The drawing template of oracle bone script used to make latte art. (Photo provided to China Daily)
And he's been studying the art of oracle bone inscriptions for almost 20 years.
The inscriptions are like a camera on the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC), scrolling through society, politics, economics, culture and other aspects of life, says Chen.
"Besides their historical value, the pictographic characters allow us to connect with our ancestors. We can feel their wisdom and humor (through the characters)," says Chen.
An interdisciplinary expert in philology and design, he wants to reveal the characters' beauty to the public and give them a new lease of life in modern society.
Chen analyzed the characters' geometry and used modern design methods to digitize the ancient characters, and worked with the Hanyi Font Library, a font design firm.
In September 2017, the Hanyi Chen Style Oracle font was launched, becoming the world's first oracle-character font.
The library has 3,500 characters which are free to use, allowing users to create their own content using the ancient and vivid texts.
