Chapter 7 Section 3 Ancient Writings on Other Materials

According to the above introduction, we know that oracle bone inscriptions are ancient characters (ancient Chinese characters) inscribed (and also written) on tortoise shells and animal bones, mainly in the late Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty. Bronze inscriptions are ancient characters cast and engraved on bronzes. They first appeared in the middle of the Shang Dynasty and prevailed in the Western Zhou Dynasty and Spring and Autumn Period.Therefore, the bronze inscriptions we are talking about mainly refer to the ancient Chinese characters on the bronze wares of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period.However, the manufacture and use of bronze wares has a long history, not only during the Warring States Period, but also after the Han Dynasty. Many inscriptions are still cast and inscribed, but they do not belong to the bronze inscriptions of the above-mentioned specific era referred to in philology.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the progress of society, the development of economy and culture, the scope of application of characters gradually expanded, and the materials used gradually became more and more abundant, such as pottery, jade, bamboo, silk, silk seals and seals. Seals, currency, etc., can be engraved or written on it.Ancient Chinese characters found in different places and on different materials often have different physical characteristics and styles, and there are some intersections with each other, so there are various complex situations.The following is a brief introduction into several categories:

We mentioned earlier that as early as Neolithic pottery, certain graphic symbols inscribed or drawn have been found. Some philologists believe that they already have the nature of writing, which can be said to be primitive pottery inscriptions.In recent decades of archaeological excavations, many pottery inscriptions of the Warring States period have been discovered, among which Qi State has the most, Yan, Qin, Teng, Zhu [zhu Zhu, that is, Zou] and other countries follow, and Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu and other countries There are also sporadic unearthed.These Warring States pottery inscriptions are inscribed and imprinted.The so-called fan seals are like seals with seals. Some are square, some are rectangular, and some are round. Most of the content is just to indicate the year and place of production, the name of the supervisor, the potter's native place, and the place of purchase. Most of the fonts are neat and neat. However, the shape and style of different regions are different. Figure 14 shows two rubbings of pottery inscriptions, one of which is the pottery inscription of Qi State. (Get) Zaizuo Li (Bai Po) [po Po] Bo beans." Hu Du, place name; (Shang Chen Xia Tu) De Zai, name of the supervisor; Zuo Li, potter's native place; (Bai Po), potter's name ; Hao, the place name used for utensils; beans, a container for food.The bottom side is the pottery inscription of Qin State, and the interpretation is: "Xianting right side Taoist vessel." Xian, place name, namely Xianyang; utensils.

There are also some Warring States pottery inscriptions with relatively simple content, only place names or names of officials. Essentially, jade is just a special kind of stone, so jade falls into one category. In 1977, a jade handle from the Shang Dynasty was unearthed in the wild forest of Qingyang, Gansu Province, and the three characters "Zha (Zuo) Cewu" were engraved on it (Fig. 15 left).The book is the name of the official position, and I am the name of the person.This is the ancient inscription on the earliest jadeware discovered so far, and its shape and characteristics are similar to the bronze inscriptions in the late Shang Dynasty.

In December 1965, a large number of more than 5,000 pieces of jade pieces were unearthed in the territory of the ancient state of Jin in Houma, Shanxi. Among them, more than 600 pieces had relatively clear and recognizable characters written with brushes. ink color.The content of the writing is generally the oath to the gods when making an alliance between the princes and officials in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, that is, the "Alliance Book", so this batch of jade tablets with characters is called "Hou Ma League Book" (Fig. 15 right).After research, most scholars believe that Zhao Meng, the main ally reflected in these alliance letters, is Zhao Yang, one of the six ministers of the state of Jin in the late Spring and Autumn Period and a representative of the emerging landlord class.The fonts written on this batch of jade have strong local characteristics and belong to the characters of the Warring States Period.

The most famous stone inscriptions are the stone drum inscriptions unearthed in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province in the early Tang Dynasty.There are 10 stone drums in total, each with a poem engraved on it. The content mainly praises the beauty of Tianyuan and the prosperity of field hunting.But there is no problem with the fonts it uses, which belong to the characters of Qin State.We will also refer to it below. Bamboo slips and silk texts are a general term for texts written on bamboo and wood slips and silk.The age of their use should be very old.When talking about "the origin of Chinese characters", we quoted "Shangshu Toshi" that "only the ancestors of Yin had books and canons", which are books in ancient China before the invention of paper.Judging from the glyphs of oracle bone inscriptions, the character "book" is , like using ropes (horizontal pens) to group bamboo and wood slips (vertical pens) into a book, and the word "Dian" is written , like holding a book with both hands.Silk is an ancient white silk fabric that can be used to write characters. "Mozi Shangxian Xia" has the words "books of bamboo and silk", which shows that the origin is also very early.

However, the earliest bamboo slips discovered so far belong to the Warring States period. For example, the bamboo slips of Chu state in the middle and late Warring States period unearthed from tombs in Suixian, Hubei, and Xinyang, Henan. Items and other items used in funerals), Miscellaneous Notes (about illnesses, prayers, divination, etc. of the owner of the tomb), and some judicial documents.These texts are very helpful for us to understand the economic, political, legal and other aspects of the society at that time.For example, there is a slip of "疋邦" (recording the process of prison litigation) in the Chu tomb at No. 2 Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei. Jin), the stomach (that is) to take (marry) his concubine (female Yao)." (Figure 16) means: On August Yiyou day, Yuanyi (person's name) was named Ke (xieziqu) because of the state of Siyi. Ji Jiajin), illegally married his concubine named (Nvyaoyao), so he filed a lawsuit.

The earliest surviving silk and silk inscriptions were unearthed in 1942 in the Warring States Chu Tomb in the Eastern Suburbs of Changsha, Hunan Province (the original is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, USA).The written text is composed of three paragraphs of different characters, accompanied by various figures of gods and monsters. The precious ancient astronomical calendar works also provide first-hand materials for the study of ancient primitive religious superstitions (Figure 17). The characters on these slips and silks all belong to the characters of Chu State in the Warring States Period. The structure may be simple or complex, with multiple shapes, thick and heavy at the beginning, and thin at the end. Generally speaking, it should be the practical font of Chu at that time.

According to the ancient Chinese books "Guo Yu" and "Zuo Zhuan", from about the Spring and Autumn Period, there is a kind of letter between the princes and ministers of the princes, which needs to be sealed with ink pad to prevent others from peeking. It is called "Xi Shu". It shows that the seal was already in use at that time, which is what is called the seal today. Most of the earliest seals that can be seen today belong to the Warring States period, and they were used to prove credit in political activities and personal exchanges at that time.Seals are mostly made of copper, but they are also made of silver, jade, stone, and bone.Its size is small, and the number of words is limited, generally no more than four words.The format of engraving is nothing more than "Yin Wen" (also called "Bai Wen", that is, the strokes are concave and printed in white), "Yang Wen" (also called "Zhu Wen", that is, the strokes are convex, painted Cinnabar ink pad is printed in red) two kinds.According to different uses, seals can be roughly divided into five categories: official seals, private seals, auspicious seals, Xiao Xing seals, and identification seals (Figure 18).

1. Seal of official name: Sima sampan 2. Seal of private name: Ku Chengchen 3. Seal of auspicious language: Zhengxing 4. Seal of Xiao Xing: (shaped as a tiger) 5. Seal of logo: Ri Geng Du Cui chariots and horses During the Warring States period, different countries often had different official names and font styles.These factors, in turn, can be used to identify the country of the newly unearthed or unearthed seals of the Warring States Period. As the name suggests, it is the words cast and engraved on ancient currency, and most of the existing objects belong to the Warring States period.From the point of view of shape, it can be divided into cloth coins, knife coins, yuan [yuan] coins, etc. (Figure 19). Different countries and regions have different currency shapes, and the shape and stroke characteristics of cast characters are also different.