| The main principles for composing Chinese characters had already been established in inscriptions on oracle bones and shells. |
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| Then, in 1899, Shang oracle bones extensively inscribed with the name of the High God, Di, were unearthed. |
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| It has become conventional-almost expected-that we should play the role of seer, cast the oracle bones, and examine the entrails of animals. |
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| Guwen is close in appearance to jiaguwen, the ancient pictographic script found on oracle bones and turtle shells. |
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| He spent most of his time studying the inscriptions on ancient bronzes and oracle bones. |
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| The late Shang is well known from oracle bones recovered from the site of the last Shang capital, near Anyang. |
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| He was the first to discover these oracle bones, which have been preciously collected as testimony of the beginning of the chinese writing. |
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| An eclipse of the sun of 1217BC was recorded on Chinese oracle bones. |
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| Used during the Shang Dynasty to divine everything from weather to health to warfare, these oracle bones, as they are called, are the earliest evidence of Chinese writing. |
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| The ground splits and cracks into fissures as enigmatic as oracle bones. |
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| Inscriptions on these oracle bones bear invaluable testimony to the development of one of the world's oldest writing systems, ancient beliefs and social systems. |
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| With few clear records matching the Shang oracle bones, it remains unclear whether these sites are the remains of the Xia dynasty or of another culture from the same period. |
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