in pits after use, which is why large numbers survived underground for thousands of years.

What the inscriptions talk about

The topics reflect the concerns of a royal court that ruled with the help of ritual. Commonly noted themes include:

• weather and harvests, including whether rain would come
• hunting and military campaigns
• offerings and sacrifices to ancestors
• the health of the king and members of the royal household
• childbirth, dreams, and the favorable or unfavorable nature of a coming period

These records are valuable as a window into early thought. They show how the Shang rulers understood the relationship between the living and their ancestors, a theme that echoes in later practices of ancestor veneration. They do not give a full portrait of everyday life, since they were produced for a narrow purpose, so caution is wise when drawing broad conclusions.

Rediscovery

The modern story of oracle bones begins in the late nineteenth century. According to the commonly told account, farmers in the area of Anyang in Henan province had been digging up old bones, and some of these were sold as “dragon bones” for use in traditional medicine. Scholars then noticed the carved marks and recognized them as ancient writing. The story varies in its details across retellings, so it is best to treat the exact circumstances as uncertain.

Later excavations at Anyang, which is associated with a late Shang capital, brought to light large numbers of inscribed pieces together with palace foundations and tombs. Today, bones and fragments are held in collections in China and other countries.

What the script looks like

Oracle bone characters look quite different from modern ones. Many are simple pictures or pictorial signs: a sun, a moon, a person, a tree, an animal. Lines are thin and angular, which is often explained by the difficulty of carving into hard bone, though many inscriptions may have been written first with a brush.

Not all characters are pictures, though. The system already combined several methods:

• Pictographs, which depict an object.
• Combinations, which put elements together to suggest an idea.
• Sound-based forms, where a part of the character hints at pronunciation.

This mixture is the foundation on which later Chinese characters are built, and it is the same logic described in the articles on Chinese characters and on radicals. The shapes evolved over time through bronze inscriptions, seal scripts, and eventually the regular forms used today, as part of the long evolution of Chinese calligraphy. The unification of writing under the First Emperor of Qin was one later step in that history.

How much can be read

Researchers have identified several thousand distinct signs in the oracle bone corpus. Scholars have been able to decipher a considerable portion of them, mainly by comparing them with later forms, but a substantial number remain uncertain, and many appear only as names of people or places. Estimates of totals vary between authorities, so it is wise to avoid relying on a single figure.

The language recorded appears to be an early form of Chinese. Its grammar is quite concise, and it provides evidence for the early history of the language that later classical texts could not supply on their own.

Why it matters

Oracle bone script matters for several reasons:

• A continuous tradition. Chinese is often described as having a writing system that is continuous with its earliest known form. The characters have changed greatly, but many modern ones can be traced back to oracle bone shapes. Scholars are careful, though, to note that the line of development has gaps and uncertainty.
• Historical evidence. The inscriptions mention rulers and events that confirm and add to the later historical record about the Shang.
• Cultural interest. The bones are admired as artifacts, and their shapes have inspired artists, including seal carvers and calligraphers.

Oracle bones remain an active field of study, and new readings and joins of broken fragments continue to be proposed. For a reader wanting to understand where Chinese writing comes from, they provide the clearest and earliest view available, a reminder that the characters people write today stand at the end of a very long chain.