Oracle bone script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:24, 18 November 2024

Revision as of 08:42, 7 December 2024

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[[File:Shang_Bronze_and_Oracle_Script.svg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|Comparison of characters in the Shang bronzeware script (first and fourth rows), oracle bone script (second and fifth rows), and [[regular script]] (third and sixth rows)]]

It is known that the Shang people also wrote with brush and ink, as brush-written graphs have been found on a small number of pottery, shell and bone, and jade and other stone items,{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=63}} and there is evidence that they also wrote on bamboo (or wooden) books{{efn|There are no such bamboo books extant before the late Zhou, however, as the materials were not permanent enough to survive.}} just like those found from the late Zhou to [[Han dynasty|Han]] periods, because the graphs for a writing brush ({{zhi|c=聿}} {{tlit|zh|yù}}, depicting a hand holding a writing brush{{efn|The modern word {{zhi|c=筆}} {{tlit|zh|bĭ}} is derived from a [[Qin (state)|Qin]] dialectal variant of this word {{harvnb|Baxter|Sagart|2014|pp=42–43}}.}}) and bamboo book ({{zhi|c=冊}} {{tlit|zh|cè}}, a book of thin [[bamboo and wooden slips]] bound with horizontal strings, like a [[Venetian blind]] turned 90 degrees), are present in oracle bone inscriptions.{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=63|Xu|2002|2p=12}}{{efn|As {{harvnb|Qiu|2000|pp=62–63}} notes, the ''Shangshu''{{'s}} "Duoshi" chapter also refers to use of such books by the Shang.}}

[[File:Heji 37986 Ganzhi table (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.66|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]]