The inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of Shang Dynasty are one language point that the foreign students who learn Mandarin should know about. It is a kind of the earliest characters we can see now. The inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells were mostly in Shang Dynasty, a little percentage of them was created in Zhou Dynasty. When you come to learn Mandarin in China, you should know the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells were regarded as the symbol of Shang Dynasty. There is no detailed information about the number of the inscriptions unearthed, about 100 thousand to 160 thousand pieces.

This kind of inscriptions is difficult to recognize for people now. The contents recorded in the inscriptions are rich. When you study Mandarin in China, teachers may tell you most of them are about the divination. Most of the inscriptions in Shang period were done by knives. However, it is possible that the writing brush may be the main writing instruments because students who learn Mandarin can see the characters 笔 was the shape that a hand holding writing brush. As a completed writing system, the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells are the most ancient characters in China.