Scholars › Historian
Dong Zuobin
Oracle-bone scholar and archaeologist who led the first trial excavation at Yinxu in 1928, devised a ten-criterion scheme for dating oracle bones and wrote Yin lipu.
Mural of the event “Excavating Yinxu”, which this person took part in.
At the end of the Qing, inscribed bones from around Xiaotun in Anyang were recognised as Shang writing, and many were then dug up privately and scattered through the antiques trade. In 1928 the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica set out to excavate Yinxu by scientific method, and on 13 October Dong Zuobin opened the first trial excavation at Xiaotun. Li Ji then took charge, and by 1937 there had been fifteen seasons: the foundations of Shang palaces and temples at Xiaotun, Shang royal tombs at Xibeigang, and in 1936 pit YH127, which yielded more than 17,000 inscribed oracle-bone pieces.
Also known as Zi Yantang · Hao Pinglu
- Roles
- Historian
Dong Zuobin, originally named Zuoren, courtesy name Yantang and literary name Pinglu, was born at Nanyang in Henan in 1895. Sent by the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica, he led the first trial excavation of the Shang site at Xiaotun, Anyang, in 1928, and took part in the first seven seasons and the ninth. From the excavated oracle bones he wrote a study that sorted the inscriptions into five periods by ten criteria, including royal genealogy, diviners' names and pit location; in 1945 he published Yin lipu, a reconstruction of the Shang calendar. He is counted with Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei and Guo Moruo as one of the 'Four Halls' of oracle-bone studies. He died in Taipei in 1963.
Life and times
Dates 1895 CE–1963 CE
- 1928Excavating YinxuTook partage 33