Editing Oracle bone script (section)

== Style ==
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[[File:虎-oracle.svg|thumb|upright=0.2|Oracle bone form of {{zhi|c=虎}} 'tiger']]
[[File:Oracle mu4 eye.svg|thumb|upright=0.2|Oracle bone form of {{zhi|c=目}} 'eye']]
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Along with the contemporary [[bronzeware script]], the oracle bone script of the [[Late Shang]] period appears pictographic. The earliest oracle bone script appears even more so than examples from late in the period (thus some evolution did occur over the roughly 200-year period).{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=64}} Comparing the oracle bone script to both Shang and early [[Western Zhou]] period writing on bronzes, the oracle bone script is clearly greatly simplified, and rounded forms are often converted to rectilinear ones; this is thought to be due to the difficulty of engraving the bone's hard surface, compared with the ease of writing them in the wet clay of the molds the bronzes were cast from. The more detailed and more pictorial style of the bronze graphs is thought to be more representative of typical Shang writing using bamboo books than the oracle bone forms; this typical style continued to evolve into writing styles of the Western Zhou period, and then into the [[seal script]] within the [[state of Qin]].

[[File:Shang_Bronze_and_Oracle_Script.svg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|Comparison of characters in the Shang bronzeware script (first and fourth rows), oracle bone script (second and fifth rows), and [[regular script]] (third and sixth rows)]]
It is known that the Shang people also wrote with brush and ink, as brush-written graphs have been found on a small number of pottery, shell and bone, and jade and other stone items,{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=63}} and there is evidence that they also wrote on bamboo (or wooden) books{{efn|There are no such bamboo books extant before the late Zhou, however, as the materials were not permanent enough to survive.}} just like those found from the late Zhou to [[Han dynasty|Han]] periods, because the graphs for a writing brush ({{zhi|c=聿}} {{tlit|zh|yù}}, depicting a hand holding a writing brush{{efn|The modern word {{zhi|c=筆}} {{tlit|zh|bĭ}} is derived from a [[Qin (state)|Qin]] dialectal variant of this word {{harvnb|Baxter|Sagart|2014|pp=42–43}}.}}) and bamboo book ({{zhi|c=冊}} {{tlit|zh|cè}}, a book of thin [[bamboo and wooden slips]] bound with horizontal strings, like a [[Venetian blind]] turned 90 degrees), are present in oracle bone inscriptions.{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=63|Xu|2002|2p=12}}{{efn|As {{harvnb|Qiu|2000|pp=62–63}} notes, the ''Shangshu''{{'s}} "Duoshi" chapter also refers to use of such books by the Shang.}}

[[File:Heji 37986 Ganzhi table (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.66|Table of the Chinese sexagenary cycle inscribed on an ox scapula, dating to the reigns of the last two kings of the Shang dynasty during the first half of the 11th century&nbsp;BC]]

Since the ease of writing with a brush is even greater than that of writing with a [[stylus]] in wet clay, it is assumed that the style and structure of Shang graphs on bamboo were similar to those on bronzes, and also that the majority of writing occurred with a brush on such books.{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=63|Xu|2002|2p=12}} Additional support for this notion includes the reorientation of some graphs,{{efn|Identification of these graphs is based on consultation of {{harvnb|Zhao|1988}}, {{harvnb|Liu|1997}}, {{harvnb|Wu|1990}}, {{harvnb|Keightley|1978}}, and {{harvnb|Qiu|2000}}}} by rotating them 90 degrees, as if to better fit on tall, narrow slats. The style must have developed on books of bamboo or wood slats, and then carried over to the oracle bone script. Additionally, the layout of characters in columns from top to bottom is mostly carried over from bamboo books.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=50}} In some instances, characters are instead written in rows in order to match the text with divinatory cracks; in others, columns of text rotate 90 degrees mid-phrase. These are exceptions to the normal pattern of writing,{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=67|Keightley|1978|2p=50}} and inscriptions were never read bottom to top.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=53}} Columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally laid out from right to left; this pattern is first found with the Shang-era bronze inscriptions. However, oracle bone inscriptions are often arranged with columns beginning near the center of the shell or bone, then moving toward the edge such that the two sides mirror one another.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=50}}

{{Clear}}