Chinese oracle bone inscriptions added to UNESCO world memory register

Director of the Palace Museum Shan Jixiang speaks at a press conference on the Chinese oracle bone inscriptions at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 26, 2017. Chinese oracle bone inscriptions were included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, Chinese authorities announced Tuesday. Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula or turtle plastron, which were used for divination during the late Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). They bear the earliest significant corpus of ancient Chinese writing and contain important historical information about the Shang. Around 160,000 pieces of oracle bone have been found so far, but of the 4,300 characters inscribed on them, only 1,600 have been decoded. [Photo/Xinhua]