The Development of Civilizations丨What did "news" look like more than 3,000 years ago

Editor's note: What does the earliest "China" look like? Henan is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Are there any unknown stories about it? To exploring the origins of Chinese civilization, we are launching a special column: The Development of Civilizations. Starting from Henan, let's discover the charm of Chinese civilization.

编者按：最早的“中国”是什么样子？河南作为中华文明发展历程的重要起源地，还有哪些不为人知的历史故事？大河网开设融媒专栏《“源”来如此》，沉浸式解读中华文明的起源。让我们一起跟随“探源人”的讲述，从河南出发，感受华夏文化的独特魅力！

The Development of Civilizations丨What did "news" look like more than 3,000 years ago

“源”来如此丨3000多年前的“新闻”长啥样？

Click on the video above

Do you know what did "news" look like more than 3,000 years ago?

你知道3000多年前的新闻长什么样吗？

Oracle bone that records acrash of a king in the Shang Dynasty

该甲骨记录了商王遭遇“车祸”的场景

Look at this oracle bone with unique inscriptions above that not only give a complete picture of a crash of a king in the Shang Dynasty, but also have some literary overtones.

如上图所示，这块甲骨的卜辞与其他甲骨有明显不同，不仅完整而生动地记录了商王遭遇“车祸”的场景，而且还具有一定文学色彩。

The inscriptions read, a Shang king predicted through divination that he would be in trouble within ten days. A few days later, the king went out to hunt rhinos. As predicted, the carriage in which he was riding struck a rock so hard that it overturned with the broken axle. An attendant named Ziyang also fell from the carriage.

卜辞中说：癸巳日，商王通过占卜，预测到十天之内可能会有灾祸发生。没想到几天后，商王外出狩猎，乘坐的马车撞上了石头，导致车轴断裂，发生了翻车事故。一位名叫子央的随从，也从车上跌落。

Pic 2 图二

　　Pic 3 图三

See the details of Pic 2. The stroke representing the transverse axis of the carriage is obviously broken. Pic 3 is another symbol of "carriage", which is written upside down, indicating that the carriage has overturned. So, aren't these inscriptions vivid?

图二中的甲骨文是个“车”字。通过仔细观察可以发现，表示车轴部分的笔画有明显断裂。图三所示的“车”字，更是直接倒过来写，表示翻车。这样看来，是不是很生动？

They also contain the five news elements: when, where, who, why and what.

这片甲骨所记录的内容，恰巧符合新闻的五要素，即何时、何地、何人、何因及何事。

However, unlike the news people read today in newspapers and on the Internet, those inscriptions were carved on "turtle shells and ox bones", and mainly were records of divination activities of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty.

不过与我们今天写在报纸、网络上的新闻不同，甲骨文的载体为“甲骨”，而且主要内容是殷商王室占卜的记录。

　　Oracle bone inscriptions

　　甲骨文

According to The Book of Rites, "The Shang people worshiped ghosts and gods, and always serve them first." They were known far and wide for their keenness on ritual divination. No matter how big or small the affair was, the Shang people must first pray to gods before taking actions. Only after learning of good fortune or bad luck, did they decide whether to start or not. So, those oracle bones which recorded the divination results of political, economic, military and social affairs can help decipher ancient China.

《礼记》中记载：“殷人尊神，率民以事神，先鬼而后礼。”商人热衷于祭祀占卜，可以说是远近闻名。上到国家大事，下至私人生活，他们在做事之前，一定要先求神问卜，在得知吉凶祸福后，才决定做还是不做。于是，大量记载当时政治、经济、军事、社会生活等方面内容的甲骨文，也成了解读中国的远古密码。

As the place where oracle bone inscriptions were discovered, Yin Ruins undoubtedly plays a significant role in exploring the origins, formation and development of Chinese civilization. So far, around 160,000 pieces of oracle bones have been found at Yin Ruins with over 4,500 individual characters identified.

作为甲骨文的发现地，殷墟无疑是实证中华文明起源、形成和发展中浓墨重彩的一笔。目前，殷墟发现甲骨约16万片，单字4500多个。

No. YH127 oracle bone pit

YH127甲骨窖穴

Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest Chinese script with a developed writing system. Therefore, they are important in many research fields such as philology, history and geography.

甲骨文是迄今为止中国最早的且具有完备体系的文字。因此，也是语言文字学、历史学、地理学等多种学科的重要原始资料。

Oracle bone inscriptions, with natural lines, reflect the thoughts of ancient Chinese people on nature, and undertake the mission to pass down the Chinese characters to future generations through the artistic shapes outlined by each stroke.

甲骨文，以自然的线条，记录着远古先民的所思所想，以及对自然事物的细微洞察，透过一笔一划所勾勒出的艺术形状，向后世传达文字的历史使命。

Different fonts of Chinese characters

汉字的不同字体

The various forms of Chinese calligraphy are in the same vein across China. Judging from the approximately 1,500 characters that have been decoded so far, oracle bone inscriptions resemble structurally modern Chinese characters, from which the calligraphy art in later generations evolved.

中国的书法艺术一脉相承。从目前已经识别的大约1500个单字来看，甲骨文已经具备了现代汉字结构的基本形式，后世书法用笔、结体、章法等规律，也是在甲骨文的基础上发展起来的。

From the elongated style of seal scripts in the Qin Dynasty, the symmetrical structure of official scripts in the Han Dynasty, and the charm of standard scripts in the Northern Dynasty, we can still see the shadow of oracle bone inscriptions.

从秦代篆书纵长的体式、汉代隶书对称的结构、北朝真书率真的韵味中，依然能够窥见它们与甲骨文之间千丝万缕的联系。

“河南” in oracle bone inscriptions

“河南”二字的甲骨文写法

With more than 3,000 years of evolution, the structure of Chinese characters has remained the same until today, inheriting and carrying forward the Chinese quint essence. The ancient oracle bone inscriptions will continue to inspire creativity with their profound cultural heritage. With the blessing of science and technology, the vivid lines of the earliest writing system ever found in China have become "alive", giving us a glimpse of China thousands of years ago.

历经3000多年的演变承续，汉字结构保留至今，传承着真正的中华基因。如今，古老的甲骨文依然以其深厚的文化底蕴不断激发新的灵感。在科技加持下，这套迄今为止中国发现最早的成熟文字系统中富有变化感的线条“活”了起来，让我们有机会一睹数千年前华夏历史生活的图景。

This is how civilization developed. Here is one of the oldest Chinese civilizations.

“源”来如此，这里就是中国最古老的文明之一。