he Museum of World Languages at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) held an exhibition on Bronze Inscriptions in cooperation with the China National Museum of Writing (NMCW), which will be open to the public until June 28.

"Bronze Inscriptions" is the general term for the script engraved or cast on bronze wares during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. This script is both the continuation and development of Oracle Bone Script, representing an early form of Chinese characters. The main content recorded in this script includes aspects of the society's politics, economy, military, and religion at the time, such as rituals, ceremonies, military campaigns, awards, admonitions, and prayers.

The exhibition displays five replicas of bronze artifacts with inscriptions, including a food container named "Fu", a bell, a spoon, a drinking vessel named "Jue", and a sword. Each exhibit is accompanied by a display card, allowing visitors to refer to the information of inscriptions if they cannot understand them.

"For example, the inscription on the sword was translated to 'I am the King of Yue, and I made this sword for my own use,'"said Kong Lingtao, deputy director of the Museum of World Languages.

To promote research of Bronze Inscriptions, a workshop was held at the site. There was a series of activities including full-shape rubbings of bronze artifacts, pitch-pot game, silk screen printing with bronze inscriptions, and painting on brick carvings of bronze patterns.

Some SISU's international students from Russia, Morocco, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea participated in these activities.

"The activities of this exhibition made me realize that the value of Bronze Inscriptions is not only a kind of writing, but also a work of art and important historical materials," said Baek Seungjun, a third-year Korean student.

This exhibition marks another collaboration between the Museum of World Languages at SISU and NMCW. At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Han Dianxiu, Director of SISU's Office of CPC Organization, stated the origins of the exhibition, tracing back to the agreement with NMCW on cooperation signed in September 2022.

"I hope that our students who are studying Chinese, whether international or Chinese students, will be willing to visit the exhibition," said Kong, "It can enhance our understanding of Bronze Inscriptions and contribute to the research of them. To promote and develop Chinese traditional culture, we must first understand it ourselves."

Bronze Inscriptions were used over 800 years from the Shang dynasty through to the Qin dynasty. The evolution of this script significantly advanced the art of calligraphy in China. It attests to the fact that the history of Chinese calligraphy art can be traced back to more than 3000 years ago.