Shang Jia
| Shang Jia 上甲 | |||||||||
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Shàngjiǎ 上甲 in Oracle bone script.[a] | |||||||||
| Leader of the Predynastic Shang | |||||||||
| Successor | Bao Yi | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Wang Hai | ||||||||
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| Shang Jia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 上甲(微) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "High I" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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)).
Family
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 and the father of Bao Yi.[2]: 229
Veneration by the Shang
According to the sinologist Li Feng, Shang Jia 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]
The rituals involving Shang Jia are extensive, with other 800 mentions across oracle bones.[7] One example details the Xingfang sending Qiang tribe members to be used as sacrifices for the Six Spirits, in which Shang Jia will always be mentioned first:
壬寅卜𬆩貞興方以羌用自上甲至下乙[8]
On the renyin day, plastromancy was performed. Diviner Nan charges: If the Xingfang bring Qiang people for use, should we use them in sacrifices from Shang Jia down to Xia Yi?
Even you 侑 sacrifices, which involve beckoning an ancestor to eat with the Shang, Shang Jia would receive extensive sacrifices:
貞來甲寅侑于上甲十牛[9]
Charge: On the coming jiayi day, should we perform a you sacrifice to Shang Jia of 10 oxen?
Posthumous accounts
According to the Bamboo Annals, Shang Jia's father Wang Hai was killed by Mianchen of the Youyi Tribe in the 12th year of Xie of Shang's reign. Shang Jia would go on to avenge him four years later, leading an army with the support of the river deity Hebo. Later, during the reign of Wu Ding, it is said that Wu Ding paid respects to Shang Jia with a bao 報 sacrifice in the 12th year of his reign.[10]
In Guoyu, Shang Jia is cited as having followed Xie's example during a speech by Zhan Qin (展禽), thus leading to his veneration. [11]
Legacy
In Confucianism
In the Kongcongzi, Duke Ding of Lu discusses the Book of Documents with Confucius. He brings up the Shang people venerating Shang Jia with bao 報 sacrifices, which Confucius describes as being given to those who are of the ancestral line but did not do enough to be considered a zu 祖 ancestor; this would preserve their innate power. The Duke asked if this would mean Duke Xi of Lu could or otherwise should be venerated in this way, but Confucius replies that while the Youyu-shi, Xia, and Shang did this, he did not know whether this would apply to Duke Xi.[12] This narrative notably contradicts the extensive veneration Shang Jia documented as occurring during the Late Shang period.
Notes
- ^ This character is not encoded, but can and is rendered as 㘡
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.
- ^ 上甲 in 先秦甲骨金文簡牘詞彙庫. https://inscription.asdc.sinica.edu.tw/c_index.php
- ^ 甲骨文合集00270正.1
- ^ 甲骨文合集01140正.2
- ^ Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). "帝泄". 竹書紀年 [Bamboo Annals] (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
十六年，殷侯微以河伯之師伐有易，殺其君綿臣。// 十二年，報祀上甲微。
- ^ Zuo, Qiuming. "魯語上". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 國語 [Discourses of the States] (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project.
上甲微，能帥契者也，商人報焉
- ^ Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). "論書". 孔叢子 [Kongcongzi] (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
《書》曰：「維高宗報上甲微。」定公問曰：「此何謂也？」孔子對曰：「此謂親盡廟毀，有功而不及祖，有德而不及宗。故於每歲之大嘗而報祭焉，所以昭其功德也。」公曰：「先君僖公、功德前行，可以與於報乎？」孔子曰：「丘聞：昔虞夏商周以帝王行此禮者，則有矣。自此以下，未之知也。」