A Survey of Cultural Relics Bearing the Scripts of China's Ethnic Minorities
This article by Shi Jinbo surveys cultural relics inscribed with Chinese ethnic minority scripts, an important but historically understudied component of China's cultural heritage. Recent collaboration between archaeologists and ethnologists has yielded significant discoveries and progress in identifying and researching these artifacts. Nearly 30 ancient minority scripts are examined, including Kharosthi, Tocharian, Sogdian, Khotanese, Tangut, Chagatai, Old Turkic, Khitan large/small scripts, Jurchen, Mongolian (Uyghur-style, 'Phags-pa, traditional, Todo), Manchu, Yi, Tibetan, Naxi Dongba, Geba, Dai, Bai, Zhuang square characters, and others, ranging from pictographic to ideographic and phonetic systems. The author classifies these scripts by origin into indigenous creations and those influenced by Chinese characters, Brahmi, Aramaic, or Arabic scripts, highlighting cross-cultural exchange. The relics themselves are categorized into four types: inscriptions on metal/stone, books, documents, and inscriptions/murals, underscoring their linguistic, historical, and cultural significance.
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