@Aya Shawn
Living in Singapore, professional investorJul 21
No, you are wrong
The Chinese in the Shang Dynasty did not like to record history
All the oracle bone documents discovered in the Shang Dynasty are divination records. It's just that these divination records record part of history from a certain perspective, but obviously this is not their purpose.

不,你错了
商朝的中国人不喜欢记录历史
商代发现的甲骨文全部都是占卜记载,这些占卜记载只不过是从某个角度记录了一部分历史,但显然这并不是它们的目的。

For example:
One oracle bone says: On a certain day (date), Fu Hao will attack the State of Ba in the east. Will she win?
This is actually a divination for the Shang king, wanting to know whether the female general Fu Hao will win the attack on the State of Ba on a certain day.
But this oracle inscxtion records a piece of history from the side: On a certain date, Fu Hao led the army to attack the State of Ba
In fact, almost all oracle bones are written in this way. You can't call it "recording history"
It took hundreds of years for the Chinese to really start to officially record history until the first real history book "Shangshu (Book of Documents/Shu King)" was born, which was already in the Zhou Dynasty (10th century BC), when the Shang Dynasty had already perished.


例如:
有一块甲骨文说:妇好将在某一天向东进攻巴国。她会赢吗?
这其实是给商王的一个占卜,想知道某年某月某日,女将军妇好能否在攻打巴国的战役中取得胜利。
但这篇卜辞却从侧面记载了一段历史:某年某月某日,妇好率领大军攻打巴国
事实上,几乎所有的甲骨文都是这样写的。你不能称之为“记录历史”
中国人用了几百年的时间才真正开始正式记录历史,直到第一部真正意义上的历史书《尚书》诞生,那时已经是周朝(公元前10世纪),商朝已经灭亡。

This book records the history of the Shang Dynasty and the history of the xia Dynasty before the Shang Dynasty. It should be compiled by historians at that time based on various scattered documents left over from the past. It is an important source of information for China's most famous history book "Records of the Grand Historian".
Despite this, China is still the best at recording history among all ancient civilizations. Since the birth of "Book of Documents", Confucian scholars have been keen on recording history. They believe that history can help rulers better understand society, learn lessons and understand how to better govern the country. History has also become a symbol of the continuation of power when Chinese dynasties change: if the new dynasty claims to be the successor of the empire, then you must respect the previous dynasty, take care of the previous emperor's tomb, respect the country's system and organize history for the previous dynasty.
Therefore, historical officials have always been a noble profession in ancient China, and only the most reputable scholars can serve. They will not even obey the emperor's instructions because they believe that history is very serious and cannot be tampered with.

此书记载了商朝的历史和商朝之前夏朝的历史,应是当时史学家根据历代遗留的各种零散文献整理而成,是中国最著名的史书《史记》的重要资料来源。
尽管如此,中国仍然是所有古代文明中最善于记录历史的国家。自《尚书》诞生以来,儒家学者就热衷于记录历史。他们认为历史可以帮助统治者更好地了解社会,吸取教训,了解如何更好地治理国家。历史也成为中国王朝更替时权力延续的象征:如果新王朝自称是帝国的继承者,那么就必须尊重前朝,照顾好前任皇帝的陵墓,尊重国家的制度,为前朝整理历史。
所以史官在中国古代一直是一个高贵的职业,只有最有声望的学者才能担任,他们甚至不会听从皇帝的吩咐,因为他们认为历史非常严肃,不容篡改。

By the way, here I want to mention a word "history"
In English, its root can be divided into Hi and story. There is a certain hint here that history is a non-serious topic, which is often confused with stories, legends, and myths. It is a synonym for epic.
But in China, this word is pronounced as "Lishi',The roots are Li and Shi, which represent 'time' and 'log'. So in the Chinese context, history is a serious science, and they pursue accuracy and precision.
This leads to different attitudes of Chinese and Western civilizations towards history.
Thousands of years later, the Chinese have a clear and serious historical archive, and their archive is like a big tree. Thousands of historical books of different levels record the events of every year and every day from various angles. They even formed a chain effect: it is meaningless to tamper with one of them.
The Sumerians, Egyptians and Indians left almost no such archives. Their history can only be found from cultural relics, stone tablets, legends and incomplete scxtures.

对了,这里我想提一下“历史”这个词
在英语中,它的词根可以分为Hi和story 。这里有一定的暗示,历史是一个非严肃的话题,经常与故事、传说、神话相混淆。它是史诗(epic)的近义词。
但在中国,这个词的发音为“Lishi”,词根是“Li历”和“Shi史” ,代表“时间”和“日志”。所以在中国语境中,历史是一门严肃的科学,追求准确和精确。
这就导致中西方文明对待历史的态度不同。
几千年后,中国人有了清晰、严肃的历史档案,他们的档案就像一棵大树,成千上万本不同层次的史书从各个角度记录着每一年、每一天发生的事情,甚至形成了区块链效应:篡改其中任何一本都是没有意义的。
苏美尔人、埃及人和印度人几乎没有留下这样的档案,他们的历史只能从文物、石碑、传说和残缺的经文中寻找。