Chinese writing originated from pictures representing words and evolved from oracle bones used for divination. Oracle bones were animal bones or shells on which diviners wrote questions and interpreted cracks formed by heating as answers from ancestors. Divination involved writing names and dates, characters for topics, then heating and reading cracks to foresee the future. While early writing depicted objects, characters became simplified over time and now represent concepts rather than sounds like alphabetic writing.

1. Oracle
BonesThe Power of
Divination

2. Replica of oracle shell
• Chinese writing is the
oldest writing system in
continuous use today
• The earliest confirmed
example of writing comes
from around 1500 BCE
(found on oracle bones)
• Some archaeologists
believe writing started
thousands of years before
in China

3. Evolution of the Writing
• Like Sumerian writing, Chinese writing evolved from
pictures to represent words. A horse was represented by an
image of a horse, and a house by a house.
• While writing was eventually used for trade, in China it
apparently was invented primarily as a way to tell the
future (like on oracle bones).
• Eventually these images became more simplified, and after
a while didn’t resemble the actual object anymore.
• Also, unlike what eventually became Latin-based writing,
most Chinese symbols don’t represent sounds. Thus many
more characters are memorized (many college-educated
students have memorized over 4000! We only memorize 26
letters in English!).

5. How It Worked
•First, they put blood on the
shell or bone.
•Next, they wrote the
diviner’s name and the
date.
•Then they wrote characters
about particular topics
•Finally they heated it up
and read the cracks to
mean their ancestors were
answering their questions

6. How You’ll Do It
• Write the diviner’s name and the date on the top or bottom
of the “bone” (can be your Chinese name if you have one)
• Decide which Chinese characters you want (you can have as
many as you want)
• Practice writing those characters in your social studies
notebooks
• When you’re ready, take a marker and write out various
characters on your “bone.”
• Drop your egg onto the newspaper while spinning it (in
place, so it doesn’t go all over), and see where the cracks
appeared.
• Interpret the divination and write at least ½ page entry as if
you were a diviner in Ancient China, describing what the
oracle bone says. “I have just read your fortune, and this is
what I see: You will…”