Oracle bone script
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The oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC. Inscriptions were made by carving characters into oracle bones, usually either the shoulder
Shang Inscribed Ox Scapula
Fragments of divination on bull scapula
Table of the Chinese sexagenary cycle inscribed on an ox scapula, dating to the reigns of the last two kings of the Shang dynasty during the first half of the 11th century BC
An annotated oracle bone inscription (composite of Heji 29990 and 30174) recording a divination about rain.
Old Chinese
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Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory i
Oracle bone script
…of the oracle bone script, it was a fully functional and mature writing system by the time of the Shang dynasty, meaning it was able to record the Old Chinese language, and not merely fragments of ideas or words. This level of maturity clearly implies an earlier period of development of at least several hundred…
Inscription on the Kang Hou gui (late 11th century BC)
Shang dynasty oracle bone script on an ox scapula
Guodian Chu Slips (c. 300 BC) with transcriptions in modern characters