Interactive digital platform launched to display oracle bone inscriptions

ZHENGZHOU, April 20 (Xinhua) -- An interactive digital platform of virtual oracle bone inscriptions is accessible to the public from Thursday.

The WeChat mini program named "Great Oracle Bones" presents a three-dimensional form of carved oracle bone inscriptions using digital means. By clicking on the scripts on the platform, users would immediately know the corresponding modern Chinese characters and definitions.

The platform also provides games such as word guessing, where users can learn the rules of making characters on oracle bones.

"The mini program is targeted for the general public, especially teachers and students in primary and secondary schools," said Wang Chaoyang, chief digital architect of the sustainable social value division of leading Chinese tech firm Tencent, one of the developers of the platform.

"It aims to enhance people's understanding of the oracle bone inscriptions and arouse their awareness of researching and protecting the early Chinese scripts," Wang said.

Oracle bone inscriptions, or Jiaguwen, are an ancient Chinese language named for their inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones. They are a primitive form of Chinese characters and the oldest fully-developed characters in China.

So far, about 150,000 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions have been discovered, of which more than 35,000 were excavated by archaeologists. Researchers have identified more than 4,000 characters and deciphered one-third of them.

"The oracle bone inscriptions that have not been discovered and decoded are all hard nuts to crack and the booming artificial intelligence technologies can be beneficial to the interpretation of oracle bone scripts," said Guo Xudong, dean of oracle bone scripts research institute of Anyang Normal University.