A career scripted in history

Oracle bone specialist innovates to bring her message to a wider audience, Yang Feiyue reports.

Li Ying has her eyes wide open, apparently in shock, as she points out the rarity of her college background in oracle bone script studies.

"You can't possibly imagine how obscure this profession is. Everyone who hears about my profession reacts with this flabbergasted expression," she explains with a theatrical look in one of her most popular videos on her Douyin account.

As she shares related embarrassing moments, like being asked if her graduation paper was written in the form of oracle bone script, a resigned smile appears.

For the rest of the 150-second video, Li concisely explains the origin, functions and significance of the ancient script and gives her audience a comprehensive picture of the field.

"Many of the words we use now don't have a counterpart in the oracle bone script, which was mainly used by official historians for divination during the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-11th century BC)," explains Li, who was born in Tonglu county, Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

Nearly 160,000 pieces of scripted oracle bones have been discovered over the past 120 years, and they are scattered among museums at home and abroad, as well as libraries, and science and technology institutes, according to He Yuling, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

With sheer volumes that have been discovered, the oracle bone scripts have now been put into several categories for deeper studies, including those on weather, hunting activities and sacrificial rituals, Li says.

One of the major approaches in studying the language has been identifying the meaning of specific words, she adds.

"It's extremely difficult, and that's why our country is offering substantial prize money for those who manage to decode an unsolved word," Li says.

Other study directions include analyzing the scripts' grammatical structure and interpreting their content to better understand social conditions of the past.

The video was her first work, and took her more than five hours to finish.

"I felt the initial draft was written in a too cryptic and specialized manner, overly difficult to understand, so I revised it word by word, sentence by sentence, ensuring that every sentence could be understood by people not in the field," she says.

Moreover, she made a point of interlacing her delivery with funny emoji to make it more audience friendly.

To date, the video has received more than 160,000 thumbs-up on her account, where she is known by the alias Li Youxi and has more than 220,000 followers.

"It was the middle of the night when I finished filming," she recalls.

When she got up the next morning, the video was viewed more than 1 million times and earned her more than 10,000 fans overnight.

The sudden popularity of her work has made her determined to publicize the ancient words that have been very close to her heart.

So far, she has delivered more than 40 videos that cast light on oracle bone scripts in various aspects.

Her vivid explanations conjure up images of the historical scenes and seem to bring the hieroglyphics closer to modern life, as she demonstrates a ruler's "love letter", and ancient people's anxiety toward body image.

"Many people find these characters intriguing, because the formation of characters at that time was inherently interesting," Li says.

"By delving into those oracle inscriptions, we can get a glimpse into the thoughts and culture of the people of that era … and perhaps also learn their wisdom in dealing with mundane matters," she adds.

Li has loved literature since high school, and she didn't think twice about choosing Chinese language and literature for her undergraduate years at Zhejiang Normal University, where she then went on to zoom in on oracle bone scripts for her Master's degree.

She was initially drawn to the mystery and poetic meaning behind the strokes of the ancient characters in her sophomore years.

"I was particularly interested in the origins of things at that time, so I chose the direction of oracle bone inscriptions," Li says, adding that they are the earliest and most mature writing system discovered in China to date and helped shed another 1,000 years of light on history.

However, there was only one professor at the university who specialized in the study of oracle bone inscriptions, and in that particular year, Li was literally in a class of her own as a student.

Students from different grades would often gather at the professor's place, drinking tea and listening to his stories about oracle bone inscriptions.

"These gatherings became our class time," Li says.

She says she spent most of the time reading and studying books recommended by the professor.

"Every week, we would gather with fellow students to exchange ideas, present reports, and engage in discussions at our mentor's home," she says.

"Looking back now, I find it quite remarkable."

Li soon met with another embarrassing situation after graduation last year.

She found pertinent job opportunities were slim pickings.

Eventually, she landed a job being a short video director at a new media company in Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou.

In the following months, she developed more than 100 scripts, and the data traffic was steadily increasing.

"But I sensed a lack of meaning and value," she says.

She eventually listened to her inner voice and launched her own career.

"I gave myself up to six months, and even if I failed, I figured it wouldn't be too late to find a job again," she says.

From the beginning, she made a detailed schedule, with set goals.

"I wanted to use actions to prove my seriousness," she says.

In order to trace the origins of the Chinese characters in use today, Li needs to spend time consulting dictionaries, reading up on extensive literature and books, and then converting them into concise and accessible copy for only two or three minutes of delivery.

One of the difficulties is to find informative content.

"Currently, there are over 1,000 characters unveiled, but not every character has a fascinating and engaging story behind it. Therefore, I need to search through a large amount of information to find a suitable subject and an interesting angle to talk about the character," she says.

Her efforts have paid off, as many of her fans have urged her to update her works.

Chen Nianfu, professor from Zhejiang Normal University, says Li's efforts have helped to fill a void in the popularization of oracle bone script knowledge.

As compared with other disciplines, there are relatively few researchers specializing in oracle bone script, and as a result, efforts to promote the science among the public are far from enough, Chen says.

Lei Liming, professor from Zhejiang Gongshang University, believes the popularity of Li's video is not accidental.

"At the moment, there is a high level of attention given to traditional culture, including oracle bone scripts and other ancient scripts, which has become a common awareness and shared concept among the nation, society and the public," Lei says.

"However, the dissemination of oracle bone scripts and other ancient scripts still relies mainly on traditional books, newspapers and specialized databases, which are not only expensive but also have limited reach and impact."

Lei considers the enjoyable and educational approach Li has applied to appeal to the public worthy of promotion.

At the moment, Li spends a considerable number of hours reading every day, and going to the museums and secondhand book markets to get inspiration in integrating ancient and modern knowledge.

"In a broader sense, oracle bone script studies can grow our cultural confidence, while on a personal level, it allows me to remain focused on a subject that I truly love and avoid being restless," Li says.

"Currently, I consider myself more of a promoter, but my goal is to become a researcher in the field in the future."

Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn