2．Exploratory Period Collection，Deciphering，and Paleographic Studies of the Inscribed Oracle Bones

I have，in the introductory chapter，summarized in a general way the circumstances in which the inscribed oracle bones first caught the attention of learned circles，especially among those who had attained a profound knowledge of paleography．The three scholars whose contributions were fundamental in building up this new branch of learning were，first，Wang I-yung，almost unanimously acknowledged as the man who initially recognized the importance of these newly discovered inscriptions；second，Liu T'ieh-yün，who not only continued the collection work of Wang，but，equally important，was the first man within the narrow pioneering circle who had the courage to lithograph and publish the ink-squeezes of those inscriptions，which spread the knowledge of these ancient and unknown inscriptions to a large group of scholars；and third，the eminent scholar Sun I-jang，whose Ch'i-wen chü-li represents the pioneering effort to make a scholarly inquiry into the structure and meanings of these inscriptions．The works of these three pioneers substantially supplemented one another，and together they laid a firm foundation for this new branch of Chinese paleography.

If these three had had no fellow workers or successors，the foundation they laid could have simply disappeared，like many early Chinese inventions and discoveries，being regarded as something occult，undeserving of serious attention in academic circles，a viewpoint to which some schools of Chinese epigraphy still held fast up to the time when scientific excavations had already started.^[18] Fortunately both for the learned world in general and for Chinese paleography in particular，the publication of T'ieh-yün ts'ang-kuei successfully awakened classical scholars.

There followed a period of widespread efforts by many scholars to collect，to decipher，and to interpret these inscribed characters on the oracle bones．Here I think it is appropriate to give a general account of the various activities that took place between 1900 and 1928，when official excavations began．These can be considered under the following headings：（1）diggings；（2）collecting activities；and（3）publications and epigraphical works．

●Private Diggings up to 1928

Our primary source of information here，as for so much of what took place in this period，is Tung Tso-pin，who both in his Fifty Years of Studies in Oracle Inscriptions^[19] and especially in the revised edition of his Chronicles has given a detailed summary of these events.

Information gathered in Anyang convinced Tung that there had been at least nine private diggings for tzǔ-ku-t'ou（a local term for inscribed oracle bones）by the natives in and around Hsiao-t'un village，beginning with the twenty-fifth year of the Kuang Hsü era（1899-1900），the year when this worthless dragon bone gained a high value in the curio market．But the details of what Tung termed“the first digging”were however not given．The account merely mentions that after Wang I-yung's discovery，Fan Wei-ch'ing，a curio dealer from Shantung，went to Anyang searching for oracle bones and he paid two and one-half taels of silver per inscribed character，which according to the villagers was the prize Tuan Fang offered．Concerning the second private digging，which took place in 1904，Tung's account gives more details．As the demand for tzǔ-ku-t'ou suddenly increased after Liu T'ieh-yün's lithographic reproduction of the ink-squeezes of the inscriptions，to meet the pressing market the villagers started digging in the northern part of a farm along the bank of the Huan River in 1904．The villagers still remembered，when scientific excavations started，that Chu K'un，one of the landlords who owned a portion of the village farms，had organized a big digging team and all the diggers stayed in a temporary camp specially erected for the participants．They kept on with this activity until a fight for the right of treasure hunting broke out between them and a rival party also organized by the villagers．A suit followed the fight，and the magistrate of the district stopped it by forbidding further digging.

It is impossible to say how many pieces of the inscribed bones were found during the second digging．Tung's memoir merely mentions that these new-found treasures were sold to a number of collectors，including Lo Chên-yü，Huang Chün，Hsü Fang，Frank H．Chalfant，Samuel Couling，and L．C．Hopkins．

Five years later，in 1909，the first year of the last emperor of the Manchu dynasty，the Hsüan T'ung era，when Chang Hsüeh-hsien，a rich villager who owned a great deal of land，was digging for sweet potatoes on his own farm right in front of the village，he discovered fragments of scapula in the shape of a horseshoe^[20]，which also bore inscriptions．It is said Chang reaped a rich harvest of oracle bones by digging potatoes.

The fourth digging did not take place till eleven years later，when in 1920 drought covered five provinces in north China and the villagers，pressed by hunger，were again forced to dig oracle bones．A large crowd，many participants being from neighboring villages，concentrated at the northern part of Hsiao-t'un，beside the Huan River，which the villagers knew to be the most productive site for hidden treasures.

The fifth digging occurred in 1923；it also took place on Chang Hsüeh-hsien's farm．Tung's memoir simply mentions the fact that two large inscribed bone plates（scapula？）were obtained from this digging．In the following year，1924，some villagers were building a wall of stamped earth，which required digging the needed material from the loess soils．In these diggings the villagers once more uncovered some tzǔ-ku-t'ou，which，according to village oral traditions，included some huge pieces．Most of the diggings of this year and the preceding year were sold to Mr．James M．Menzies who was stationed at Changte as a missionary.

Tung records that the seventh private digging took place in 1925．No name of any villager is mentioned．He simply records that the villagers were gathered in a large crowd and were engaged to dig in front of the village settlement by the side of the village road．Several baskets of chia ku were obtained．Some scapula（Tung's term）seemed to be more than a foot（？）long．It is thought that all of these were sold to curio dealers from Shanghai.

The eighth private digging，which took place in 1926，is of some social and political interest for the early Republican era．The story is that Chang Hsüeh-hsien，being a landowner and considered rich，was captured，kept a prisoner，and held by bandits for ransom．The villagers took this opportunity to negotiate with his family on the proposition of digging in Chang's vegetable garden．It was agreed that any worthy treasures uncovered were to be equally divided between the diggers and the owner．When the digging started，participants，numbered by several tens，were divided into three teams，all working in the same place and at the same time，each occupying an angle of a triangular piece of the same lot．They proceeded without any definite plan；naturally each team was eager to touch upon the hidden treasure first．But the search came to a dramatic end when the three parties reached a considerable depth，all concentrated toward the same hidden spot，so that they came in contact with one another．Suddenly the overlapping soil lumps collapsed，as occasionally happens in a mining shaft．The collapsed lumps buried alive four diggers，who were，however，rescued by members of the digging party．Thus the digging stopped．According to the oral tradition of this village，their findings were quite abundant；they were all bought by Mr．Menzies.

The ninth and the last private digging，before scientific archaeology started，took place in the spring of 1928 at the time of the northern expedition of the Nationalist army．There was some fighting in the Anyang area．One army was stationed on the southern bank of the Huan River．In the fighting period，the Hsiao-t'un village people could not till their land，and so，when the battle stopped in April，the villagers again gathered together to dig tzǔ-ku-t'ou．The crowd was a large one；they concentrated their effort by the roadside in front of the village threshing floor．The inscribed oracle bones dug out in this season were all sold to merchants from Shanghai and K'aifeng as recorded in Tung's Chronicles．

●Collecting Activities

As has been discussed in chapter 1，the principal early collectors of inscribed oracle bones were Liu T'ieh-yün，who took over the major part of Wang I-yung's collection；Tuan Fang，the well-known collector of ancient bronzes，whose collection，whatever its origin or extent，was of no real scholarly influence；and Lo Chên-yü，who discovered the true provenance of these ancient scripts at Changte Fu.

In the years following the publication of Tieh-yün ts'ang-kuei there were probably dozens of collectors，both Chinese and foreign，who actively supported，and keenly competed in，the business of collecting the inscribed oracle bones．According to James M．Menzies，foreign scholars started collecting the oracle bone inscriptions as early as 1904.^[21] The Reverend Frank H．Chalfant was probably the first foreign scholar to be involved in this activity，purchasing four hundred pieces for the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai．He was followed by the Reverend Samuel Couling and the Reverend Paul Bergen．Their purchases were later sold to several museums：the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh，the Royal Scottish Museum of Edinburgh，and the British Museum of London．Later，Mr．L．C．Hopkins of Great Britain also joined the collecting team；and soon afterwards Dr．Wilhelm of Ts'ingtao also participated，according to Tung's Chronicles．Meanwhile，in Japan，there developed an even greater enthusiasm for the collection and study of oracle bone inscriptions.^[22] Concerning the various collections of this period，it is obvious that Tung's Chronicles are not as all-inclusive as his reports on private diggings．This is understandable since actual dealings were mostly in the hands of curio dealers，who，like most museum curators，prefer secret transactions．Still in Tung's Chronicles we do find quite a few important items relating to oracle bone collections on record．They are：

A．1904-1905．Dealer Fan sold more than one thousand pieces to Tuan Fang，six hundred pieces to Huang Chün，and one thousand pieces to Hsü Fang．In the same year，Samuel Couling purchased many fragments，and Paul Bergen got more than seventy pieces which he presented to the White Wright Institute of Tsinan，but most of these latter are forgeries．L．C．Hopkins also collected eight hundred pieces this year．Dr．Wilhelm of Ts'ingtao gathered about seventy pieces and the Museum für Völkerkunde obtained more than seven hundred pieces．It is also recorded that the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsin received a number of these inscribed bones as a gift from Wang I-yung's family.

B．1909-1910．Japanese scholars also started collecting，led by Mr．Taisuke Hayashi who bought six hundred pieces this year；other Japanese collectors obtained more than three thousand pieces.

C．1910-1911．Liu T'ieh-yün died in exile；his collection，according to Tung's Chronicles，passed into a number of hands：including Lo Chên-yü，Mrs．Hardoon，Yeh Yü-sheng，Central University，and Ch'en Chung-fan．The collection was evidently sold out or given away in piecemeal fashion since the Chronicles record that as late as 1926 Shang Ch'eng-tzu obtained twenty-five hundred pieces from Liu T'ieh-yün's original collection.

D．1914．James M．Menzies started collecting.

E．1918．The Japanese pioneer working on oracle bone inscriptions，Mr．Taisuke Hayashi，arrived at Anyang and purchased twenty pieces.

F．1919．Imitation pieces of oracle bone inscriptions appeared in great quantity in the curio market.

G．1922．Peking Government University received a gift of 463 fragments of oracle bone inscriptions from Ta-ku-chai，a curio shop in Peking.

H．1927．James M．Menzies purchased a large collection．

This collecting activity encouraged intense competition in the curio market in Peking，Shanghai，and Wei Hsien in Shantung province as well as Changte Fu in Honan．Since most dealings were secretive in nature，and in the hands of avaricious dealers and rich but ignorant collectors，the result was the appearance of an enormous quantity of imitation pieces．These spurious antiquities were produced in many places．Anyang，Peking，Wei Hsien，Shanghai，and so on．These forgeries，in the beginning at any rate，did probably earn the dealers quite a fortune．The author himself，in the years since the excavation started，has personally observed some of the forgeries in a number of well-known museums in both Europe and America.^[23] And Tung Tso-pin，who made a special investigation of such forgery，actually made an effort to cultivate friendship with this talented group of men，and succeeded in winning an intimate acquaintance with one of the forgers，Lan Pao-kuang of Anyang，who，Tung said，was a real genius．He was an opium smoker，and only in the inspired moment would he show his craftsmanship by taking some uninscribed pieces found at Hsiao-t'un and producing a duplicate in exact detail．Tung told me further that Lan was a forger because he really enjoyed such work．As a matter of fact，he was a poor businessman．He sold all those imitation pieces for very small sums of money.

The appearance of the forgeries greatly disturbed the curio market，with two important results．On the one hand，the conservative school，who observed the authority of Hsü Shen's Shuo-wen dictionary with reverence and religious faith based upon a tradition of over a millennium，naturally took these forgeries as definite evidence to prove that all the so-called chia ku wen（oracle bone inscriptions）were pseudo-classic inscriptions，fabricated by a number of pretenders to scholarship to deceive the public at large．On the other hand，a few far-sighted scholars who were better informed and had examined the genuine pieces were pushed to work harder in order to find criteria by which to differentiate the genuine inscriptions from the forgeries．A pioneer in this field was the author of“Oracle Records from the Waste of Yin，”Mr．James Mellon Menzies，the Canadian missionary．Menzies was first sent to Changte Fu in 1914，and，after World War I，was again stationed there from 1921 to 1927．He was thus in a position to learn，in situ，about the unearthing of oracle bones by the native diggers on his frequent visits to Hsiao-t'un.^[24] This fortunate combination of an appropriate appointment and an inborn instinct for archaeology prepared the way for his special contribution to the oracle bone studies among the small community of foreign scholars．

At the same time，Chinese collectors developed a more discriminating and critical power to differentiate genuine pieces from the fabricated inscriptions.

To conclude our discussion of collecting activities，it can be said that from a commercial point of view，European and American collectors were more archaeologically conscious，and so were willing to pay a relatively high price for these new curiosities.^[25] The Chinese scholars，however，were the ones who first became aware of the cultural value of these inscriptions；the second generation of chia ku hsüeh，as we will see in the following discussion，includes a number of scholars whose works have won international academic admiration because of their high standards of scholarship and erudition．

●Publications and Epigraphical Works

Regarding books and articles，ink-squeeze reproductions，copying of original characters，and research works on the oracle bone inscriptions，Tung's Chronicles list 110 titles in Chinese，Japanese，and European languages published up to September 1928．These titles included 36 books：30 by Chinese authors，4 by Japanese，and the remaining 2 by an American and a Canadian，respectively．Among the 74 articles published，41 were by Chinese and 9 by Japanese Sinologues，while in English no less than 19 articles appeared．There were 3 articles in German periodicals and 2 in French，of which one was a Chinese contribution，and the other was from the hand of the great French Sinologue Edouard Chavannes，who in 1911 wrote a summary review of Lo Chên-yü's Yin-shang chên-pu wen-tzǔ k'ao，published in Peking in the previous year．This lengthy note introduced both the book and the author to Western students of Sinology.^[26] The Reverend Frank H．Chalfant's“Early Chinese Writings，”published in 1906-1907，was the earliest foreign-language study of the ancient inscriptions.^[27]

The other articles in English，which were published mostly in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland，were contributed by one single author，L．C．Hopkins，whose“Pictographic Reconnaissance，”ran seven articles in this journal up to 1927．Meanwhile，in America，Germany，and Japan，Sinologues of this period also showed considerable interest in the studies as well as in collections of these newly discovered Chinese written records.

It was，however，in Japan that the new interest in the study developed most rapidly and intensively，although the published articles were not numerous．The work of Japanese scholars，including Taisuke Hayashi and Naito Torajiro，also had a great influence upon Chinese epigraphical studies．Tung's Chronicles record that in 1910 Taisuke mailed Lo Chên-yü his essay on chia ku wen．This penetrating essay，Lo remarked in a number of places，helped to make up what he had neglected in his Foreword to Liu's T'ieh-yün ts'ang-kuei．It must be noted that both Lo Chên-yü and Wang Kuo-wei—the two most distinguished Chinese figures of this period who contributed abundantly to and exerted the widest influence in the Chinese world of learning—both stayed in Japan for some time．Lo went to Japan soon after the revolution of 1911，while Wang was there for only a short stay．The Japanese contact，it seems to me，must have given to both men a tremendous stimulus，stirring up in them new ideas of approach，awakening in them an interest，historical as well as archaeological，hitherto deeply hidden in their subconscious．I do not pretend to give this as the underlying motive for their devotion to this study，which had been developed into an established branch of Chinese paleography；in their time there might have been other factors that served as a driving power to make these two scholars spend their lifetimes in this way.

Before turning to the research of these two pioneers，I would like to begin our summary of work by Chinese scholars with a more detailed discussion of the previously mentioned contributions of Sun I-jang．Sun first became acquainted with the oracle bone inscriptions by reading Liu T'ieh-yün's T'ieh-yün ts'ang-kuei．As early as 1904，only a year after the publication of Liu's work，Sun started examining，on the basis of his profound knowledge of bronze inscriptions，the individual characters of the oracle bone inscriptions．He labored continuously for two months，and his accumulated notes resulted in his study Ch'i-wen chü-li（Examples of Oracle Bone Inscriptions），although this study was not published until 1917．This pioneering effort to make a scholarly inquiry into the structure and meanings of the oracle bone inscriptions was organized according to the functional implications of individual characters：the calendar system，methods of divinatory queries，events divined for，ghosts and spirits，and so on．There is one section on officialdom，another on various states．The section on，wen-tzǔ（written words）is the longest，constituting almost 50 percent of the complete work.^[28]

In 1905-1906 Sun I-jang wrote another book，Ming yüan（Origin，or Evolution，of Names），which he published at his own expense in 1906.^[29] In this book Sun announced that his task was to trace the ancient Chinese scripts as they appeared in bronze inscriptions，oracle bone records，on stone drums of the Chou dynasty and petroglyphs of Kueichou province（considered at his time to be the Miao people's ancient scripts）and to compare them with the basic characters of ku chou wen which Hsü Shen found still current at his time．By these comparative studies，Sun aimed at finding out the origins and evolutionary changes of the more important words among nine thousand characters in Hsü Shen's dictionary.

It is remarkable to note that he dwelt specially on the origin of the numerals and traced with a great deal of accuracy the various numbers as they appeared and were still used in Chinese languages．Then he proceeded to discuss the original meaning of hsiang hsing characters，illustrated by a long list of names of animals and plants classified within the hsiang hsing category，such as the Chinese characters for horse（ma），ox（niu），sheep（yang），and so on．In discussing each example，the author usually cited bronze inscriptions and others from pre-Ch'in scripts together with any that had been found in the oracle bone inscriptions．In concluding each discussion he only commented whether it agreed with or differed from what was said in Hsü Shen's dictionary.

We shall have occasion to refer again to the works of Sun I-jang，but I would now like to turn to the next important scholar，Lo Chên-yü．Tung Tso-pin's revised Chronicles record that in 1902-1903 Lo first came into contact with the inscribed oracle bones at the home of Liu T'ieh-yün.^[30] The ink-squeezes of the oracle bone inscriptions impressed him so much that he remarked，at his first sight of these scripts：“Since the time of the Han dynasty，the most eminent epigraphers like Chang Ch'ang，Tu Yeh，Yang Hsung，and Hsü Shen never had such an opportunity to see these！”^[31] So，it is clear that he was first introduced by Liu T'ieh-yün to this new learning.

Lo was so impressed by this discovery that he considered himself bound to circulate it，publicize it，and make it a permanent addition to the knowledge of ancient Chinese languages．The Chinese written language，he realized，after three millennia of history，had suffered too many changes，mutations，and erroneous interpretations．The language had in fact changed beyond any possible recognition of its original nature and of those characteristics that were in usage before the time of Ch'in Shih-huang-ti（the first emperor），who，as everybody knows，burned all the books in the thirty-fourth year of his reign（217 B.C.），only six years（221 B.C.）^[32] after the first unification of China．It is also a well-known historical fact that the first emperor issued the imperial command to standardize units of measurements，means of communication，and above all the written language in the first year of the unification．This command was soon followed by the famous imperial edict to bury alive all men of letters of this Confucian school（ju），and to burn all written documents except books dealing with magical practice，medical art，and tree plantings．It is also well known that the efforts to revive ancient learning in the earlier part of the following Han dynasty were in the beginning mixed in character；an effective search for ancient books started only after Han Wu-ti（140-86 B.C.）ascended the imperial throne．Emperor Wu issued an imperial edict to search for old books．At this time Chinese written characters，for a number of reasons，had already changed so much that they were radically different from what had been current in pre-Ch'in times.

There is no need to go further into the history of such changes，but it is important to bear in mind that these changes did take place in order to appreciate the importance of scholarly contributions after the recovery of the oracle bone inscriptions，especially those following the pioneering efforts of Wang I-yung，Liu T'ieh-yün，and Sun I-jang.

Inspired by the above-mentioned essay by Taisuke Hayashi，Lo Chên-yü decided to devote his leisure time to going over all the ink-squeezes of the oracle bone inscriptions in his keeping，and also those from the dealers who had been in Honan．He succeeded in seeing thousands of fragments of the inscribed tortoise shells and bones．Out of these collections he selected some seven hundred pieces distinguished by special characteristics，and with tireless efforts he devoted himself to the minute examination of the genuine specimens as well as the ink-squeezes．Finally he achieved two important results.

First，he was able to locate the exact place，namely the village Hsiao-t'un，on the outskirts of Anyang，where the oracle bones were being unearthed．Before Lo's time the curio dealers all kept the provenance a trade secret，but after diligent inquiry，cross-examination，and systematic searches，Lo finally discovered the place of origin of the ancient scripts．As mentioned in chapter 1，Lo visited Changte Fu in 1915，keeping a diary account of his trip.

Second，by studying the genuine records，he also succeeded in discovering a list of names of the royal ancestors of the Shang dynasty，and thus began to understand that all these records were relics from the Yin-Shang dynasty．With these newly reached basic ideas in mind，he devoted three months' time to write the article Yin-shang chên-pu wen-tzǔ k'ao（On the Oracle Bone Inscriptions of the Yin-Shang Period），with a threefold purpose：“to correct historian's errors，”“to trace the source of ancient Chinese written characters，”and“to find out the methods of divination of the ancient Chinese，”a statement which he made with some justifiable pride．In this article，Lo concludes：“I have solved the questions and doubts，which Taisuke's original contribution raised and left unanswered.”This article，completed in 1910，was published under the imprint of Yü-chien-chai in the same year．In Tung's Chronicles，the subtitles of Lo's important paper are as follows：

I．Historical Studies（K'ao Shih）

1．Capital city of the Yin

2．Names and post-mortem honorific titles of the kings

II．Correcting Names（Chêng Ming）

1．Identification of seal characters（chou wen）and ancient characters（ku wen）

2．Pictographic characters（hsiang hsing tzǔ）are not limited by the number of strokes

3．Comparative studies with bronze inscriptions

4．Correcting errors of the Shuo-wen dictionary

III．Methods of Divination（Pu Fa）

1．On making a query（chên）

2．On inscription or incision（ch'i）

3．On burning or scorching（cho）

4．On applying ink（chih mo）

5．On omens or crack signs（chao ch'e）

6．On divination records（pu-tz'ǔ）

7．On storage by burying（mai ts'ang）

8．On scapulimancy（ku pu）

IV．Additional Discussions（Yü Lun）^[33]

The essay is published with a Preface and a Postscript.

It is to be noted that in Lo's Preface to this，his first important article on oracle bone inscriptions，he acknowledged several facts which are of historical importance in tracing the complicated early development of this branch of Chinese paleography，especially the mutual relations among Liu T'ieh-yün，Sun I-jang，and Lo Chên-yü．Lo's introductory remarks include some definite admissions：“My dear friend Sun I-jang（Sun Chung-yung）also investigated these inscriptions；his manuscripts were sent to me．It is regrettable to have to say that，in his study，he is unable to penetrate the mystery of these inscriptions．……”In the same Preface，Lo also admitted that the Foreword he wrote for Liu T'ieh-yün's T'ieh-yün ts'ang-kuei was hasty and by no means thorough．It is rather amusing to note that Lo found only shortcomings in Sun's original work，manuscripts of which，according to Lo's own statement，he had received from Sun I-jang before the latter's death．Further，Lo does not even mention Sun I-jang's second important work，the above-cited Ming yüan，which traced the evolution of a number of Chinese characters．Lo must have been familiar with this remarkable and original treatise.

It is therefore at least interesting to compare the contents of Lo's Yin-shang chên-pu wen-tzǔ k'ao with Sun's two earlier writings．There is hardly any doubt that，as far as the method of approach is concerned，Lo differs very little from his senior worker，who，for comparative purposes，made extensive use of his profound knowledge of bronze inscriptions，with which he compared the oracle bone inscriptions in great detail，and naturally not without fruitful results．After the example of Sun，Lo Chên-yü also took up some concrete examples of pictographs which represented animals to illustrate the hsiang hsing tzǔ in various stages，found in both bronze inscriptions and the oracle bone inscriptions．The examples given by Lo include the pictographs for sheep，horse，deer，pig，dog，and dragon．It is important to remember that in Sun's Ming yüan the list of pictographs chosen for special study also included horse，ox，sheep，pig，dog，tiger，deer，k'uei dragon，etc．It may be true that Lo approached the problem from a different angle；he aimed to show that the oracle bone pictographs were in a rapidly changing period and the pictorial stages were by no means standardized in a fixed form．But the examples he chose for illustrations clearly indicate that if Lo in his essay does show some new ideas and cover some new ground，it only means that he was taking advantage of his senior's unpublished materials as well as benefiting from the methods Sun I-jang developed in his pioneer study，Ming yüan.^[34]

Lo Chên-yü，nevertheless，is a very important man，considering the various contributions he made to reinforce the firm foundation first laid by the three pioneers．He enjoyed good luck in the early days of collecting and studying the newly discovered epigraphical source materials．Through this opportunity as well as through his devotion to continuous research in the comparative studies of pre-Ch'in inscrip-tions，he came to a better understanding of oracle bone inscriptions，and produced the monumental publication，Yin-hsü shu-ch'i ch'ien-pien（Yin-hsü Oracle Bone Inscriptions，First Part）in the second year after the 1911 revolution．The four volumes of this work consisted of 2，229 ink-squeezes of oracle bone inscriptions，carefully selected by Lo himself out of his total collection of tens of thousands of fragments which included many new purchases in addition to Liu T'ieh-yün's major portion．These volumes were printed in collotype and published in Japan，on the finest paper．Three years later（1915）two volumes were added，known as Yin-hsü shu-ch'i hou-pien；these also were printed and published in Japan．One year before the publication of the hou-pien，Lo also completed and published an annotating volume with the title Yin-hsü shu-ch'i k'ao-shih，which was a translation of the inscriptions reproduced in ch'ien-pien into modern versions with explanatory notes．The manuscripts of this annotating volume were hand-copied by Lo's junior colleague，Professor Wang Kuo-wei，whose copy was lithographed and published．The annotating volume was divided into eight sections：（1）Capital Cities，（2）Kings，（3）Personal Names，（4）Geographical Terms，（5）Written Words，（6）Divination Records，（7）Ritual System，（8）Methods of Divination．It is prefaced by Lo Chên-yü，the author himself，with a Postscript by Wang Kuo-wei.^[35] After another twelve years，a revised edition of the annotatory volume was published by the Oriental Society but without mention of the publisher or the place of publication．This new edition was one of the most noteworthy books on the oracle bone studies of this period．In this edition the annotation included a great many new investigations，of which the most valuable contributions were from Professor Wang Kuo-wei，who，as noted already，hand-copied Lo Chên-yü's first edition of annotations and transcriptions.

The contributions of Wang Kuo-wei，from a purely epigraphical viewpoint，are unanimously considered much more important for this period than Lo Chên-yü's summary notes，although Wang probably，in the early stage，received substantial help from Lo，his senior worker．Wang's work，however，depended upon the original materials which were collotyped in Yin-hsü shu-ch'i ch'ien-pien，which faithfully reproduced ink-squeezes of the oracle bone inscriptions from Lo's own collection.

Lo's own investigations and intelligent annotations of these carefully chosen materials were widely commented on by men of learning including some of the foremost Sinologues，and naturally exercised tremendous influence among the epigraphists of both the conservative and the liberal schools in the author's home land．The first edition of the annotatory volume included a list of deciphered characters，amounting to 485 individual words．In the revised edition of this volume，the list，according to Tung Tso-pin，expanded to 570.^[36] This number constituted nearly 50 percent of the total number of individual characters inscribed in the oracle bones known at that time．Most of the deciphered characters on Lo's list included words referring to numerals，celestial stems，earthly branches，directions，animals，plants，geographical terms，utensils，and general terms concerning daily behavior，such as“come and go，”“up and down，”“'walk and travel，”“hunting and fishing，”and so on．So they have tentatively served the basic needs of reading intelligently the contents of these ancient inscriptions．In the last section of his annotatory volume，Lo transcribed 707 items of the actual inscriptions，which according to Lo's standard，are intact and intelligible.^[37] Lo organized these contents according to the types of events for which queries were made through divination．Lo's eight divisions are as follows：

The 707 entries that Lo in his K'ao-shih rendered into modern readings were originally sectioned on types of events recorded in these readable inscriptions．It is obvious that these events were concerned mainly with sacrifice（a-c），king's journey（d），hunting and fishing，weather and harvesting；and also，warfare．These entries can be regrouped and calculated on a percentage basis：

The new edition of K'ao-shih published in 1927 considerably enlarged the list of deciphered vocabulary；it also augmented the number of readable items of inscribed records from Yin-hsü shu-ch'i．The number of deciphered words reached 671，while readable records amounted to 1，094 items which Lo divided into nine groups；the added group was named“Miscellaneous，”while the other eight groups retained their original names．If they are calculated according to the above regroupings on a percentage basis，the following table shows the results：

Although the two percentage lists of events do show some differences，the extent of variation is relatively limited．The performance of sacrificial offerings to ancestors and other spirits no doubt constituted the major state event about which the Shang people had to consult the oracles and find an answer，while the other three groups—royal travels，hunting and fishing，harvesting and weather forecasts—were undoubtedly of equal importance；these four groups were probably the main occupations of a king's daily life．The war records，which constituted more than 5 percent of the readable records，represented state events also doubtlessly equal in importance to sacrificial performance；but their occurrences were naturally less frequent．There will be occasions later to discuss this group of records in more detail.

What has to be pointed out here particularly is the fact that Lo Chên-yü，with the help of Wang Kuo-wei，in these published volumes had succeeded in strengthening the foundation for a renewed study of Chinese epigraphy by demonstrating the evolutionary stages of Chinese written characters from the Yin-Shang period down to the late Han dynasty when Hsü Shen produced his Shuo-wen dictionary．In this gigantic task，they also accomplished some other important archaeological achievements in their study of the methods of divination，identification of the locations of the various capitals which the Shang dynasty occupied，and，above all，reconstruction of the genealogical tree of the royal family way back to the predynastic time．The re-establishment of the succession of dynastic kings and predynastic royal ancestors was mainly the work of Wang Kuo-wei，whose research covered readings of all the related records as well as the readable oracle bone entries．He was also the first scholar to succeed in piecing together the fragmentary ink-squeezes published in various reproductions into some complete documents，in which the ancestors were mentioned according to the order of succession when occasion for joint worship of all ancestors was to take place．Professor Wang，in two special articles published in 1917，built the genealogical tree of the Shang rulers，which he compared with three other important documents relating to the same matter.^[38] Wang concluded：

According to Ssǔ-Ma Ch'ien's account，the Shang dynasty has thirty-one emperors（ti），ranking in seventeen generations．…… What the oracle bone records have shown and proved is that the number of emperors as well as the generations in Ssǔ-Ma Ch'ien's record are the nearest to the correct list．The other two documents have both misrecorded the number of generations．

The articles mentioned above represent the cream of his applied effort in his ingenious paleographic work in the course of his historical as well as epigraphical researches．To this day，his classical contributions have remained without any fundamental change．When Tung Tso-pin wrote his Chia-ku-hsüeh wu-shih-nien^[39]in 1944，thirty-seven years later，Tung's list of Shang kings and their ancestors remained almost the same as those Wang first identified in 1917.

Wang's contributions to this new study started in 1915 and continued more than ten years till the time，after the example of Wang I-yung in 1900，that he terminated his life by drowning in the artificial lake of the Summer Palace built by the Empress Dowager Tz'ǔ-hsi．At that time，1926，he had been teaching in the Research Institute of National Learning at Ts'inghua College.

Contemporaneously，there were at least half a dozen Chinese epigraphists who contributed to the advancement of this study．Among the Chinese contributions，two dictionaries deserve special notice．Wang Hsiang's Fu-shih yin-ch'i lei-ts'uan，published in 1921，included 873 deciphered characters；Shang Ch'eng-tzu's Yin-hsü wen-tzǔ lei-pien，published in 1923，included 789 deciphered characters．These dictionaries served an important purpose，not only in teaching beginners to approach ancient scripts but also in spreading this new knowledge to an enlarged circle among the Chinese intelligentsia.

Before concluding this chapter，something should be said about the attitude of Chang T'ai-yen（Ping-lin）．Tung gives a vivid account of what he called the archenemy who stood in the way of developing the study of these newly discovered materials．And Chang T'ai-yen is important，because he was considered the most prominent epigraphist of his time and he was politically a revolutionary．Tung's account of Chang T'ai-yen's attitude toward the oracle bone inscriptions reads：

Chang T'ai-yen was one of those scholars who were skeptical of the oracle inscriptions and criticized any study of them．He maintained oracle inscriptions were not mentioned in the old documents and therefore the inscribed bones must be products of forgers of much later periods．It is most improbable，he argued，that shells and bones could have remained in the earth for three thousand years without decaying．Therefore Chang maintained that Lo Chên-yü who believed in those inscriptions，must be thoroughly condemned.^[40]

It is said that Chang's idea remained unchanged even after scientific excavation at Anyang confirmed the existence of these newly discovered precious documents．There is a graceful note on Chang T'ai-yen's innermost feeling toward these ancient relics which bear the Yin inscription related in this anecdote：“On one of Chang's birthdays，his chief disciple Huang Chi-kang sent him a birthday gift，oblong in shape and wrapped in red paper，which appeared to be box of edible delicacies；afterwards，when the old man tore off the wrappings，he found the four volumes of Yin-hsü shu-ch'i ch'ien-pien by Lo Chên-yü．……”

The anecdote ends by merely mentioning that this birthday gift from his beloved disciple was not cast away；but the volumes found a place on the old man's bed，beside his pillow—evidently he actually read some of these condemned pseudo-inscriptions！