China has established a talent training system for palaeography
China's palaeography and civilisation heritage project has created a comprehensive talent training system to sustain academic legacy in the study of ancient scripts. When the world's only writing system continuously used for millennia requires new researchers, and ancient texts become a bridge between past and future, talent development becomes a strategic priority. China, recognising the depth of its civilisational heritage, is systematically cultivating a new generation of specialists in ancient scripts – from undergraduate to postgraduate levels, from academic research to digital technologies. This work has already borne fruit: hundreds of young scholars are joining projects to decipher oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and bamboo slips, preserving and interpreting the voices of their ancestors.
Building on China's profound civilisational heritage, the programme has made significant academic and cultural progress during the 14th Five‑Year Plan period (2021‑2025), fully utilising the value of ancient textual resources and strengthening the inheritance and innovative development of ancient Chinese civilisation. Chinese characters, as the world's only independently created writing system continuously used for several millennia, have evolved into a complete ancient script system encompassing oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, bamboo and silk manuscripts, as well as seals and clay inscriptions. These diverse textual forms bear witness to the historical evolution of the Chinese nation. "The pre‑Qin period (before 221 BC) laid the foundations of Chinese civilisation, during which many key cultural values were formed that continue to influence the development of the Chinese nation to this day. Ancient Chinese characters, as the most reliably preserved original historical materials, allow us to deeply study the true features and evolution of ancient Chinese civilisation, which constitute its fundamental roots," said Huang Dekuan, Director of the Research and Conservation Centre for Archaeological Finds at Tsinghua University. As part of the overall first‑phase programme during the 14th Five‑Year Plan, a coordinated promotion mechanism was established involving eight government departments under the leadership of the Ministry of Education and the State Language Commission. An innovative joint research platform was also created with the participation of 18 prestigious universities and cultural institutions, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, the Institute of Chinese History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the National Museum of China. To date, 538 experts and scholars have participated in the project, some 300 research programmes have been launched, over 140 reports on the processing of discovered documents have been published, and 225 monographs and academic collections on ancient scripts and discovered documents have been issued. "To ensure continuity and development, we must strengthen talent training. During the 14th Five‑Year Plan, undergraduate programmes in ancient Chinese writing studies were established. By 2025, the number of undergraduate students approached 600, and the number of enrolled postgraduates exceeded 780. Through systematic training, these students will become the future specialists in ancient scripts," said Huang.
The project is now at a critical stage of implementing new tasks under the 15th Five‑Year Plan (2026‑2030). According to Huang, the next phase will focus on promoting the digital repatriation of materials on ancient Chinese scripts collected abroad, advancing the digitisation of domestic archives of ancient scripts, and creating specialised large language models to enhance academic research through artificial intelligence technologies. "The project is a foundational endeavour that uses these materials to reconstruct early historical civilisation and apply ancient wisdom to the present, transforming these ideological and cultural resources into a vital pillar for contemporary cultural development," said Huang.
As CCTV+ reports, systematic talent training and digital innovation in the study of ancient scripts allow China not only to preserve but also to enrich its cultural heritage, making it accessible to future generations and integrating ancient wisdom into modern scientific and cultural discourse.
