Yang Shengnan (; 26 February 1938 – 4 May 2019) was a Chinese historian and

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

who specialized in the

oracle bone script Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or Turtle shell#Plastron, turtle plastrons used in pyromancy, pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millen ...

and the pre-

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

history of

ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

Biography

Yang was born on 26 February 1938 in Sanguanzhai Village,

Pingchang County Pingchang County is a county in the northeast of Sichuan province. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Bazhong. Its area is . The population is . Administration Pingchang has 16 towns and 11 villages. Towns: Jiangko ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, Republic of China. He entered the Department of History at

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a National university, national National Key Universities, key public university, public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is wholly funded by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic ...

in 1959. Upon graduation in 1964, Yang was assigned to work at the Pre-Qin History Research Group of the Institute of History of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

(now under the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

). He spent decades studying

oracle bones Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for the ...

, and participated in the comprehensive compilations of

under the eminent scholars

Guo Moruo Guo Moruo (; November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang (), was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. Biography Family history Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November ...

and

Hu Houxuan Hu Houxuan ( zh, 胡厚宣, 19111995) was a Chinese historian, chief editor and a contributor of the ''Jia gu wen he ji shi wen'' (甲骨文合集释文), the modern Chinese transcriptions of the most comprehensive collection of the oracle bone insc ...

. He was promoted to associate research professor in 1985 and full professor in 1993. He was also an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

Anyang Normal University Anyang Normal University (AYNU; "Anyang Teachers College") is a comprehensive general higher education school, now located in Anyang City, Henan Province, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in Eas ...

. From 1996, Yang directed a national key research project which resulted in the publication of ''A Century of Oracle Bone Studies''. The work won multiple national awards including the Guo Moruo History Prize and the First Prize of the Historical Research Award of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He served as head of the Historical Document Research Group of the

Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project () was a multi-disciplinary project commissioned by the People's Republic of China in 1996 to determine with accuracy the location and time frame of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The project was dir ...

. Yang wrote or co-authored dozens of books, including ''An Economic History of the Shang Dynasty'', ''History of the Political Systems of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods'', ''A General Economic History of China (Pre-Qin)''. In 2015, Yang donated more than 7,000 volumes of his book collection and manuscripts to the Jinsha Museum in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

. Yang died on 4 May 2019 in Beijing, at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Shengnan 1938 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Chinese historians 21st-century Chinese historians Chinese palaeographers Sichuan University alumni People from Bazhong Chinese Academy of Social Sciences