On March 1, 2021, the Ministry of Education announced the results of the records and approval of undergraduate majors in ordinary colleges and universities in 2020. School of Archeology of Jilin University is listed as one of the 37 new undergraduate majors approved by the Ministry of Education in 2020, becoming China’s first approved undergraduate major in paleography and becoming a milestone in the training of Chinese paleographical professionals.
Paleographology has been an indispensable and important branch of archaeology for a long time.The Chinese civilization has a fine tradition of attaching importance to written records. The research objects of paleography mainly include oracle bone inscriptions, inscriptions on bronze, scripts on bamboo slips, and pottery inscriptions with seals, etc.The research scope covers the origin of the characters, down to the Likai period, covering the Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, and Qin and Han Dynasties.
In November 2019, the "Symposium to Commemorate the 120th Anniversary of the Discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions" was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "Oracle Bone Inscriptions are the earliest mature writing system discovered in China so far. It is the source of Chinese characters and the roots of Chinese traditional culture. It is worthy of cherishment and better inheritance and development.“ At the same time, he emphasized that "under the new situation, it is necessary to ensure that the research on ancient characters such as oracle bone inscriptions is studied and passed on."
It requires multi-disciplinary knowledge and abilities to conduct academic research and cultural promotion on the huge and rich written materials left from ancient times. Compared with other disciplines, paleographers have a longer growth cycle and require harder training. Insufficient research strength and shortage of professionals are the main problems in the development of this disciplines. Vigorously strengthening the discipline construction of paleography and the training of basic talents has become an urgent need for current cultural construction and social development. In the past, the teaching and training of paleography mainly relied on postgraduate education. The establishment of the undergraduate major of paleography in the School of Archaeology of Jilin University will further improve the paleography talent training system from undergraduate to postgraduate, fundamentally assist the development of higher education in paleography, and thus promote the inheritance and development of Chinese excellent traditional culture.
In the future, the School of Archaeology of Jilin University will gradually improve the "undergraduate-master-doctoral" talent training system for paleography based on the undergraduate major of ancient writing, so as to cultivate more outstanding talents for the study of paleography in China, and to better inherit excellent Chinese traditional culture.
