Shang Jia
| Shang Jia 上甲 | |||||||||
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Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ 上甲 (Supreme Ancestor) | |||||||||
| Leader of the Predynastic Shang | |||||||||
| Successor | Bao Yi (报乙) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Wang Hai (王亥) | ||||||||
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| Shang Jia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 上甲(微) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "High I" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Part of a series on |
| Religion of the Shang dynasty |
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Shang Jia (Chinese: 上甲), also known as Shang Jia Wei (Chinese: 上甲微), is one of the 14 predynastic Shang Kings cited in Records of the Grand Historian. He was worshipped by the Shang kings as a sun deity and one of the Six Spirits (六示 (lìushì)).
History
According to the Shang family tree, Shang Jia was a pre-dynastic ancestor of the Shang.[1] He is listed in Records of the Grand Historian as one of the 14 Predynastic Shang kings, being the son of Wang Hai (王亥) and the father of Bao Yi (报乙).[2]: 229
Shang Jia cult
According to the sinologist Li Feng, he was probably important for the Shang's rise to power, as he was the "first pre-dynastic ancestor to whom the late Shang kings made frequent sacrificial offerings".[1] He was the first of the Shang descendants to be named after one of the 10 Heavenly Stems, symbolizing the day of the week he was worshipped.[3] The cult of Shang Jia grew on the year si (ਘ), and all the kings claimed to be his direct ancestor.[4] He was the spirit of the sun[5] and deemed to be very powerful, as he was one of the oldest descendants of the kings. Sacrifices for him were made for wars and harvests.[6]
References
- ^ a b Feng, Li (2013). Early China: A Social and Cultural History (PDF). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-521-71981-0.
- ^ Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Early China. Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-932837-6.
- ^ Allan, Sarah (1981). "Sons of suns: myth and totemism in early China". Bulletin of SOAS (2). Cambridge University Press: 290–326. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00138984.
- ^ Goldin, Paul R. (2017). "Some Shang Antecedents of Later Chinese Ideology and Culture". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 137 (1). American Oriental Society: 121–127. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.137.1.0121. JSTOR 10.7817/jameroriesoci.137.1.0121.
- ^ Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth (2018). "Urban daemons of early Shang: Urbanism in ancient China". Archaeological Research in Asia. 14. Elsevier: 135–150. doi:10.1016/j.ara.2016.08.001.
- ^ Youngsun, Back (2017). "Who Answered the Shang Diviner?: The Nature of Shang Divination" (PDF). Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture. 27. Sungkyunkwan University.