Religion of the Shang dynasty

The state religion of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC), the second royal dynasty of China, involved trained practitioners communicating with deities, including deceased ancestors and nature spirits. These deities formed a pantheon headed by the high god Di. Methods of communication with spirits included divinations written on oracle bones and sacrifice of living beings. Much of what is known about Shang religion has been discovered through archaeological work at Yinxu – the site of Yin, the Late Shang capital – as well as earlier sites. At Yinxu, inscriptions on oracle bones and ritual bronze vessels have been excavated. The earliest attested inscriptions were made c. 1250 BC, during the reign of king Wu Ding – though the attested script is fully mature, and is believed to have emerged centuries earlier.

Religion played an important role in Shang life and economy. Aside from divination and sacrifices, the Shang also practised burials, posthumous naming, and possibly shamanism, with facilitation from ritual art and ritual constructions. The royal adherents constantly worshipped the deities through those ceremonies, the scheduling of which was facilitated by Shang astronomers via the invention of a sophisticated calendar system based on a 60-day cycle. Regional estates maintained independent practitioners but worshipped the same deities for common purposes. Those acts of worship, which were formalised over time, were held for divine fortune along with prosperity of the late Shang state.

Originally derived from prehistoric Chinese religions, many aspects of the Shang religion first appeared during the Early Shang, developing gradually throughout the Middle and Late periods. After 1046 BC, the Zhou dynasty, which conquered the Shang, continued to assimilate elements of Shang religion into its own traditions. Elements of Shang beliefs and practices were integrated into later Chinese culture, with some even having legacies reflected in the traditions of countries within the Sinosphere. Various traditional texts of the Zhou and later Imperial dynasties make references to Shang beliefs and rituals, albeit with considerable differences from the actual religion.