The Origin of Book

书的起源

The earliest Chinese book was written a little before Confucius about

2500 years ago. The earliest writing, however, could be traced back to 6 000 years ago. The oracles¹ carved on bones of the Shang dynasty revealed a mature writing system of 4 500 words. The true form of the book was not born until bamboo pieces were used as the medium of writing around the time of Confucius. Pieces of the same length were strung together to serve as a bound book. Another medium of writing, a twin of bamboo, was silk, which was used very sparingly as it was much more costly². Paper as a medium of writing began before the Christian³ era. Earliest paper unearthed⁴ dates back to 2 200 years ago. By the second century A. D.，it had replaced bamboo and silk as the principal medium for writing.

中国最早的书可以追溯到孔子之前的2500年前。然而，最早的文字，可以追溯到6000年前。商代4500字的甲骨文揭示形成了一个成熟的文字系统。书的真正形成是孔子时代，毛竹片成为一种书写的媒介。相同长度的片串在一起，做成一本精装书。书写的另一种媒介是竹双，是蚕丝织物，这是非常谨慎使用的，因为非常昂贵。在前基督教时代，论文就已经是写作的媒介。最早的采掘的纸的可以追溯到2200年前。到了公元二世纪，它已经取代了简帛作为书写的主要媒介。