The earliest characters once existed in China areJiaguwen carved on tortoise shells or animal bones,mainly during the Shang Dynasty. In 1899，theinscriptions of the Shang Dynasty's Jiaguwen weredetected in Anyang of Henan Province which was thecapital in the late Shang Dynasty. So far, altogether more than 100,000 pieces of tortoise shellsand animal bones have been unearthed from Anyang;about 4,500 Chinese characters have beenfound on the tortoise shells and animal bones, among which 1,700 have been confirmed.Theseare very important materials for us to research into the origin of Chinese characters. In thepast, people generally considered Jiaguwen of the Shang Dynasty as the earliest Chinesecharacters. But in 1980s, some other tortoise shells and animal bones carved with characterswere found in the suburb of Xi'an. Archaeologists made sure that these characters were about4,000 years ago, even earlier than Jiaguwen.
參考翻譯：
中國最早的文字主要是商朝時期刻在龜殼或獸骨上的甲骨文(Jiaguwen)。1899年，商朝的甲骨文碑文(inscriptions)在商朝晚期的都城河南安陽被發(fā)現(xiàn)。迄今為止，安陽共出土了10萬多個龜殼和獸骨;龜殼和獸骨上發(fā)現(xiàn)的漢字約有4500個，其中1700個已得到確認(rèn)。這為我們研究漢字起源提供了重要素材。過去，人們普遍認(rèn)為商朝的甲骨文是最早的漢字。但是，20世紀(jì)80年代在西安郊區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些刻有文字的龜殼和獸骨?？脊艑W(xué)家證實(shí)這些漢字約產(chǎn)生于4000多年以前，比甲骨文還早。
參考翻譯：
中國最早的文字主要是商朝時期刻在龜殼或獸骨上的甲骨文(Jiaguwen)。1899年，商朝的甲骨文碑文(inscriptions)在商朝晚期的都城河南安陽被發(fā)現(xiàn)。迄今為止，安陽共出土了10萬多個龜殼和獸骨;龜殼和獸骨上發(fā)現(xiàn)的漢字約有4500個，其中1700個已得到確認(rèn)。這為我們研究漢字起源提供了重要素材。過去，人們普遍認(rèn)為商朝的甲骨文是最早的漢字。但是，20世紀(jì)80年代在西安郊區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些刻有文字的龜殼和獸骨?？脊艑W(xué)家證實(shí)這些漢字約產(chǎn)生于4000多年以前，比甲骨文還早。