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.
Chinese bronze inscriptions, also referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, comprise Chinese writing made in several styles on ritual bronzes mainly during the Late Shang dynasty and Western
Oracle bone script
…across China have not been demonstrated to have any direct or indirect ancestry to the Shang oracle bone script at Anyang. Along with the contemporary bronzeware script, the oracle bone script of the Late Shang period appears pictographic. The earliest oracle bone script appears even more so than examples from late in…
Rubbing of the inscription featured on the Song ding (c. 800 BC)
Left: Bronze fāng zūn ritual wine container, c. 1000 BC. The inscription commemorates a gift of cowrie shells to its owner. Right: Bronze fāng yí ritual container c. 1000 BC. An inscription of 180 characters appears twice on it, commenting on state rituals that accompany court ceremony, recorded by an official scribe.
Bronze biānzhōng bells from the early Warring States Tomb of Marquis Yĭ of Zēng