Zheng (diviner)
Zheng 爭 | |
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Oracle bone inscription written by Zheng, enquiring about whether disasters will occur over the next 10-day week. | |
| Born | c. 12th Century B.C. |
| Occupation | Shang dynasty diviner |
| Known for | Ritual contributions during the reigns of multiple rulers. |
| Zheng | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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爭 in oracle bone script | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 爭 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Zheng (爭) was a prominent diviner during the Shang dynasty, appearing in over 800 oracle bone inscriptions.[1] They are known to have served Wu Ding and Zu Geng during the Late Shang period.
Periodization
Zheng was a member of the bin 賓 group of diviners, marking Period 1 of oracular inscriptions.[2] Chen Mengjia notes that Zheng is among the most prolific of diviners,[3] which has served as a useful metric for dating oracular inscriptions.[4] For example, was one occasion where Zheng wrote with members of the Zi diviner group, which shows that his Bin group was contemporaneous with them.[5][6]
Role and Life
As a practitioner of the state faith of the Shang dynasty, Zheng would divinate on topics of importance to the ruler through a process known as scapulimancy, by burning a turtle plastron until cracks appeared, usually those of Mauremys sinensis.[7] Topics include matters such as war, illness, pregnancy, marriage, toothache, harvest, receiving protection, and much more.[8][9] The divination process itself involved consulting with Shang ancestors or deities for advice, input, and action on these topics.[8][10]
甲午卜爭貞翌乙未用羌用之日霧[11]
On the jiawu day, Zheng divinated. Test: On tomorrow's yiwei day, should we use the Qiang people? On that day, there was a fog.
Shang dynasty divinations during Zheng's period typically follow four stages:[12]
- Preface - Date, the act of recording the divination, and the diviner's name (甲午卜爭 On the Jiawu day, Zheng divinated).
- Charge - The question posed to the ancestor, beginning with 貞. The shell is then put under a flame until the plastron cracks.
- Prognostication - Usually performed by the ruler. They analyse the cracks on the shell and conclude whether there is an auspicious sign relating to the writing.
- Conclusion - An individual marks the shell verifying whether the charge came true or not.
While oracular inscriptions prominently mention Zheng, it is unknown whether they would inscribe on turtle shells themselves, or if a scribe did so for them as the divination was performed.[13] This can be seen through inconsistencies between writing styles on oracle bones with the same diviner.[14] Additionally, the metaphysical orientation that went into the divination process is unclear.[15] It is implied that oracle bone scribes would go to a place called a xue 學, based on two oracle bone inscriptions,[a] which use the word in a position consistent with nouns rather than the common verb sense "to study." However, this is uncertain due to limited evidence and syntactic ambiguity.[14]
Notes
- ^ HJ 8304 and HJ 16406
References
- ^ "先秦甲骨金文簡牘詞彙庫". inscription.asdc.sinica.edu.tw. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ^ Dong 董, Zuobin 作宾 (1933). 甲骨文斷代研究例.
- ^ Chen 陳, Mengjia 夢家 (1956). 殷墟卜辭綜述 (考古學專刊甲種第2號). 科學出版社. pp. 156–205.
- ^ Shaughnessy, Edward L (1982). "Recent Approaches to Oracle-Bone Periodization: A Review". Early China. 8: 1–13. doi:10.1017/S0362502800005411.
- ^ Takashima, Kenichi (2011). "Literacy to the South and East of Anyang". In Li, Feng; Prager Banner, David (eds.). Writing & literacy in early China: studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 142. ISBN 9780295991528.
- ^ 甲骨文合集 Heji 21784
- ^ Pankenier, David (2018). "A Chinese Mythos of Mantic Turtles, Yu the Great, Number, and Divination". Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. 79/80: 335–360.
- ^ a b Keightley, David N (2001). "The "Science" of the Ancestors: Divination, Curing, and Bronze-Casting in Late Shang China". Asia Major. 14 (2): 143–187.
- ^ Wu, Shu-hai (2012). "Alliance-building at the dawn of chinese civilization". Journal of Military and Strategic Studies. 14.
- ^ Fa, Li; Takashima, Kenichi (2022). "Sacrifice to the wind gods in late Shang China – religious, paleographic, linguistic and philological analyses: An integrated approach". Journal of Chinese Writing Systems. 6 (2). doi:10.1177/25138502211063232.
X爭貞：翌丙子其立(位)[中]，X。鳳丙子立中X；亡鳳(風)，易日X。
- ^ 甲骨文合集 Heji 00456正.1
- ^ Back, Yongsun (2017). "Who Answered the Shang Diviner?: The Nature of Shang Divination" (PDF). Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture. 27 (2).
- ^ Schwartz, Adam Craig (2020). "How to Read an Oracle Bone from Huayuanzhuang East Pit H3". Bulletin of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology (7): 39–90. ISSN 2310-9297.
- ^ a b Smith, Adam (2011). "Evidence for Scribal Training in Anyang". In Li, Feng; Prager Banner, David (eds.). Writing & literacy in early China: studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295991528.
- ^ Keightley, David N (1988). "Shang divination and metaphysics". Philosophy East and West. 38 (4): 367–397.