Inscribed oracle bones, 12th century BCE

Chinese is the oldest continuously used form of writing in the world. The oldest form of the writing is found on oracle bones such as those depicted here: in the first case, the characters as inscribed on a scapula, in the second on a tortoise plastron. Both date from the late Shang dynasty, c. 1200 BCE. Four further examples are held in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; and rich collections (together with useful introductions) can be found in the British Library and the Cambridge University Library.  

The brief video below (9:18) provides a somewhat breathless and hyperactive overview of  The Invention of Writing, Paper and Print in China, which can serve as a brief introduction to the following material on this topic.

Credit: Howard Hotson (April 2019)