![]() "Protection was put into place first and it covers every oracle bone," he says. ![]() Song Zhenhao, who is with the CASS, says the study of oracle bones has been comprehensive and delicate, and is moving with the times. Guo says a digital database will be built in the hope that big data and cloud platforms can help to decipher the characters. Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is working with public and private collectors around the country to compile details of another 10,000 pieces by cleaning, photographing and making copies of the originals for further research. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese experts have published three books on the ancient script, working with more than 70,000 oracle bones. Many of the oracle bones have been scattered across the world over the past century, making it more difficult for researchers to study the actual bones. ![]() But among the 4,300 characters inscribed on them, only 1,600 have been decoded. It was Wang who noticed that the symbols on animal bones and tortoise shells looked like a form of writing.Īround 160,000 oracle bones have been found so far. The oracle-bone inscriptions were first discovered in 1899 by Beijing scholar and antiquarian Wang Yirong, although farmers had been unearthing the relics in Anyang for many years before that. "The other three have been lost, but the oracle bones are the only one that still survives as they evolved over time into the current Chinese characters," says Guo. Oracle bones from ancient China, hieroglyphs from ancient Egypt, cuneiforms from ancient Babylon and Mayan glyphs from Mesoamerica are among the world's most famous ancient writing systems. The oracle-bone scripts discovered at the ruins are considered to be the oldest Chinese inscriptions.Ĭhinese oracle-bone inscriptions were included on the list of UNESCO Memory of the World International Register on Oct 31. Yin was the last capital of the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) and the official excavation of the Yin Ruins in current-day Anyang began in 1928. ![]() The remaining characters are difficult to decipher, according to Guo Xudong from an oracle bones and Yin-Shang culture research center in Anyang. Over the past 100 years, researchers have only been able to decipher around one-third of the characters on the animal bones and tortoise shells that have been found so far. Since the National Museum of Chinese Writing in Anyang in Central China's Henan province announced the reward in November 2016, many people have tried their luck. ZHENGZHOU - Earn $15,000 per character! China is offering financial rewards for help deciphering the characters on 3,000-year-old oracle bones. Decoding 3,000-year-old inscriptions on bonesĪn oracle bone shown at the National Museum of Chinese Writing in Anyang, Henan province. ![]()
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