At a showcase and briefing on new oracle bone inscription research outcomes held in Anyang, Henan Province, on September 29, it was announced that Anyang Normal University is compiling an English-Chinese dictionary of oracle bone inscriptions to fill a void in reference works in this field and boost the global reach of oracle bone studies. The briefing also rolled out a slate of the latest advances spanning oracle bone character decipherment, AI-powered digitalization, digital repatriation of overseas oracle bone artifacts, academic textual verification, and creative popularization of the ancient script, ushering in a new era of smart digital research on ancient Chinese writing.
Liu Yongge, director of the Key Laboratory of Oracle Bone Inscription Information Processing under the Ministry of Education at Anyang Normal University, said the Chinese-English Dictionary of Oracle Bone Studies, led by the university, is now in development. The reference work is slated to include more than 800 terms related to oracle bone research and inscribed characters. Entries will feature definitions in both Chinese and English, alongside contextual examples and their translations, making it the world's first bilingual reference volume dedicated to oracle bone terminology.
Beyond the dictionary project, the university will release an AI-powered oracle bone fragment reassembly dataset, continue upgrading Yinqi Xingzhi—the world's first AI agent for oracle bone studies—and expand its character library. It will also revamp and promote the popular "Oracle Bone Inscription Calisthenics."
The institution is pushing forward an initiative for the digital repatriation of oracle bones scattered worldwide. Teams have traveled to South Korea, France, Germany, and other nations to capture high-resolution imagery of these relics. As of July 2026, high-quality digital records for 950 inscribed oracle bone fragments held overseas have been completed, bringing these dispersed artifacts back to their homeland in digital form.
Its program for digital research on oracle bones has also been named among the International Telecommunication Union's AI for Good Global Innovator Cases. It stands as the only ancient writing project on the list, marking international recognition of the digital research achievements on oracle bone inscriptions.
Reported by Liu Rui (Henan)
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