USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Culture
Home / Culture / Heritage

5,000-year-old carvings believed to be first-written Chinese

By Hou Liqiang | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2013-07-10 10:11

5,000-year-old carvings believed to be first-written Chinese

The carvings found in ruins in Pinghu, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Experts believe carved symbols found on stone implements and crockery in Zhejiang province date back more than 5,000 years, marking the oldest written Chinese language, Guangming Daily reported.

The carvings were found in ruins in Pinghu, Zhejiang province during 2003 to 2006. The archaeologists found more than 240 stone pieces with carved symbols in the archaeological excavations.

On Saturday, ancient writing experts from across China gathered to research the carvings, and they believed the symbols were Chinese.

The carved symbols are not isolated characters but form complete sentences, said Li Boqian, professor of the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University.

Before the finding, the oldest writings in China were believed to be the Jiaguwen, or "oracle bone script", which date back 3,600 years.

5,000-year-old carvings believed to be first-written Chinese

5,000-year-old carvings believed to be first-written Chinese

Heritage through lenses: Mountain Resort 

World cultural heritage site: Hongcun 

Previous 1 2 Next

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US