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A Shang oracle text written by the Bīn group of diviners from period I, corresponding to the reign of King Wu Ding (c. 1250 BCE) [1]The Shang dynasty of China (c. 1600 - 1046 BCE), which adhered to a polytheistic religion centered around worshipping ancestors, structured itself into key religious roles with the king acting as head.
The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) historian Sima Qian, writing a millennium after the Shang's fall, wrote about their religion. Sima claimed that the Shang were marked by their utmost devotion to divination and sacrifices, and had decayed from the mark of piety into a state of superstition, which Burton Watson considered substantiated claims ...
Shang-era face masks made of bronze, c. 16th–14th centuries BC. Shang religious rituals featured divination and sacrifice. The degree to which shamanism was a central aspect of Shang religion is a subject of debate. [71] [72] There were six main recipients of sacrifice: [73] Di, the "High God", Natural forces, such as that of the sun and ...
Among Predynastic Shang rulers Shang Jia (1st generation) and the five other leaders including Bao Yi (2nd generation), Bao Bing (3rd generation), Bao Ding (4th generation), Zhu Ren (5th generation), and Zhu Gui (6th generation) were addressed the Six Spirits, the beings who dictated harvests, by the kings of the Shang dynasty who practiced a spiritual religion that includes veneration of ...
A turtle shell used for divination during the Shang dynasty. The form of early Chinese divination was pyro-osteomancy (or pyromancy), denoting burning animal bones to seek answers to human inquiries. [116] Oracle bone divination with scapulae and turtle shells was a source of state power for the late Shang dynasty (c. 1250 – 1046 BCE).
The Zhou dynasty overthrew the Shang around 1046 BC, vilifying the image of Di Xin as a reason of their taking of state control. [6] The new dynastic regime was influenced by the Shang religion and allowed direct descendants of the Shang royal family to continue ancestral veneration traditions in Song.
The religion of the Predynastic and Western Zhou was a complex set of religious beliefs and activities adhered to by the early Zhou dynasty in China (c. 13th century BCE – 771 BCE). Strongly influenced by the Shang dynasty's religion, it developed gradually throughout the Predynastic Zhou period and flourished during the Western Zhou period ...
The Shang identified various types of winds, each associated with a wind deity, as well as the phoenix. The winds, organized into four directions, were perceived as representatives of the Shang high god Di, carrying his cosmic will. In the Shang dynasty's perception, the winds possessed divine authority and were able to affect various royal ...