There is an interesting inscription on the tortoise abdominal shell newly unearthed from the Daxinzhuang site. It belongs to the same system as those from the Yin Ruins in the retouching of shells, the shape of circular and sub-elliptic hollows for divination, and the use of positive and negative versions of divining questions. The form and structure of the characters and the syntax of the inscription are especially close to those known from the Yin Ruins III and IV. But the present shell shows some local features in the extending direction of divining cracks and inscription lines, as well as in the position of ordinal numbers. As the first discovered oracular inscription beyond the Shang Zhengzhou city-site and the Yin Ruins, it can be taken to mark a new starting point in the history of studies of oracle-bones and to represent a new sub-branch of this discipline. Evidently there existed deep-rooted commonness between divination in the Shang royal capital and that in the eastern land. This suggests that cultural influence,exchange and penetration were swift and unimpeded at that time, and that the use of writing in the domain of the Shang Dynasty covered a vast region and effectively played a cohesive role.
