The earliest Chinese written language appeared in the Shang Dynasty(1600 B.C.-1100 B.C.). At that time, people believed in ghosts and practiced divination on important occasions. They inscribed divination words on tortoise shells or animal bones, and painted them red to symbolize good luck or black to symbolize potential disaster. The words were inscribed with knives. Some of them are big, some small, some complicated, some simple, but they are all well defined.
Examples of shell and bone writings were not found until Emperor Guangxu's reign during the Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911), thousands of years after they were made. The discovery occurred in Anyang, Henan Province, the capital city of the Shang Dynasty. In 1a99, the banks of the Huanshui River in Henan Province collapsed, and many tortoise shells with carved patterns on them were revealed. At first, people regarded the shells as dragon bones and used them as medicine. The following year, a merchant named Wang Yirong developed an interest in the shells, and went to Henan to collect more of them. Later a scholar, Liu Er, continued the collection. They collected more than 5,000 pieces, which were given the name of Jiaguwen.
Philologists, who subsequently researched more than 100000 shell and bone pieces, discovered the structure of Jiaguwen had changed into legible characters complete with recognized signs. The shell and bone writing had shown a certain degree of maturity. Of the more than 4,60O distinct characters in these pieces, some 1,700 have been identified.
Later, Jinwen (script on metal) appeared. They were characters inscribed on bronzeware during the late Shang and early Zhou (1100 B.C.-770B.C.) dynasties, which are known as the Bronze Age. Jinwen is also known as Zhongdingwen, a name deriving from the ding, a typical ceremonial instrument, and the Zhong(bell), which symbolizes muscial instruments. The name Zhongdingwen is synonymous with bronzeware.
The Jinwen on bronzeware recorded important events and activities and reflect the social lifeof the time. The calligraphic style of Jinwen is delicate, simple and dignified. Compared with Jiaguwen, it has more variation and is richer in content. Jinwen characters were first discovered in the Han Dynasty when a ding was discovered in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, and sent to the imperial palace. Other bronze objects inscribed with Jinwen were unearthed later. Intellectuals Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Mingcheng of Song Dynasty(960-1279) were good at writing and researching Jinwen.
The Jinwen on the Duke Mao Ding made during the Zhou Dynasty, is the most representative of the calligraphy of the period. The inscription of some 497 characters in 32 lines recorded the political situation of the time, and how Duke Mao had offered his loyal services to the Emperor and helped him overcome difficulties. It has the longest inscriptions among the bronzeware attributed to that era; the structure of the characters is neat and the strokes are thin and long. The inscriptions on the Dayu Ding and Sanpan Ding are also good examples of Jinwen.
Editor: Dong Lin
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