| A universal guide for China studiesChinese History - Shang Dynasty religion |
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Shang Dynasty 商代 (17th to 11th cent. BC) |  period before (Prehistory)next period (Zhou)  | |
| Map and Geography | ||
 |  An integral part of the Shang religion was the ancestor worship that became later the core of Confucianism and Chinese thinking. The bronze vessels and burial offerings show how the former people have been venerated. The king's ancestors and the former Lords were only a part of a rich world of gods and souls. The highest god was Di or Shangdi 上帝 who was especially responsible for natural powers like wind and rain. The Shang also believed in other natural gods like the Earth, the Yellow River, the god of Mount Song 嵩山/Henan and the Sun. The offerings to these spirits encluded food, wine, vessels, precious things and animals like dogs and horses that were killed especially for offerings. Shang thinking can not be divided divination. The use of bone divination was not only limited to the Shang period - as often is read, but was still in use during the early Zhou Dynasty. To divine, a hole was drilled in the scapula of an ox or in the plastron (breast shield) of a turtle. Exposing the bone to fire, it got cracks out of which the professional diviner or the king as a diviner read what to do in the next future. The divination's course and the result was written down on the bones before storing and burying them in big jars. The oracle bones were called jiagu 甲骨 "shield bones" by archeologists. Go back to the Shang Dynasty introduction page and learn more about Shang Dynasty economy, arts, literature, government... | |
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