Reflections of Ancient Wisdom

This photography series transforms the Oracle Bone Script, the oldest Chinese writing, into a visual language. Each image captures the ancient wisdom of early civilizations, inviting viewers to reflect on humanity's timeless connection with nature through

Reflections of Ancient Wisdom
Oracle Bone Script, the Divinatory Language of Ancient Times

As the "earliest Chinese characters," oracle bone inscriptions are an important source for us to explore the information of ancient society. Most of the contents of oracle bone inscriptions are records of divination by the royal family of the Yin and Shang dynasties, written on tortoise shells or ox bones. In the Shang Dynasty, most people were superstitious about ghosts and gods, and they would ask questions about both big and small matters, such as hunting, fighting, sacrifice, and other events that required consultation. Therefore, the contents of oracle bone inscriptions provide insight into the life of the Shang people and the historical development of the Shang Dynasty.

Although the oracle bone inscriptions are closely related to divination and are seen as mysterious by the world, it is not difficult to find that such ancient writing represents the concentration of ancient people's wisdom and is a record of humanity's early social life, accumulated through their observation of nature and experience of social living.

Ancient people were closer to nature than we are today. They used oracle bone inscriptions to record and display the natural and humanistic aspects of society as they perceived them. This time, I aim to interpret the meaning of these characters by imitating and displaying some oracle bone inscriptions through photography.

This project demonstrates the unique function of oracle bone inscriptions as a medium connecting ancient people with nature. It returns to the inscriptions' original essence, reproducing the perspective of people observing the natural world at that time. Four representative characters are selected for this project: Pu, Ting, Ling, and Guang, meaning universal, listen, order, and light.