The Shang Dynasty was born in 1550 B.C.E. after the fall of the Xia Dynasty. A ritual was created during the latter part of the Shang Dynasty, which placed an emphasis on the use what we now call Oracle Bones. Those bone give us a glimpse into how China’s first written language emerged as well as some of its first uses.
This all began in 1200 B.C.E. with the ruler of China establishing a palace and temple complex in Xiaotun, near Anyang. This move pushed the leaders of the Shang Dynasty to undergo a dramatic change. It ushered in what may be the first written records of a civilization in East Asia. The Late Shang Dynasty began with Wu Ding, the twenty-first king, and ended with Di Xin. During the Great Shang Dynasty these kings with their nobles, kinsmen, and other subjects consulted their ancestors on how to go about doing their various political duties.1
They contacted their ancestors for guidance through what archaeologists call Oracle Bones. Shang Diviners were experts in the use of fire and bones to divine the future. These Diviners would drill holes in ox shoulder blades or turtle shells; they would take red-hot pokers and place them into the hollows of the bones, which would in turn cause the bones and shells to crack and sometimes break. At the moment when the Diviners pressed the pokers in the holes, they would speak the king’s questions to the spirit that was being summoned. Once the cracks were interpreted, they were further recorded by etchings near the cracks. Those etchings make up the earliest form of Chinese writing. They served as records of the kinds of things kings wanted to know, what kinds of answers they believed were revealed, the names of the Diviners, the outcomes of the events, and the dates these divinations took place. These “oracle bone inscriptions” or “oracle bone texts” have been found in complexes in Xiaotun, near Anyang, which appear to have been the resting place for many of the Oracle Bone texts that we have today.2
In some cases with the oracle bone texts, we find that the diviner was the king of the Shang Dynasty himself. When the etchings speak of the future or outcome of important events, the diviner for that ritual was most likely the king. None of the Oracle Bone texts that have been written by the king have seemingly ever been wrong. This record of perfection was important for the king because it legitimized his rule and prestige for having strong powers of spiritual interpretation. Yet, we know that someone cannot always be right in foreseeing the future and so the errors of the king were not recorded, but silenced. This large amount of record keeping really sheds light on Shang religion and culture that had not been seen before. Reading these historical texts is a hardship in itself. The evolution of writing in the Shang dynasty through other texts have given historians clues into deciphering these Oracle Bone descriptions.3
The foremost interpreter and historian of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the West is David Keightley. Writing many books and articles on his interpretations, he has created a history for the people of the Late Shang Dynasty that includes religious and cultural beliefs in his works. One of the biggest collections of Oracle Bones resides at Princeton University and many of these have been seen and interpreted by Keightley. There are always new evidence surfacing and most of the time the meanings of the bones change, making it truly a mystery that can only be solved with time.4
- David N. Keightley, The Ancestral Landscape: Time, Space, and Community in Late Shang China (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2000), 119-123. ↵
- Donald S. Lopez Jr., Religions of China in Practice (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996), 41-46. ↵
- Lopez, Religions of China in Practice, 41-46. ↵
- Keightly, The Ancestral Landscape, 119-123. ↵
24 comments
Samman Tyata
What a fascinating article! I really love the way how you have structured you article. It is interesting to me that this early writing was found on bones. It is amazing how Diviners drilled holes in ox shoulder blades or turtle shells and took red-hot pokers and placed them into the hollows of the bones. Particularly, Oracle bones were fascinating objects, and a fascinating aspect of that culture. To sum it up, it was a good read.
Brianda Gomez
It is astonishing learning about all the different cultures we have in our world today. Before reading this article, I have never of the “Oracle Bones”. This topic is very interesting because it gives us an idea how religion and culture was back then. When I first read the title of this article, I did not think it was a way to get in contact with your ancestors. It also makes us think differently on how we connect with other people. Great Article!
Maria Callejas
First of all, great title, very creative! This is an amazingly interesting article, I had no prior knowledge about oracle bones and the history being it. Great usage of evidence, specifically when you describe how diviners would “drill holes in ox shoulder blades or turtle shells”. It is amazing to see how the earliest civilizations aimed to become great communicators and leave evidence of it. Great conclusion, you leave the readers with a suspenseful mood, showing the complexity of this pre-historic language.
Rebekah Esquivel
This was a very good article. I am very interested in different languages and love to see how different languages and ways of writing come about in different areas around the world. I found it very interesting that they used bones in order to write things that they wanted. I think it is so cool that we still have artifacts from that long ago. I also found it interesting that these writings always empowered the king and never recorded any of the mistakes that the king would make.
Alexandria Martinez
Great article Danielle. It is always interesting to learn how languages come to be for different societies. This is a really interesting way for a language to be formed. May languages that I know of did not form in a way this interesting. Everyone has their own ways for doing things and this just shows how everyone in the world is different and everyone can come up with answers in their own way.
Alexis Renteria
Before reading this article I was aware that in the Shang dynasty they would use the bone of shoulder blades and heat them up until they cracked and they would read/interpret the cracks, but I was not aware that they would write on the shoulder blades. Now I can see how these early practices influenced other cultures to start writing themselves. Overall, this was a very interesting article and it does a well job of informing the reader about a very old practice of Chinese culture.
Megan Barnett
I really like the title of this article and the topic sounds very intriguing but it felt like the organization was all mixed up and a little confusing. I found the second to last paragraph very interesting about the Kings and if their predictions were incorrect that they would just be forgotten about. It is shocking though that they used bones especially since it sounded like they were very difficult to use as a writing source.
Nicolas McKay
Great Job on the article Danielle! Having just read another article that explained oracle bones, its very interesting the points that you both bring, as well as details in your article that could not be found in the other. Oracle bones certainly were fascinating objects, and a fascinating aspect of that culture. To think that such power was believed to have resided within a seemingly insignificant object is truly astounding and speaks many volumes of their practices and beliefs. well done.
Daniel Bailey
It’s interesting to learner how these artifacts gave us the evidence to determine when the Chinese started writing. I’m suspired that the only traces that we have are written in Ox shoulder blades and turtle shells. We could use this Oracle bones as a Rosetta stone to understand more pre-historic writings. Lastly, this was a very informative article that sheds a light in to the Chinese dynasty periods.
Erik Rodriguez
Wow! I never would’ve thought that the first Chinese language was written on oracle bones! It’s quite amazing how we have been able to recover artifacts like this despite its long period of time since its creation.
Very informative and well written article, great job!!