Decoding 3,000-year-old inscriptions on bones

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese experts have published three books on the ancient script, working with more than 70,000 oracle bones. Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is working with public and private collectors around the country to compile details of another 10,000 pieces by cleaning, photographing and making copies of the originals for further research.

Guo says a digital database will be built in the hope that big data and cloud platforms can help to decipher the characters.

Song Zhenhao, who is with the CASS, says the study of oracle bones has been comprehensive and delicate, and is moving with the times. "Protection was put into place first and it covers every oracle bone," he says.

While some experts strive to decipher the over 3,000-year-old mysteries hidden in the script, others are trying to make them more popular with younger Chinese.

Yang Junhui from the National Museum of Chinese Writing has organized more than 800 classes on Chinese characters for children, which have been attended by around 30,000 families.

"We teach them pictographic characters and their evolution so that they become interested in learning more about our written language," says Yang.