By LI Shan & LONG Yun
The International Symposium on Yinxu Oracle Bone Inscriptions, hosted in Berlin by the Ethnological Museum Berlin in collaboration with scholars from China and around the world, marked a milestone in the international study of ancient Chinese civilization.
This photo shows oracle bones with inscriptions displayed at the new building of Yinxu Museum in Anyang, Henan province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)
The event on September 8 and 9 saw the official release of groundbreaking digital documentation of oracle bones in Berlin's collections and paid tribute to pioneering scholar Professor Hu Houxuan, who has left a legacy in oracle bone inscriptions studies.
The symposium, made possible through the efforts of Dr. Zhi Xiaona, a visiting scholar from the Institute of Ancient Chinese History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), showcased the fruits of the Sino-German collaborative project. Zhi led a team that documented and analyzed 486 pieces oracle bone fragments in the museum's possession using cutting-edge digital technologies, for a year.
In his opening address, Professor Lars-Christian Koch, director of both the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin, emphasized the cultural significance of these artifacts and the importance of international cooperation in preserving global heritage.
Henriette Lavaulx-Vrécourt, curator for North and Northeast Asia Department of the Ethnological Museum, outlined the historical context of the collection and the collaborative journey that led to this moment.
Zhi then presented the project's outcomes: high-resolution 2D images, reflectance transformation imaging for dynamic surface visualization, and ultraviolet imaging that revealed previously illegible inscriptions. The team also achieved new fragment reunifications and identified rare character forms.
"This project sets a replicable model for the 'digital repatriation' of scattered cultural relics," Zhi told Science and Technology Daily. "We aim to make these materials accessible to researchers worldwide."
The findings will be published in a trilingual corpus (Chinese, English, and German), creating a vital resource for future research.
Professor Song Zhenhao, a member of CASS and a leading figure in oracle bone studies, paid a moving tribute to Professor Hu Houxuan, who was his mentor, saying "Hu's life was dedicated to the collection, collation, and publication of oracle bone materials" and the Berlin project continues that unfinished mission.
The initiative is a key component of Song's broader Global Oracle Bone Digital Revitalization Project, which aims to digitally reunite and share the information of approximately 160,000 oracle bone fragments scattered across the globe, an ambitious vision for the future of the field.
Professor Wang Zhenzhong, a member of CASS, president of the Chinese Society for Yin-Shang Culture, presented the newly published Collected Works of Hu Houxuan to the museum on behalf of Hu's family, symbolizing the enduring academic bond between generations and nations.
He Wenbo, deputy director of the China Cultural Center in Berlin, praised the symposium as a powerful example of cultural dialogue. "Oracle bones are living fossils of Chinese civilization," he stated. "This event strengthens mutual understanding and cultural exchange between China and Germany."
Over two days, more than 30 scholars from seven countries, including China, Germany, Britain, France, Poland, Spain, and the United States, made 27 presentations on four themes.
Oracle bone inscriptions, excavated from Anyang city in central China, were divinations on tortoise shells and cattle shoulder blades during the Shang Dynasty (ca.1400 BC-1046 BC). Besides providing insights into ancient history, they are also the earliest writing system in China.
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Editor | SONG Ziyan
Supervisor| FANG Linlin