1. Introduction

At the end of the 19th century, through the discovery of "Oracle-Bone Inscriptions" (jiǎgǔwén 甲骨文) in the suburb of the present city of Ānyáng 安陽, Hénán Province, there appeared unmistakable evidence of a late "Shāng Chinese" language (c. 13th–11th cents. BCE), predece…