近日，一组甲骨文表情包成为“斗图圈”的新宠。甲骨文字体与“神马”“大神”“有木有”等等网络流行词相结合，使这些古老的文字符号有了浓浓的时代气息。“活”起来的甲骨文表情包，不仅为传统文化符号穿上了“新装”，同时对于创新传承中华民族的优秀文化，有着不可估量的促进作用。

Chen Nan, the leader of a Tsinghua University designer team, has reinterpreted ancient Chinese hieroglyphs with computer technology and geometric aesthetics. The team created a set of young and lively online vocabulary emojis, which are widely used among young people on social media.

In Chen's mind, the oracle scripts should advance with the times. He always thinks that Chinese characters are the cultural genes of the nation and the constant promise of the Chinese culture.

Giving ancient scripts modern flavor

This pack of oracle script emojis is called "oracle with expression". Its main body is a number of anthropomorphic characters, designed with the standard font of "Han Yi Chen Body Oracle" launched in 2017. The whole set of emojis is like a set of multicolored, cute oracle dynamic literacy cards. With mini-animation and popular online vocabulary, the meaning of each oracle word clearly appears in front of people. It is convenient for readers to read and write.

Just as emojis were created to represent ideas, this is an idea that has come full circle from the oracle scripts of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). What the ancestors turned into a symbol on a tortoise shell, modern mobile users now give them a flavor of the times.

Many oracle researchers just stay in the ancient context to study ancient times. However, Chen is different from most of other researchers: Turning oracle scripts into interesting emojis has made it even more likely for today's people to learn oracle scripts.

Finding the value of Chinese characters beyond practical use

In fact, the design idea of Chen can be traced back to 1999 when he met Nobel Prize winner Tsung-Dao Lee. Lee and the Central Academy of Arts and Design (now Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts) jointly launched the "art and science" academic movement.

At that time, Chen assumed the responsibility for the overall design of an exhibition in the academic movement. During the preparations for the event, he planned to create a digital traditional Chinese cultural symbol system for the exhibition. He was thinking whether he could reinterpret ancient Chinese hieroglyphs with computer technology and mathematical aesthetics. As the earliest matured Chinese characters, oracle scripts became his first choice.

In the past, font design is mainly about word design or the design of a practical font used for reading. Now it is to create a set of operating methods to promote the font culture as well as the various themes from which it is derived via means of basic combination, coloring and storytelling etc.

Earlier during the Spring Festival of 2011, the Lunar New Year postcard "Oracle auspicious idioms" written by Chen was officially released by China Post.

In 2013, he designed the oracle drawing template. He hoped that the public, especially children, could use this stainless steel hollow template to create stylistic drawings with Chinese characters.

Generally speaking, Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn by foreigners. Chen and his team make ancient characters more interesting and easier to learn, which may possibly attract more and more people to learn Chinese.