Government+and+Society

 Did Shang Dynasty Religion Serve as a Tool to Establish the Legitimacy of its Rulers? By Brett Strauss

The concept of a king deriving his power from divine forces or spirits is a common theme in complex societies. Rulers from societies all over the world and throughout history have claimed to have acquired their powers directly from god. This established their legitimacy as being irrefutable and granted them the power to rule without restraint. In European history, this philosophy is referred to as the “Divine Right of Kings” and was prominent throughout the middle ages. In the Far East, it became known as the “Mandate of Heaven”. The Mandate of Heaven granted kings the power to rule over numerous city-states as long as he did not abuse his power. If the king were to abuse his power, his mandate would be stripped from him and he would be overthrown. Although the Mandate of Heaven officially originated in the Zhou dynasty, its primary elements were already in place during the Shang dynasty. The Zhou used the Mandate of Heaven to “justify their conquest of Shang by claiming that symbols of the Shang kings’ power to reach the ancestor, especially through bronzes and oracle bones, were ineffective.” (Yoffee 2005:99). This essay examines the founding myths and beliefs of the Shang dynasty religion and how they influenced the authority of the government. Relatively little information is known about Shang dynasty religious beliefs and practices. This is primarily due to the fact that their traditions were passed down orally for generations, and only recorded in fragments after the development of writing circa 1200 BC. In addition, in approximately 1123 B.C. the Shang were overtaken by what would become the Zhou dynasty and their cultures became intertwined. When the Zhou dynasty collapsed in the fourth century BC, much of the Shang beliefs were lost in the chaos. However, many of their central myths parallel those of other ancient religions, such as those of Egypt and Persia. In both Shang and Egyptian myths of creation, the cosmos, the earth, and the sky are created by supernatural forces (Birrell 2000: 17). Also, the Shang myth concerning the creation of humans tells of how the goddess Nu Gua (Woman Gua) made humans from yellow clay (Birrell 2000:62) paralleling the Iranian myth of creation. Other universal themes present in Shang dynasty religion include divine warfare, cosmic destruction, and the rebirth of the world. The Shang, unlike other religions however, based many of their beliefs on human morality. The “Warrior Hero”, for instance, appears frequently in Shang mythology to save the world from catastrophe with his moral virtues. In one flood myth, for instance, the hero, Reptilian Pawprint, is chosen by Shun to control the flood waters. Through his laborious work digging trenches, Reptilian Pawprint manages to drain the water and save the world (Birrell 2000: 35). The “Failed Hero” is another important theme in Shang mythology as well. In a separate flood myth, for instance, the hero, Hugefish, is chosen to save the earth. The only choice he has is to use god’s magic soil, but first he must steal it from god. Hugefish is then executed for this offense and his body left to rot. Myths such as these illustrate the importance of moral virtues to the Shang people. According to Shang mythology, the first government was created at the rebirth of the world. In the myth, Yao, the first ideal ruler, grew old and passed the throne to the minister Shun. Shun then formed the first bureaucratic government based on moral values (a common concept in Chinese mythology). Shun gave the position of Superintendent of Flood Control Works to the warrior Reptilian Pawprint (Yu), who would later succeed Shun. Kui became the director of music. Breath (Xi) and Blend (He) regulated the agricultural calendar within the Board of Astronomy. Finally, Sovereign Millet was made the Minister of Agriculture. With the creation of the first government, so began the “Golden Age of Antiquity”, during which the government operated based on their perfect moral virtues (Birrell 2000:25). This myth illustrates the values Shang era civilization was founded upon and gives a glimpse into how their society operated. It’s obvious that myths such as these played an influential role in combining religious ceremonies with government responsibilities. Taking this into consideration, it’s not too far of a stretch to argue that these myths may have even been created with the purpose of establishing authority over the Shang people in mind. A central concept in the Shang government was that of the “Priestly King” (Birrell 2000:11). The king was endowed with the powers and responsibilities of not only a ruler, but also those of a high priest. Shang kings had many duties, including making divinations, conducting rituals in honor of ancestors, bestowing honors, and leading in battle. In total there were nine historically verifiable kings that ruled the Shang dynasty. The archaeological evidence found at Xibeigang in the mid 1930s supports this as well. In the Xibeigang region, northwest of Anyang, archaeologists unearthed the royal cemetery of the Shang kings, consisting of eight large tombs and one unfinished shaft (Thorp 2006:146). They concluded that the shaft is most likely an unfinished tomb for the last of the Shang kings, Di Xin, who died sometime during the collapse of the Shang dynasty. Unfortunately, there is still too little information available to assign each tomb to a particular ruler, but tomb M1001 is widely considered to be the tomb of the first Shang ruler, Wu Ding, since it is the oldest of the eight.

Divination, the process of making a prediction or gaining insight into a situation, was practiced frequently and almost exclusively by Shang rulers. The Shang used oracle bone inscriptions to consult their ancestors’ spirits on everything from births, deaths, warfare, and even how ceremonies should be conducted. Initially, priests would conduct divinations in cooperation with the king, but eventually only the king held the power and authority to practice this ritual. The Shang king alone was therefore responsible for communicating with ancestral spirits through divination to make predictions about what the future held. The majority of the inscriptions archaeologists have recovered show the Shang king seeking his ancestors’ approval. The archaeological evidence shows a progression in the types of responses obtained from the ancestral spirits as well. Later period inscriptions show that only positive responses came back, further cementing the king’s position as an infallible ruler.

The oracle bones used frequently for the practice of divination could be made from either turtle shells or the shoulder blades of large mammals. Hundreds of thousands of these bones have been recovered by archaeological expeditions as well as private treasure-hunters and looters. Before the Anyang excavations in the 1930s, oracle bones were referred to as “dragon bones” and used for medicinal purposes. A traditional Shang divination ritual, according to Robert Thorp, began with the preparation of these turtle shells or shoulder bones. The bones were carefully cut and hollowed in certain sections and then inscribed with the date, the name of the diviner, and in some instances, the place of divination (Keightley 1978:28). After the bones had been prepared, the message to the ancestors was inscribed. The bone was then scorched enough to produce cracks in the hollowed parts. Exactly how the Shang applied such intense heat to the bones is unknown since the tools used have not yet been discovered. The only clue archaeologists have is that it must have been an “intensely hot, round, hard object” (Keightley 1978:23). Keightley states that some theories suggest the diviner may have used a hardwood brand, a thorn brand, or clumps of flaming tinder to heat the bone, but no credible evidence exists to support these theories. After the cracks had formed, the diviner was responsible for deciphering the cracks and interpreting the reply from the ancestral spirits.

Numerous oracle bone inscriptions have been translated and give further insight into Shang society. According to the inscriptions, the “Shang royal cult” held society together (Thorp 2006:172). The king acquired his purpose, his authority, and his place in history from the royal cult. The cult was wide-ranging, and included all areas of society. The cult gave a person their status, and influenced their relationships with others. The process of simplification played a vital role in Shang society as well, as the place of the Shang people in the world was derived from the beliefs and practices of the cult.

The Shang world view was not unlike those of their contemporaries. Their most powerful god/spirit was known as “Di”. Di had the power to bring good fortune if it were pleased and bad if it became angered. Ancestral spirits remained the most common, and were only accessible to the king, for he was their living descendent. This was, as Robert Thorp describes, “…A powerful legitimating characteristic.” (Thorp 2006:183). Sacrifices were not uncommon in Shang society. The oracle bones recount many charges pertaining to sacrifice (Thorp 2006:187). Since the fortune of the Shang people depended upon pleasing the gods and ancestors, sacrifice was an important part of their lives. Shang rituals were analogous to a banquet or feast in which humans, cattle, sheep, and possessions were sacrificed. The Shang frequently sacrificed their prisoners of war (normally the Qiang, with whom the Shang constantly warred with) through violent methods such as cleaving, splitting, decapitating, and even burying alive. Archaeologists have discovered tombs in the Locus North region containing several headless and dismembered skeletons, evidence of sacrifice by decapitation and dismemberment. Death for Shang rulers acted as a kind of status promotion. When a ruler died, he became closer to his ancestors and his status was elevated to that of theirs. An ancestor to the Shang was much more powerful than any living king could ever be. The king’s supporters would even be sacrificed so as to follow their king after death. A ruler would be buried in his tomb with the bodies of his followers and his worldly possessions to take with him in death. This further exemplifies the power that Shang religion gave to its leaders as even after their death they retained the power to sacrifice a person’s life.

Sources:

Allan, Sarah 1991 The Shape of the Turtle Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Birrell, Anne 2000 Chinese Myths. Austin, TX: First University of Texas Press.

Encyclopedia Britannica Divine Right of Kings. Electronic document, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/166626/divine-right-of-kings, accessed April 21, 2009.

Encyclopedia Britannica Chinese Philosophy. Electronic document, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112694/Chinese-philosophy, accessed April 21, 2009.

Fowler, Jeaneane D. 2008 Chinese Religions: Beliefs and Practices. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.

Keightley, David N 1978 Sources of Shang History: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Thorp, Robert L 2006 China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization. Philidelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Yoffee, Norman 2005 Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.