What are Oracle bones in Yin Ruins?

There is a very interesting story about Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery a long time ago: 1899, imperial academy's wine-offering king (whose real name is Lian Sheng, also Gong) got malaria, and the doctor of too much medicine immediately prescribed a prescription after feeling his pulse, including a Chinese medicine called "keel". Wang immediately sent his family to an old Chinese medicine doctor "Darentang" outside Xuanwu Gate to get medicine. When he bought back the medicine, Wang opened the bag himself-when he looked at it, he accidentally found that the "keel" in the medicine was engraved with crooked words that looked like seal script but he didn't know.

Wang usually likes epigraphy and is proficient in epigraphy. Known as "extensive involvement in the history of books and love epigraphy", he has deep literacy and attainments in ancient philology. This accidental discovery made him realize that this "keel" was by no means an ordinary medicinal material, so he sent someone to the drugstore to buy back all the "keels", which caused a sensation in the cultural circles at that time, especially many scholars who studied history also had a strong interest in it.

In fact, the so-called "keel" is 1898 some ancient tortoise shells and animal bones dug up in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province, and some of them are painted with crooked patterns. Villagers in Xiaotun Village often grind these Oracle bones into powder and use them as knives and guns to treat diseases. Some of them are sold to Chinese medicine shops as "keels". The "keel" purchased by pharmacies generally has no words. They scraped off the words on the unearthed Oracle bones. Some people think that scraping off too much will reduce the weight of the Oracle bones. I had to find another way to grind these words away until they became blurred and illegible. It is impossible to estimate how much Oracle Bone Inscriptions has been destroyed as a medicinal material like this. Fan, a native of Weixian County, Shandong Province, told this story to Meng and Wang Xiang, poor scholars in Tianjin. They guessed that this might be a simple strategy in ancient times.

Later, Wang and others, with their profound knowledge of epigraphy and ancient philology, finally concluded that the patterns on these "keels" were written records of the divination activities of the royal nobles in the late Shang Dynasty. The "keels" that had been sleeping for 3,000 years were awakened and finally Oracle Bone Inscriptions was discovered.

After the discovery of Oracle bones, many bureaucrats, landlords and intellectuals rushed to buy collections, but they didn't know the real origin of Oracle bones. In order to monopolize Oracle bones and make huge profits, the merchants kept the land of Oracle bones secret. Or pretending to be Henan Tangyin or Weihui. From 65438 to 0908, on the basis of collecting a large number of Oracle bones and in-depth research, Luo Zhenyu thought that Oracle bone inscriptions should be found in Xiaotun, northwest Anyang, not Tangyin. After that, he sent his younger brother Luo Zhenchang to Anyang to buy Oracle bones. 19 15 years, he personally went to Anyang Xiaotun to learn about the excavation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, pointing out that Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a relic of the Yin royal family, and Xiaotun is the location of the Yin ruins.

In order to stop the looting of Oracle bones and understand the situation of Oracle bones buried underground in Xiaotun Village, the Institute of History and Language of Academia Sinica officially excavated Xiaotun in Anyang on 1928. Since then, the prelude to the scientific excavation of Yin Ruins has been opened.

It has been more than a hundred years since 1899, and about150,000 pieces of Oracle bones have been unearthed. Among them, 34,844 pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions were unearthed through scientific excavation. There are three major archaeological discoveries that have caused a sensation in academic circles.

The first excavation was carried out in the northeast of Xiaotun in the spring of 1936. Piles of Oracle bones were found in the pit numbered H 127, and Oracle bone carvings 17096 pieces were unearthed. Among them, Jabu 17088 pieces, 8 pieces of Oracle bones, and nearly 300 versions of Jabu in complete print. There is a big turtle from Malay Peninsula, 44 cm long and 35 cm wide, which is the largest piece of armor unearthed in Yin Ruins so far. In addition, there are ink books, Zhu and other phenomena. Pit H 127 is a cave where Oracle Bone Inscriptions was buried in Wuding period of Shang Dynasty, and the content of Oracle Bone Inscriptions is very extensive. From astronomy to geography, it involves politics, economy, culture, society and other aspects of the Shang Dynasty, and has important historical value.

The second time was 1973 carved Oracle Bone Inscriptions discovered during the excavation of Nanti in Xiaotun, and * * * got 5335 yuan. Among them, there are 5260 Oracle bones, 75 Oracle bones, and nearly 100 large and complete Oracle Bone Inscriptions. These Oracle bones have a clear stratigraphic relationship when unearthed, and they exist together with pottery, which provides valuable information for the staging of Oracle bones and the dating of Yin ruins culture. Most of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the south of Xiaotun belongs to the Shang kings Kangding, Wuyi and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Wen Ding, and a few belong to Wuding, Diyi and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Di Xin. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's content is also very rich, including sacrifice, hunting, conquest, astronomical phenomena, agriculture, decathlon, king's affairs and so on. In addition, some place names, people's names and square names were found.

For the third time, in 199 1 year, a Oracle Bone Inscriptions pit numbered H3 was found at 100 meters east of Huayuanzhuang, and Oracle bones 1583 pieces were unearthed. Among them, there are 574 pieces of cloth armor 1558 pieces with inscriptions; 25 Oracle bones, 5 with inscriptions on them. * * * carved 579 pieces of Oracle bones. What is particularly precious is that the Oracle bones in this pit are mainly large-scale Oracle bones, and the complete Oracle inscriptions have reached more than 300 versions. The content of the inscription mainly involves ancestor worship, hunting, weather, disease and so on. According to the hierarchical relationship between land and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, this pit belongs to the early Wuding remains. The owner of this pit, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, is Zi, who belongs to "Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the non-king". Therefore, the discovery of Oracle bone pits provides valuable information for the study of "non-Wang Oracle" and the family form of Shang Dynasty.

Xiaotun Village, where Oracle bones were found, is located in Liuli, northwest of Anyang City, Henan Province, and its northeast is surrounded by water. This is the old capital of Shang Dynasty, and it is also called Yin Ruins in Historical Records of Xiang Yu.

Oracle bones in Yin Ruins, that is, the rulers of Yin Shang Dynasty decided to stop and go on major issues such as ancestor worship, suing the temple, appreciating the gods, choosing the date of the ceremony, the number of sacrifices, good and bad luck in and out, capturing and hunting, conquering victory, apologizing for good years, how much wind and rain, and recovering from illness. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the divination ceremony was very grand, and an official in charge of divination was called "Taibu". At that time, the method of divination was to drill and carve it on its back with tortoise shells or animal bones, and then burn it to determine good or bad luck by looking at its positive natural omen. At that time, near this extra-large mountain, the order of one, two, three and four was engraved, and some of them were accompanied by oracles, asking for divination one day.

Among the animal bones, there are records of conquest and capture at that time, as well as records of six rows and sixty jiazi. This is not a record of divination, but the embryonic form of later simplified books. Occasionally, there are inscriptions on animal skulls and hoof bones, which is a special case.

Writing is the carrier of a region and a national civilization. Among the four world-famous ancient Chinese characters, ancient Egyptian papyrus, Babylonian clay tablets and American Indian Maya lost their vitality in evolution and were gradually forgotten by history. Only Oracle Bone Inscriptions, China, with its strong vitality continues to this day, making Chinese characters the only ideographic character with increasingly strict system in the world.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions, as the earliest documentary record of China's discovery, is one of the important symbols of China's entry into the civilized era. Its discovery is of epoch-making significance. Before the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, people were very confused about the history of Shang Dynasty, and some people once questioned the existence of Shang Dynasty. After the discovery of Oracle bone inscriptions, scholars such as Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei recognized that Yi Ming in Oracle bone inscriptions was the same as the lineage of Shang emperors recorded in Historical Records, Shiben and other ancient documents. This proves that there is no doubt about the existence of Shang Dynasty. The landscape of the Oracle bone inscriptions "Anyang Xiaotun" is consistent with the records in Historical Records of Xiang Yu, "Shang Yin Ruins in the South of Huanshui" and "Chu Mountain in the South of Huanshui, North of the East Ruins". Therefore, it is confirmed that Xiaotun area is the Yin Ruins where Pan Geng moved. Yin Ruins were the capital of Pan Geng to Di Xin (Shang Zhouwang) in the late Shang Dynasty.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery and research in the past hundred years not only proved that the records in Historical Records of Yin Benji are reliable, but also confirmed that the History of Shang Dynasty is the trust history of China, which can also verify that the records of Xia Dynasty lineage (from Yu to Jie 14 and Wang 17) recorded in Historical Records of Xia Benji are also credible. This provides an important basis for archaeologists to explore the culture of the Xia Dynasty and enhances people's confidence in studying the history of the Xia Dynasty.

At present, there are more than 5,000 characters in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and more than 1000 characters have been successfully interpreted by ancient philologists, which proves that it is a system with today's Chinese characters. Its discovery provides important material data for tracing the origin and evolution of Chinese characters. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is an encyclopedic document of China's early history with rich contents. Its discovery is of inestimable significance to the study of China history and the excavation of traditional culture, and it is an important milestone in the cultural history of China.

In the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), Wang Chonglie, the son of Wang, sold his antiques, so Wang's Oracle bones were transferred to Liu E, the Dantu. Liu E continued to buy them, and in the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), the Oracle bones were selected 1058. He is the author of six volumes of Tieyun Hidden Tortoise, which is the beginning of the special book on Oracle bones in Yin Ruins. In Liu E's preface, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is called tortoise shell, which shows that its use was not fully understood at that time.

At the same time, Wang Xiang and Meng from Tianjin are looking for Oracle bones with Wang. According to Wang Xiang's Zhen Bu Wen Juan and Ti Yi Shu Yuan Yin Qi Lost Volume, in the winter of 1898, he learned the news of Oracle bones from Fan Wei. At that time, Meng suspected that it was an ancient bamboo slip, but he couldn't confirm it because he didn't see the original. In the autumn of the following year, when Wei Fan came to Tianjin to sell Oracle bones, he was recognized by Wang Xirong and named "Tortoise Shell". Wang He initially bought about 500 or 600 tablets; Later, Wang Xiang bought more than 4,000 pieces of Oracle bones in Beijing and Tianjin, of which 1 125 pieces were recorded in his On Yin Qi in the Tomb.

There is also a paragraph for searching Oracle bones. Finally, it was the minister of the Qing dynasty, the official to the governor. According to the Oracle bones chronology: 1899, "Fan, an antique dealer in wei county, Shandong Province, searched for antiques for Duan Fang and traveled between Wu 'an and Henan. When he saw Oracle Bone Inscriptions, he bought some pieces and gave them to Duan Fang. He was very happy. His reward is 25 yuan per word. Fan is trying to buy. Today, people in Xiaotun Village can still describe it and pass it on as a beautiful talk.

Liu E, who recorded Oracle bone inscriptions into a book for the first time to meet the society, has been extremely dissatisfied with the authorities since "Eight-Nation Alliance" invaded China, and made representations to open the imperial warehouse. Originally, he was said to be a "traitor" for a long time, and this "crime" is even greater. Shortly after the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty", the Qing government formally convicted him of being sent to Xinjiang for hard labor. As a result, this Hong Du Bai Liansheng, who is proficient in mathematics and medicine, loves literature and archaeology, and has great ambitions, was escorted to the frontier to lead a criminal life before he could write his Travel Notes of the Old Disabled. Liu later died in Xinjiang, and naturally, his family has since declined. Finally, his family had to sell the Oracle Bone Inscriptions he had collected before his death. Part of it was sold to Harbin, a British Jew who started selling opium by the sea; The other part was transferred to Tokyo and owned by the Japanese.

Unfortunately, however, Oracle Bone Inscriptions has been lost since it was unearthed. Since Oracle bones reappeared in the world in the early 20th century, imperialists who have been coveting China's historical relics have regarded Oracle bones as another plundering object. These foreigners either use the convenience of work or the magic of money to search for Oracle Bone Inscriptions everywhere. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 200,000 pieces of Oracle bones unearthed in Xiaotun, Anyang, at least 20,000 to 30,000 pieces have flowed overseas. So far, new york, London, Paris, Tokyo and other world-famous cities have collected many very precious historical relics of China. As far as Oracle bones are concerned, nearly 100 foreign scholars have studied Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the past 80 years.

/kloc-At the end of 0/9, the Presbyterian Church of America established a church in wei county. Weixian county was then an antique distribution center. Therefore, when 1888 was sent to Wei County to preach, Father Fallen began to buy antiques. After the rise of the Boxer Rebellion, Fallen once left Wei County, and when/kloc-0 returned in 900, a large number of Oracle bones unearthed in Anyang also appeared in Wei County market. So the veteran antique buyer turned his attention and bought a lot of Oracle bones.

Methods After all, his personal financial resources were limited, and he couldn't buy the Oracle bones available in the market, so he introduced his colleague, Reverend Ku Shouling of the British Baptist Church, to buy them together. Later, Ku Shouling became the general agent for imperialists to plunder Oracle bones in China, relying on abundant financial resources to replace British and American institutions and individuals, including Shanghai Asian Literature Association Branch, Royal Scottish Museum, British Museum, Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum, Chicago Feld Museum and British Consul Hobkin to buy Oracle bones. The amount he bought for these institutions and individuals is difficult to test, and it is estimated that there are at least several thousand pieces. His own collection is now at the Carnegie Museum in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Methods He died on 19 14 after returning to China.

It is reported that every time you buy a batch of Oracle bones in your life, you must draw its graphics first, and then copy the words on the Oracle bones. When I saw Oracle Bone Inscriptions in other places, I made a map of the tomb. Later, the method of imitation was compiled by Roswell Sessoms Britton into a book "The Fine Characters of Oracle Bones in Kufang Tibetan", which was published in China 1935. He also wrote Textual Research on China, published in 1906, and was the first person in Europe and America to study and introduce Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

According to Ku Shouling's article "Oracle bones in Henan", he came to China three times to buy Oracle bones and other utensils, and then sold them to museums all over the country.

1909, German Wilt bought 7 1 1 Oracle bones in Qingdao, and his whereabouts were unknown after World War II. Wei Lixian also bought a lot, including 70 existing Swiss Basao Folk Museum, one of which belongs to the Franz China Institute, and the other is lost. These 72 Oracle bones were included in seven episodes of Oracle Bone Inscriptions compiled in this way.

1908 or so, the British began to think about Oracle Bone Inscriptions. After the Boxer Rebellion, the Church of England founded a school in Tianjin, named "Xue Xin College". Wang's son studied in this school and presented a batch of antiques collected by his family to the school, including 25 pieces of Oracle bones unearthed in Xiaotun. The school authorities didn't know what Oracle Bone Inscriptions was, so they asked Hobokin, then British consul in Tianjin, to study Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Hobkin studied ancient Chinese characters in China and translated Dai Dong's Six Classics into English in Xiamen in 188 1. His research on these Oracle Bone Inscriptions was published in the Journal of Xue Xin College (1May, 908) "College Echo". Since then, Hobbes has developed a strong interest in Oracle bones. When he saw the news that the book "Ancient Chinese Characters in China" was going to be published, he began to correspond with him. Since then, the two men have formed a joint acquisition group of Oracle Bone Inscriptions by the United States and Britain. Hobkin bought about 900 pieces for Cambridge University Library through collection.

In addition, there are 50 pieces of Oracle bones in Cambridge University, which were bought by Yates 19 13, a famous British expert in China ancient cultural relics collection, and presented to the library. These 50 pieces of Oracle bones should be part of "Hidden Tortoise in the Iron Cloud".

It is estimated that early Europeans and Americans collected at least 5000 pieces of Oracle bones.

When Canadian James Mellon Menzies 19 14 was a Presbyterian priest in Anyang, he learned the news of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins and often rode an old white horse to inspect the unearthed antiquities on the south bank of Huanshui. He was conceited that he was the first person to discover Yin Ruins, but he didn't know that Oracle Bone Inscriptions had already been discovered. When James Mellon Menzies sorted out Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins in 19 17, he claimed that there were 50,000 pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in his collection, which was not without exaggeration. But after a little income, it is estimated that there are actually more than 30 thousand pieces. His hidden Oracle bones were separated from the Canadian Embassy in Nanjing and cheeloo university in Jinan, and several attempts to transport them abroad were unsuccessful. After liberation, the Canadian Embassy handed over the collection to Nanjing Museum, and after counting, * * * got 2,390 pieces; More than 10,000 pieces of Oracle bones have been found in cheeloo university, which have rotted into pieces and are kept by the Shandong Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee. In addition, some blockbusters may have been shipped abroad.

In a word, the number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Canadian Yin Ruins is second only to Japanese, ranking second among more than a dozen countries in the world.

According to a more accurate estimate, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the Yin Ruins, which was searched and preserved abroad, is the largest in Japan. Thanks to the efforts of Japanese scholars, except for a few big collectors (such as Dali Reference Museum), the Oracle bones of other big collectors have basically been published, which provides great convenience for the study of Oracle bones. According to Japanese scholars' own statistics, considering that many Oracle bones hidden by some public and private people have disappeared, it is estimated that there are about 8,200 Oracle bones in Japan.