On November 2, Sichuan University Research Center for Ancient Writing and Pre-Qin History was established. The Center will focus on the two major directions of ancient writing and pre-Qin history, train talents, form academic teams, and start work related to major academic projects such as revising the Oracle Dictionary.

　　Ancient writing and pre-Qin history can be called the source of Chinese culture. Studying and exploring the source of these Chinese cultural genes will lay an academic foundation for cultural confidence and is of great significance. However, due to the difficulty in learning and the high research threshold, the academic research and personnel training of ancient writing and pre-Qin history in Sichuan are not particularly ideal for a period of time. In view of the retirement of leading figures, gap in talents and lack of successors of ancient writing and pre-Qin history research in Sichuan, the Center coordinated the re-employment of professor Peng Yushang, the academic leader, and recruited talents and postdocs from all over the country to form a basic research team with 6 teachers and 24 doctoral candidates.

　　Peng Bangben, Director of the Center and Professor of Sichuan University's School of History and Culture, said the Center will start to complete relevant major academic projects while training successor academic talents. The sorting and classification of oracle bone inscriptions, a key subject of National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social, is under way and is expected to be completed by 2021. Next year, efforts will be made to start the revision of Oracle Dictionary. Professor Peng Yushang, Chief Expert of the Center, said that over the past 30 years, many new achievements have been made in the field of oracle bone inscriptions, such as reading and dating by stages. Some of them have supplemented the deficiencies of the original research, while others have proved the original mistakes. It is urgent to supplement the new achievements and roll out a new oracle dictionary that can represent the current new level of academic research.

　　In the future, the Center will also undertake a number of key and general projects of the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social, including the compilation of the Complete Works of Xu Zhongshu, which has been listed as 2019-2020 key publishing planning project of Sichuan Province and will be published by Bashu Book Society in 2020.