Riding the wind of rebirth

"My oracle bone writing skills are average," Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "but through the recent oracle bone intelligent combination technology and root character analysis technology, we have indeed obtained a lot of new research results. I just don't know what Mr. An's bet is?"

"Come, let's get to know each other first." An Siyuan did not answer the question, but turned around and introduced: "This is Ms. Lugens, an important sponsor and director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is Mr. Guan Shuning, the director of the museum's Oriental Art Business, a professor of Oriental Art History at Princeton University, and a disciple of Mr. Fang Wen. You should know the Princeton School, right?"

"Of course I know." Zhou Zhi nodded: "It's not an exaggeration to describe it as thunder filling my ears."

Although these people in front of me all have proper Chinese names, they are all authentic "foreigners". They only gave themselves nice Chinese names because of their love for Chinese culture.

As for Fang Wen mentioned by An Siyuan, he is a Chinese. He was born in China, received traditional Chinese education in his youth, studied at Princeton University during college, and obtained a Ph.D. in art history.

He combined China's traditional identification method of focusing on ancient records, seals, inscriptions and brushwork with the Western art history analysis of the structure and style of works, and created a new identification method. He re-examined and studied the calligraphy and paintings that were once attributed to the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, and used this as a basis to explore the development history of Chinese calligraphy and painting.

During his teaching career at Princeton University, he trained a large number of new Chinese art historians, who were called the "Princeton School" by the academic community. They are not only famous in the field of Oriental art history in the United States, but also well-known around the world.

The old man should be in his sixties now, but he didn't come today.

"Hello." Zhou Zhi greeted the two politely. Lu Gensi was an elegant aunt with silver hair. It was not known whether it was her original color or a result of aging. After careful grooming, it looked quite good. With her decent clothes, she had an artistic air.

"Mr. An Siyuan thinks highly of you." Lu Gensi smiled at Zhou Zhi and said, "He said that you are a talent cultivated by the mysterious Eastern education system."

"Mr. An Siyuan meant the family education inheritance that is different from our country's public education." Zhou Zhi said, "I am very fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries of this kind of education. Ms. Lugens, are you engaged in classical singing?"

"How do you know?" Lugensi looked at Zhou Zhi with a new respect.

"Because the position and breath of your voice when you speak are different from those of ordinary people." Zhou Zhi was very confident: "I am also a music lover. With your decades of artistic skills, people can tell the difference as soon as you open your mouth."

"I regard it as the best compliment tonight." Lugens smiled and stretched out his hand to shake Zhou Zhi's: "Welcome, young man from the East."

"I also deeply admire Mr. Fang Wen's methodology of combining the traditional identification methods of ancient records, seals, inscriptions and brushwork with the analysis of the structural style of the work." After Zhou Zhi and Lu Gensi exchanged greetings, he said to Guan Shuning: "But my family's learning has taken another direction. In addition to records, seals, inscriptions and brushwork, the style of mounting, the use of glue, alum, paper, silk, etc. are also included in the research."

"Mr. An Siyuan said that you are the top restoration expert of Chinese calligraphy and painting." Guan Shuning also stretched out his hand and shook Zhou Zhi's hand: "You are definitely better than us in traditional research. If you have the opportunity, you are welcome to visit Princeton University. I believe my teacher will be very happy to see you."

"But how come George also studies oracle bones?"

"Bronze, stone, calligraphy and painting are all from the same family." Zhou Zhi was too lazy to say more: "The ancient ancestors started studying characters from bronze inscriptions because oracle bone inscriptions had not yet been discovered. Because of this, many characters were misinterpreted, including Xu Shen's earliest Shuowen Jiezi. Therefore, if you want to study Chinese characters, you have to start with oracle bone inscriptions."

"Now some Chinese scholars have set their sights further and have even begun to study the pottery symbols from various places in the Neolithic period."

Guan Shuning immediately became interested: "Pottery symbols? I know a little about this, but since there is too little information, it is difficult to interpret it?" "It is difficult, but now some experts have proposed that those symbols are very likely related to another minority language in China. The history of that language is even older than Chinese characters. It is entirely possible that it has a history of about 8,000 to 10,000 years."

"Oh? China has writing systems that are older than Chinese characters?"

"Yes, this is a foregone conclusion." Zhou Zhi nodded: "Yi language, which is also the reason why I have been staying in the Yi settlement recently."

"However, the translation of symbols has not been finalized," Zhou Zhi continued to explain, "but we found that more than 70% of the symbols on pottery in various places in China during the Neolithic period have the same or similar characters in ancient Yi script, and the remaining 30% can also be found in traditional Yi lacquerware and clothing."

"Then this is enough to form a research direction." Guan Shuning said: "Congratulations."

"Let's solve the current problem first." An Siyuan changed the subject at the right time: "Guan Shuning, you are not afraid of losing the bet because you saw that I invited a capable assistant, so you are in a hurry to change the subject?"

"Of course not." Guan Shuning denied: "If George can solve my doubts, then I will make a lot of money."

The group came to the beginning of the calligraphy display passage, where a shoulder blade was placed. The bone was very well preserved and had quite a lot of words engraved on it. Zhou Zhi rarely saw a well-preserved bone with so many words on it, and was quite surprised.

The text on this bone must have been copied, resulting in ink marks left in the characters. In addition, the bone has been played with for a long time, so the overall texture has a lustrous jade texture, and the color has turned into an amber-like orange-yellow, making the text appear clearer.

Judging from these characteristics, this piece of oracle bone was not newly unearthed, but a heirloom that has been passed down for more than a hundred years and is regarded as a treasure by successive collectors.

The text on the bone is divided into two parts, which are obviously two divination inscriptions made at different times. The text is divided into two parts by a horizontal bar in the middle, with the upper and lower parts forming one section.

"Where do you think the problem is?" Zhou Zhi felt that the inscription on the oracle bone was very clear and did not find any problem.

"Here, the first part of the text is 'Xin Hai, Bu, Zhen, his brother is a Qiang, Wang Shou Youyou'." Guan Shuning's level is not low, he can read the text: "The rest of the text is easy to understand, but the four words 'his brother is a Qiang' are really incredible."

"Lu Gensi and I believe that this sentence means 'sacrifice a Qiang man to your deceased brother', and the king will be blessed." An Siyuan said.

Lugens also nodded.

Guan Shuning shook his head: "There is also the following passage, 'Yi Mao, divination, Da Quan, Zhen, Xian Qiang, its use is Bi Xin, Sheng, Zhen, Zhao Qiang fire.'"

"The two paragraphs can be roughly understood as 'On the day of Xin Hai, the fortune teller explained that a Qiang man should be sacrificed to his brother in order for the king to be blessed.' On the day of Yi Mao, the fortune teller named Da Quan explained that a Qiang man should be sacrificed to his mother Xin in order to be 'ascended'." (End of this chapter)