Seal Script appeared the Qin Dynasty (221 BC–206 BC), considered to be the first script. Evolving from oracle bone script, Seal Script took the form of pictograms and ideographs, and was incised onto surfaces of jades and oracle bones, as well as, srufaces ritual bronze vessels. Today, this style is used predominantly in seals (name chops).

In the Oracle Bone script, personal names, ritual items, and even phrases such as 受又 (祐) shòu yòu "receive blessings" are commonly contracted into single characters. A dramatic example is that in medieval manuscripts 菩薩 púsà "bodhisattva" (simplified: 菩萨 ) is sometimes written with a single character formed of a 2×2 grid of ...

An oracle was usually a priest or a priestess through whom the gods were supposed to speak or prophesize. In particular: Pythia – served as an oracle in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.; Oracle bone – a bone used for divination in ancient China.; Nechung Oracle – the state oracle of Tibet.; The term oracle is used figuratively to describe various terms in science and engineering.

Jan 09, 2019 · Earliest Characters in China. Oracle bone script (Chinese: 甲骨文, Pinyin: jiăgŭwén) is the inscription on animal bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (1711–1066 BC). It was first excavated by the local farmers in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province and was sold as a kind of traditional Chinese medicine called “long ...

These ancient characters were originally inscribed onto tortoise shell or animal bones, which are also known as ‘oracle-bones’. 金字 【金字】 Jīnzì. During the Bronze Age, towards the end of the Shang Dynasty, characters began to be carved or casted onto bronze. These were called Jinzi ‘metal characters’.