Dong Zuobin

Dong Zuobin

Dong Zuobin (1895-1963), formerly known as Ren, was also known as Yan Tang, and Yan Tang, known as Pinglu. His ancestral home is Dong Yangmen, Wenxian County, Henan Province. He was born in Nanyang, Henan Province. It is one of the "four halls of Oracle Bone".

From 1923 to 1924, Dong Zuobin was a graduate student of Chinese culture at the Graduate School of Peking University. From 1925 to 1927, he was a lecturer, associate professor and professor in Fujian Union University, Henan Zhongzhou University and Guangzhou Sun Yat sen University. He worked in the Institute of history and language of Academia Sinica from 1928 to 1946, and was elected academician of Academia Sinica in 1948. He was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago from 1947 to 1948, and a professor at the University of Taiwan since 1949. He was a researcher or professor at the University of Hong Kong, Chung Chi College, New Asia College and Zhuhai College from 1956 to 1958. He died in Taiwan in 1963.

Life of the characters

Early experience

Born on March 20, 1895 in a small shopkeeper's family in Changchun Street (now Jiefang Road), Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan Province, he read four books, five classics and various schools of thought when he was young. When he was a child, Dong Zuobin often went to the next lettering shop to play after class. He carefully observed various carving techniques and pondered over the rules and essentials of lettering. Later, he got enthusiastic guidance from the shopkeeper, which made him interested in ancient characters and seal cutting.

In 1910, he entered Yuanzong high school and then dropped out. In the spring of 1915, at the urging of Mr. Zhang Jiamou (a famous educator), Dong Zuobin was admitted to the county run normal school. After graduation, he stayed in school to teach with excellent results.

First knowledge of Oracle Bone Inscriptions

In the spring of 1917, Dong Zuobin followed Zhang Jiamou to Kaifeng, where he managed the study and did housework. Later, under the guidance and recommendation of Mr. Zhang Jiamou, he was admitted to the Yucai Museum in Kaifeng and initially came into contact with oracle bone inscriptions. From then on, he became attached to Oracle Bone Inscriptions and became very interested in Chinese archaeology.

In 1922, at the invitation of Mr. Zhang Jiamou, he came to Beijing to study alone and lived in Mr. Zhang's home. Knowing that he had studied seal cutting and had a good handwriting, Mr. Zhang asked him to do a job of transcribing his lecture notes. During this period, Dong Zuobin met Xu Xusheng (from Tanghe County), who was a professor of Peking University at that time. Mr. Xu found that he was smart, honest and honest, and could endure hardships. He introduced him to Peking University to listen in linguistics, and in his spare time, he copied and studied Luo Zhenyu's "Yinxu Shuqi qianbian". In 1923, he entered Peking University and studied oracle bone inscriptions.

Sun Yat sen University

In 1925, Dong Zuobin graduated from the Graduate School of Peking University with a master's degree in history. He taught in Fuzhou Union University and Henan Zhongzhou University. In 1927, he went to Guangzhou Sun Yat sen University to teach and became a close friend with Fu Sinian, acting president of the College of Arts. Later, he worked in the Institute of historical language founded by Fu Sinian. In 1928, huiwan taught in Nanyang middle school. In the summer vacation of the same year, he went to Anyang to investigate and found that local villagers excavated and sold oracle bones in Yin Ruins. He suggested to Fu Sinian that systematic excavation should be conducted by Academia Sinica. In October, Dong Zuobin excavated 784 pieces of oracle bones for the first time. Since then, he has participated in the excavation of Yin Ruins in Xiaotun village of Anyang for 15 times. He also took part in the excavation of chengziya in Shandong Province and discovered Longshan culture. He once taught at Zhongzhou University and Sun Yat sen University. After 1928, he went to the Institute of history and language, Academia Sinica. He was a researcher and a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.

researcher

In 1932, he was promoted to a research fellow at the Institute of historical language. In March, he published the research case of the oracle bone inscriptions era, which determined 10 criteria for identifying the Yin Dynasty characters on the oracle bone tablets. From 1928, Dong Zuobin took part in the excavation of Yin Ruins in Anyang to 1937, before the outbreak of the Anti Japanese War, he took part in the systematic excavation of Yin Ruins for many times. He also started a comprehensive and systematic study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and published a series of important papers and monographs. He was the first to put forward 10 standards for the chronology of oracle bones. He presided over the research on the chronology of the Yin Dynasty, the title of the former king, the surname of the Yin emperor, the location of the unearthed objects and tombs, foreign place names, the characters described in the inscriptions, the grammatical structure of the inscriptions, the ideographic standard of the inscriptions, and the writing form of the inscriptions. He made remarkable achievements and made him one of the most famous archaeologists in China at that time A generation of Oracle Bone masters. He edited and published the first edition of Yin Ruins. During the Anti Japanese War, he moved to Changsha, Guilin, Kunming and Nanxi with the Institute of history and language, and presided over the work of the Institute and continued to study the calendar of the Yin Dynasty. After 1931, he compiled and published the Yin calendar in oracle inscriptions. In 1945, he compiled and published the Yin calendar, which is known as a monumental work.

The first academician

In 1948, he was a researcher in the Institute of history and language of Academia Sinica, and was elected the first member of Academia Sinica in the same year. At the end of the same year, Dong Zuobin moved to Taiwan with a large number of cultural relics that had been accompanied by Academia Sinica and himself for many years, but could not bear to separate them. He was promoted to Professor of Chinese ancient literature and history at Taiwan University. He taught ancient literature for his Chinese department and Yin Shang history for his history department. In 1950, he and his friends founded the mainland magazine, and served as the director of the Institute of history and language of Academia Sinica. He also published the article "a study on the date of King Wu's attack on Zhou". After 1951, he compiled and published the chronicle of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the second edition of Yin Ruins. In August 1955, at the request of the University of Hong Kong, he went to the Institute of Oriental culture of the University of Hong Kong as a researcher, engaged in the compilation of the Chinese calendar, and served as honorary professor of the Department of history of the University of Hong Kong and professor of Chongji, Xinya and Zhuhai academies. Here, he completed the Chinese and English version of the Chinese Almanac.

After 1949, he came to Taiwan and served as professor of the school of liberal arts of the University of Taiwan, director of the Institute of history and language, and researcher of the Institute of Oriental culture of the University of Hong Kong.

Personal works

Dong Zuobin's academic papers are about 200 in total, covering many aspects of Shang Dynasty history besides oracle bone studies. There are Dong Zuobin's academic works and Pinglu Wencun published by Taipei World Book Company and Yiwen publishing house. In 1978, Mr. Dong Zuobin's complete works, 12 volumes in total, was published by the art and Literature Press. Dong Zuobin's calligraphy and seal cutting works are preserved in a volume of Pinglu seal.

Other works include: an attempt to sort out and study a ballad (1924), "Yin calendar seen in oracle inscriptions" (1931), "research examples of oracle bone inscriptions dating" (1933), "Yinxu script series a" (1937), "Yinli Pu" (1943), "Xizhou calendar spectrum" and "Yinxu script Series B" (1951), "general score of Chinese calendar" (1956), and "Chinese calendar" The age of ancient history (1957).

Main achievements

From 1928 to 1934, Dong Zuobin once presided over or participated in the excavation of Yin Ruins eight times, and then specialized in the study of oracle bone inscriptions. His two books, the first edition of Yin Ruins characters and the second edition of Yin Ruins characters, selected 13047 pieces of oracle bones with Chinese characters unearthed from the Yin Ruins 15 times before the Anti Japanese war. In 1931, he first proposed that the age of oracle bone inscriptions could be inferred from "Zhenren" in his article "textual research on the fourth edition of the big turtle". In 1933, he published the research example of oracle bone inscriptions dating, which comprehensively demonstrated the theory of Oracle Bone dating, determined 10 dating standards of oracle bone inscriptions, and divided the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed in Yin Ruins into five periods, which made the research of oracle bone inscriptions go to a new stage. He also discussed the annals of the Yin Dynasty according to the oracle bone materials, and wrote the annals of the Yin Dynasty. 　

Archaeology

From 1928 to 1934, he presided over or participated in the excavation of Yin Ruins eight times, and later specialized in the study of oracle bone inscriptions. His two books, Yinxu script a and Yinxu script B, selected 13047 pieces of oracle bones with Chinese characters unearthed from Yin Ruins 1-15 times before the Anti Japanese war. In 1931, he first proposed that the age of oracle bone inscriptions could be inferred from "Zhen Ren" (he called "Bu Wen Ren" Zhen ren).

Oracle

In addition to archaeology, Dong Zuobin has made outstanding contributions to the study of Chinese oracle bone inscriptions, and is well-known internationally. In the academic circles, he, Luo Zhenyu (Xuetang), Wang Guowei (Guantang) and Guo Moruo (dingtang) are collectively referred to as "four oracle bone inscriptions". His contributions to the study of oracle bones and the history of yin and Shang Dynasties are various, including: the discovery of the fourth edition of Dagui and Zhenren; the proposal of ten dating standards; the construction of Yin calendar, with the Yin calendar manual; the textual research and interpretation of Oracle Bone characters; the geographical speculation and system research of Yin Dynasty. By comparing some characters with Egyptian characters, he proved that oracle bone was not the beginning of character making, but had a more distant source, which not only influenced philology, but also opened up another way of ancient cultural research.

Chinese PinYin : Dong Zuo Bin