China News Service, Chongqing, January 15 (Reporter Zhong Yi) The "Huan Shui Yin Qi-Shang Oracle Special Exhibition" co-sponsored by the National Library of China and Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum was launched in Chongqing on the 15th.
This is the first time that the collection of oracle bones in Chongqing has been exhibited in a centralized manner, covering aspects such as offering sacrifices to ancestors, wars, divination and hunting.
The oracle bone inscriptions refer to the characters engraved on tortoise shells and beast bones. At present, most of them are from the area of Xiaotun Village in Anyang, Henan, that is, the Yinxu area.
The oracle bone inscriptions in Yin Ruins are the relics of the Shang royal family and nobles in the late Shang Dynasty (14th to 11th centuries BC). According to their nature, they can be roughly divided into inscriptions, memorial texts, inscriptions on table trees, and inscriptions. The main body is inscriptions, that is, divination. recording.
The picture shows the exhibits at the Shang Oracle Special Exhibition.
Photo by Zhong Yi
The exhibition is divided into three parts: "Civilization Reappearance—The Discovery and Research of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Over a Hundred Years", “Yan Qi Oracle Bone—Oracle Bone Inscriptions Renovation, Divination, and Engraving”, and “Yin and Shang History Marks—Shang Civilization Seen by Oracle Bone Inscriptions” .
According to Wang Qiyue, the exhibition curator of the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, more than 70 pieces of oracle bones are exhibited in this exhibition, supplemented by bronze wares (copies), books and other physical exhibits to form a narrative chain that tells the story of oracle bones in the past century. Discovery, excavation and research process can make the audience relive the Shang civilization behind the Oracle.
Wang Qiyue said that the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum currently has 208 pieces of oracle bones in its collection, of which 178 pieces have Chinese characters, more than those in the collection when the museum was built in the 1950s.
A total of 19 pieces of oracle bones from the collection were exhibited this time, with the characteristics of large size and exquisite exhibits, and many of the collections have met the audience for the first time.
For example, the exhibits offer sacrifices to Dajia. The audience can learn about the importance of the Shang Dynasty to sacrificial activities from the Yin Ruins inscriptions on the tortoise shell.
Another example is the inscriptions composed of multiple pieces, reflecting the king’s high level of anxiety. The content of the inscriptions is that at the end of the tenth year (that is, Guiri), the king of Shang predicts whether there will be any troubles in the future; The hunting inscriptions on the animal bones directly reflect the hunting situation of Shang Wang, including the hunting time, location and harvest.
It is reported that the exhibition will last until April 5, 2021 and is open to the public free of charge.