Rediscovering China's early civilization

The Yinxu Museum in Anyang, Henan province, exhibits not only a huge oracle-bone collection but also such items as an impressive array of bronze ware and jade artifacts. [Photo by Will Wain-Williams/China Daily]

The oracle-bone script consists of about 3,000 characters, only two-thirds of which have been deciphered.

Most are pictographs. It seems they were initially used solely for the purposes of divination. The same script was later carved into bronze ware to record historical events.

The people of the Shang were somewhat shamanic before what's now considered Chinese culture developed.

They believed in a supreme deity, known as Shang Di, and the power of nature and their ancestors to protect or curse them.

The oracle bones were often used to predict weather or the outcomes of such events as hunts or battles.

The pictographs were etched on bones and turtle shells that were then burned. The cracks that appeared were interpreted as either ji (fortuitous) or xiong (ominous).