Without doubt, the documents and records of the Xia Dynasty are only writing records, or documentary archive material, rather than formal books. Nevertheless, they are the truthful records of people’s activities with clear consciousness instead of rambling character presentations. They have some merit as books.
During the Shang Dynasty, ancient Chinese started writing on oracle bones, bronzes, jade, bamboo and wood to record information, which resulted in various types of document consisting of oracle bones inscriptions, bronze epigraphs, jade, bamboo and wooden slips. In terms of content, form and distribution, these inscriptions have qualities and features similar to books. These inscriptions already show some elements of compilation since some elements were developed during the process of renovating, writing, collecting and verifying, which can be regarded as the original editing activities before the emergence of formal books.
Governments started to establish special book collecting organizations during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 B.C.) when books truly emerged. After 770 B.C., feudal lords fought against one another while scholars gradually started writing more books. Confucius (551–479B.C.), the creator of Confucianism, edited and compiled many ancient classics and used them as textbooks in his teachings. Therefore Confucius may be considered China’s first well-known book editor. Since then, the Chinese publishing industry has entered into a new development stage.
From Oracle Bone to Paper: Media of Ancient Books
With the invention of Chinese characters, a new problem emerged: What could be used to bear these characters to preserve and spread the knowledge they held? Pottery, bones, bronze, jade, bamboo and wood as well as silk were respectively used as books and record holders. After centuries of trial and error, papermaking was invented, which combined the merits of bamboo and wood slips with those of silk and overcame their deficiencies. Papermaking contributed tremendously to the history of publishing and the civilized history of the world.
Oracle bone
The most common writing material used by ancient Chinese was oracle bone made of tortoise shell and animal bones, especially ox scapula. Characters carved on these became known as oracle bone inscriptions. As an important medium for Chinese characters throughout the Xia and Shang dynasties, oracle bone inscriptions were very popular through the Yin Shang and Western Zhou dynasties (1046–711 B.C.).
Most of the oracle bones found to this day, mainly unearthed in the Yin ruins (Anyang city in Henan Province) and known as “the oracle bones of the Yin ruins,” are the remnants from the mid and late Shang Dynasty (1300–1046 B.C.). The contents are mainly divination records from the Shang Dynasty. The Shang people were so superstitious that they enquired of God and their ancestors on virtually anything related to their lives. They were wont to seek divine guidance about hunting, farming, astronomical phenomena, harvest, war, disease and sacrifices. As a result, most of oracle bones included divination records from the time. In addition, there were a number of inscriptions to record important data such as the number of prisoners of war, the number of hunted animals, rewards and sacrifices. In general, the records found in oracle bones touch upon various aspects of social life from the time.
The oracle bones are essentially a type of written record. In terms of their content and binding, these oracle bones already have some elements of books.
Bronze wares
Bronze is an alloy of brass and tin. Utensils made by bronze are called bronze wares. Inscriptions carved on bronze wares are called epigraphs or bronze inscriptions. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, a great number of bronze works were produced. The Western Zhou Dynasty (1600–771 B.C.) was the golden age of bronze.
With various styles and fine designs, bronze works can be classified as daily wares and musical instruments. When they started to be used as vessels in sacrificial ceremonies, bronze works, an authoritative emblem became “a treasure” for building and consolidating state power. Due to such special recognition, the aristocracy would cast a piece of bronze and use it to inscribe important data or event records, all information that needed to be preserved for a long time and permanently remembered. Therefore, the characters inscribed on bronze wares are called inscriptions.
To date, tens of thousands of bibliography inscriptions from the Shang to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) have been found in China. Not a few of them are long passages among which the longest existing bronze inscription is the one on the Maogong Ding (tripod) with 497 words. The main contents of bronze inscriptions include records of sacrificial ceremonies, war, largess, government documents, emperor’s speeches and tributes to ancestors. These are more abundant than Oracle bone inscriptions.
Compared with oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions have more space and more versatile, some were consciously made for reading. With more range, the bronze inscriptions are more like books in their function.
Stone inscription
Ancient people used to carve chronicle scripts on stones that could be more easily found, kept and made than metals. Stone inscriptions could be easily publicized and showed. During the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 B.C.), there were records of stone inscriptions.
The earliest stone inscriptions in existence in China are stone scripts in the shape of a drum from the Spring and Autumn period. Ten pieces of inscribed stones shaped like drums were unearthed in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province during the early Tang dynasty. The inscribed characters with a font somewhere between bronze inscription and small official script were verses about hunting—they are called “Hunting Tablets.”
