Huang Tianshu Scripting Chinese Culture

by Gong Haiying

Huang Tianshu is a famous scholar who concen- trates on the research of ancient Chinese writing. In the late 1980s， when he was pursuing a doctoral degree at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University， Huang creatively designed a more accurate and detailed classification method for different written forms of oracle bone script and more precisely determined the approximate eras of each written form， based on the findings of previous scholars. His theory and method are now widely accepted by the academic circles researching the oracle bone script.

In 2011， Huang led a team to compile The Compendium of the Transcriptions of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The book contains more than 80，000 transcriptions of oracle bone inscriptions， all carefully copied by editors. Smashing the record of the 40，000-plus oracle bone inscriptions in The Collection of Oracle Bone Script， Chinas first large monograph on the subject， it has emerged as the most authoritative book on the oracle bone script with the largest amount of materials， clearest character patterns and most comprehensive forms.

China Pictorial （CP）： The oracle bone script is an important branch of ancient Chinese writing. Some characters could be identified immediately when it was discovered 120 years ago. What specific methods are employed to identify oracle bone inscriptions？

Huang Tianshu： China has preserved the greatest wealth of ancient writing resources in the world. Academic circles now generally agree that ancient Chinese writing refers to scripts before Emperor Wudi （140-87 B.C.） of the Western Han Dynasty （202 B.C.-8 A.D.）. Present research of ancient Chinese writing covers several branches such as the oracle bone script， and bronze script （inscriptions on ritual bronzes） and writing on bamboo， wood and silk.

Unlike hieroglyphics used in ancient Egypt， the oracle bone script has not died out after thousands of years， but gradually evolved into current Chinese writing. Some oracle bone inscriptions are very similar to current Chinese characters. For example， the Chinese character for “people” is almost identical from beginning to present. Therefore， when the first oracle bone inscriptions were discovered， researchers quickly identified some characters by comparing them with xiaozhuan（seal script）， the first formalized Chinese system of writing originating in the Qin Dynasty （221-207 B.C.）. Later， the “character components” analyzing method was also employed. A character was divided into different structural parts to be identified. Then， the character is put back into the original text to see if the hypothesis is right. Moreover， scholars can use ancient books to identify oracle bone inscriptions. For example， using characters they know， if researchers can identify one sentence on a piece of oracle bone as a line in a poem recorded in The Book of Songs dating from 1100 to 600 B.C.， they can compare all the characters and identify more.