Scholarship
Among the major Chinese scholars making significant contributions to the study of the oracle bone writings, especially early on, were:
- Wang Yirong recognized the characters as being ancient Chinese writing in 1899.
- Liu E collected five thousand oracle bone fragments, published the first volume of examples and rubbings in 1903, and correctly identified thirty-four characters.
- Sun Yirang was the first serious researcher of oracle bones.
- Luo Zhenyu collected over 30,000 oracle bones and published several volumes, identified the names of the Shang kings, and thus positively identified the oracle bones as being artifacts from the Shang reign.
- Wang Guowei demonstrated that the commemorative cycle of the Shang kings matched the list of kings in Sima Qian's Records of the Historian.
- Dǒng Zuòbīn (董作賓, 1895–1963) identified the diviners and established a chronology for the oracle bones as well as numerous other dating criteria.
- Guo Moruo
Read more about this topic: Oracle Bone Script
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