Writing Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===China=== {{Further|Oracle bone script|Bronzeware script}} The earliest surviving examples of writing in China—inscriptions on so-called "[[oracle bone]]s", tortoise [[plastron]]s and ox [[scapula]]e used for divination—date from around 1200 BC in the [[Late Shang]] period. A small number of bronze inscriptions from the same period have also survived.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Cambridge History of Ancient China | editor1-first = Michael | editor1-last = Loewe | editor2-first = Edward L. | editor2-last = Shaughnessy | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-521-47030-8 | first = William | last = Boltz | chapter = Language and Writing | pages = 74–123 | title-link = The Cambridge History of Ancient China }}</ref> In 2003, archaeologists reported discoveries of [[Jiahu symbols|isolated tortoise-shell carvings]] dating back to the 7th millennium BC, but whether or not these symbols are related to the characters of the later oracle-bone script is disputed.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Archaeologists Rewrite History |journal=China Daily |date=12 June 2003 |access-date=4 January 2012 |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |archive-date=26 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026123513/http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Earliest writing' found in China |first=Paul |last=Rincon |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm |quote=Signs carved into 8,600-year-old tortoise shells found in China may be the earliest written words, say archaeologists |work=BBC News |date=17 April 2003 |access-date=4 January 2012 |archive-date=20 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320140538/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page