Oracle Bone Script is the writing carved on tortoise shells or animal bones used for divination by the royal family of the late Shang Dynasty in China, and is one of the earliest known systematic writings of the Shang Dynasty in China and East Asia.

The oracle bones were first found by the villagers of Xiaotun Village in Anyang, Henan Province, at that time they did not know that this is an ancient relic, only as a cure for all diseases of the medicinal herbs "Dragon Bone" to use, many engraved with the oracle bones of tortoiseshell and animal bones into powder, a waste of many extremely valuable cultural relics.

Later, the late Qing officials, goldsmith Wang Yirong in Guangxu 25 years (1899), when treating illnesses from Henan Anyang on the oracle bone found on the location of the oracle bone inscription.

Over the past hundred years, more than 154,600 oracle bones have been unearthed locally through archaeological excavations and other means. In addition, oracle bones have been found in other parts of Henan and Shaanxi, dating from the late Shang period (about 1300 B.C.) extending into the Spring and Autumn period.

Characteristics of Oracle Bone Script:

Oracle Bone Script recorded and reflected the political and economic situation of the Shang Dynasty, mainly referring to the royal family of the late Shang Dynasty of China (14th to 11th centuries BC) used for divination of good and bad luck and remembering things on the tortoise shell or animal bones, and the contents are usually the things asked or the results of divination. After the demise of the Yin Shang and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, the oracle bone inscriptions were still in use for a period of time, and were an important source of information for the study of the social history of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

The oracle-bone inscriptions have been tending towards the integration of independent forms, and a large number of form-sounding characters have appeared. It is the key to the development of Chinese characters, and is called the "earliest Chinese character", as it inherits the original carved and painted symbols from above and the bronze inscriptions from below.

Modern Chinese characters evolved from the oracle bone inscriptions. In total, more than 100,000 pieces of oracle bones contain more than 4,000 different characters, of which more than 2,800 have been recognized.