On the evening of October 18, 2022, the ninth lecture of the Guanya Cross Disciplines Statement was held online and offline simultaneously. Hosted by Professor Liu Feng, Professor Zhang Weijie from the Chinese Department, College of Humanities, Xiamen University, was invited to give a lecture titled "Talking about the Past Life and Present Life of Ancient Script Interpretation". Professor Zhang Weijie from the Chinese Department, College of Humanities, Associate Professor Liu Xiaoxiao, Associate Professor Xiong Feng, Associate Professor Liu Xinming, Assistant Professor Shen Tu Lirong, Assistant Professor Guo Rui, Assistant Professor Li Shengnan, Assistant Professor He Yuan, and more than 60 PhD students attended this lecture.
Professor Liu Feng pointed out that unlike the current data-based research, the oracle bones are mostly interpreted based on human memory and knowledge reserve. Therefore, in order to broaden the imagination of accounting scholars, this issue specially invited Professor Zhang Weijie to share how literalists interpret ancient texts, expecting to open another window of theoretical innovation through the exchange of interdisciplinary research paradigms.
Professor Zhang Weijie first introduced some basic concepts of archaic script interpretation. Archaic script interpretation refers to the identification and exploration of the form, sound and meaning of a certain (group of) ancient Chinese script through various methods. In 1899, it is said that Wang Yirong, a Chancellor of the National University, happened to see a Chinese medicine "dragon bone" with words carved on it, which was later confirmed as a writing in the Yin and Shang periods. Later, people found the place where the dragon bones were found - Anyang, Henan Province. Since the dragon bones were mainly turtle and animal oracle bones, they were named "oracle bone script". The Shang Dynasty oracle bone script is generally believed to have been born from divination and was used to record the success or failure of events. If you understand the ancient script, you will understand where you came from, so the study of oracle bone script is difficult but far-reaching.
The interpretation of ancient scripts has gone through several periods. In the early stage, a large number of ideographic characters were recognized in bulk, but as the interpretation progressed further, the identification of ancient characters needed to be closely integrated with the seal, ancient, and prehistoric characters collected in the Origin of Chinese Characters and the heirloom Jinwen. During this period (before the 1950s), the "four Tangs of oracle bones", namely, Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei, Dong Zubin, and Guo Moruo, were the representatives. Luo Zhenyu's and Wang Guowei's interpretations were the earliest, focusing on the interpretation of ideographic characters such as pictographs and ideograms, and were able to relate them to the the Origin of Chinese Characters and bronze inscriptions, but they did not pay enough attention to the dictionary examples. Dong Zuobin's main interest was in the study of the intergenerational period, and his staging concept was the precursor of later scholars who used staging to classify and interpret oracle bone characters. Since the 1970s, due to the emergence of new excavated materials, extensive horizontal and vertical comparisons have become possible, and paleography has made great progress, while the combination of script and phonology has also become more The combination of script and phonology has also become closer.
In addition, Professor Zhang Weijie shared with the audience several examples of the history of archaic script interpretation. Professor Zhang Weijie pointed out that, like any humanities and social disciplines, the interpretation of ancient scripts has undergone a paradigm shift, and the approach has gradually tended to be refined and broad.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Zhang Weijie had an exchange and discussion with the teachers and students both online and offline. The lecture was successfully concluded!
