作者日前終撰《殷契釋親》一書之稿本，並經訂約交由上海古籍出版社在近期內印行，該書含內文一十五章、附錄、書目、索引等約共60餘萬字；本文即其導言部分。《殷契釋親》一書之副題為《論商代的親屬稱謂及親屬組織制度》，係集作者自本世紀以來，以及作者於20世紀70－80年代所撰寫的、一系列有關商代的親屬稱謂和親屬組織制度的研究報告，經改寫而成書的。在本導言中，作者簡述了親屬制度研究的內涵、方向，以及《殷契釋親》一書的研究範疇兼及全書各章的內容大要。作者並指出了作者在商代親屬制度詮釋上的五項突破，和七項在制度上創新的發見。由於傳世之釋親文獻，其時代大都以周為上限，而《殷契釋親》一書以商代的甲金文本為研究的史料、史材，所以作者乃以〈中國古代親屬研究更上一層樓的構建〉作為導言之題，以彰顯《殷契釋親》一書特質之所在。

Recently the author had finished the book "An Interpretation of Kinsman on the Yin Inscriptions" in manuscript and gave it to Shanghai Classics Press for publication. This book with its 15 chapters inside and an appendix, an index amounts to about 650,000 Chinese words. Subtitled "On the Kinship Terminology and Kinship Organizations of the Shang Dynasty", the book is a collection of rewritten papers of the author's work on Shang kinship systems from 1970's till now. This present article is the book's Introduction. Here the author discusses the scopes, the thesis of this book and the major issues of each and every chapter. The author also points out his five breakthroughs and seven new findings on the field of ancient Chinese kinship studies. Because the traditional source materials on ancient Chinese kinship system are upper limited with the Chou times, and because the present book's works are based upon excavated Shang oracle and bronze inscriptions, the author thus uses "Constructing a Higher Level for the Studies of Ancient Chinese Kinship" to name the present article and to highlight the achievements of the author's new book.