Introduction
The exceptionality of the advancement and development
of the global society within which we contemporaneously
survive and interact is something that is hard
to deny, especially when considering it in light
of the indelible degree to which technology has
appeared to collectively integrate itself.
This advancement, moreover, is something that
is especially apparent when considering it in
light of the contemporarily prevalent socio-cultural
and psychological trends and preconceptions, virtually
all of which sport predominantly stellar proportions
of evolutionary diversification. And it would,
furthermore, be relevant to acknowledge that this
developmental paradox is emphasized when comparatively
considering it in light of respective counterparts
from eras long gone.
Thesis: Brutality implied within an apparent
disregard for human life
Moreover, in spite of the various plains upon
which the evolutionary significance of these socio-psychological
features could be espoused; one of the most important
features currently appears to be a collective
adherence to ideological perspectives that highly
value all, tangible as well as intangible aspects
of human life.
Addressing the socio-cultural traits
of the Shang Dynasty
This notion, moreover, tends to be accentuated
quite strongly when considering it in light of
the fact that while such things as racism, stereotyping
and even cannibalism were accepted societal norms
within the eras within which they respectively
thrived; contemporary society views such practices
as abominations of the idea of modern, civilized
society.
The relevance of the perspective that has been
formed till this point in the paper is something
that is emphasized even more strongly when considering
it in the light of the various socio-cultural
beliefs and preconceptions hailing from the ancient
Chinese period of the Shang Dynasty, 1523 B.C.-1028
B.C. Representing the race or group of people
responsible for initiating the very first instance
of civilization within the region that later came
to be known as China, the Shang opted to settle
in the Huang He River Valley of North China because
of its arable land. It would be noteworthy to
here consider that this was reflective of the
Sumerians, another major civilization that settled
along the flood plain of major rivers.
Now it would be relevant to acknowledge that
the Shang were of a culture that had strongly
ingrained preconceptions regarding such esoteric
areas as spirits and the afterlife and the impacts
that these had on everyday life. Grave goods were
an essential part of the burial ritual as the
deceased was provided with the material necessities
to ensure a comfortable existence in the spirit
world. Funerary vessels that were typically made
with bronze were intricately decorated with elaborated
designs of animals and plants that were supposed
to be illustrative of the importance of the natural
world. Furthermore, the prime reason due to which
such relevance was given to the rites of death
and burial was that spirits represented an exceptionally
important part of Shang life. These supernatural
beings were ostensibly believed to be existent
in the mountains, rivers and seas, and the people
believed they had to please the spirits because
they might suffer in terms of the normal life
[get a poor harvest or lose a battle] in the case
of the spirits being unhappy (Gernet, 1968).
Human sacrifice within the Shang Dynasty:
features reasons & motivations
It would be of utmost importance to here consider
that the Shang idealized these spirits as being
comprised of the dead souls of their ancestors,
consequently bringing about the notion that one
of the first steps to take in order to appease
them was to ensure that they were given as grandiose
a funeral/burial as possible. In addition to this,
moreover, another crucial aspect of the Shang
belief in the instrumentality of sprits was that
they ascribed absolute relevance to the belief
that the king was the prime source via which such
well beings as fruitful harvests and wartime victories
could be accomplished.
This, moreover, was a belief born of the preconception
that the king could communicate with his ancestral
and spiritual forefathers who, in turn, could
communicate and intercede with Ti, the high-god
who was responsible for a prevalence of the characteristics
of Shang life. ‘Worship of the Shang ancestors,
therefore, provided powerful psychological and
ideological support for the political dominance
of the kings (Chang, 1980).’
Not surprisingly, the king was resultantly idealized
as the ultimate political as well socio-cultural
power within Shang culture; the link to the supernatural
gave the king exclusive license to conduct religious
rituals (Yap, Young & Cotterel, 1975). It
was, moreover, as a result of this uncharacteristic
relevance being ascribed to the king, that royalties
were buried with exceptional adherence to ceremonial
implementations. Funereal rituals that had only
involved material wealth being buried with the
corpse began to gradually involve objects of increasing
relevance to the dead in particular. Human sacrifices
became part of the death ritual, and its exceptionally
extreme cases, entailed the burial of aristocrats
along with their full entourage including wife,
servants, chariots, horses and riders (Allan,
1984).
It must be considered that the prime reason
due to which the Shang adhered to human sacrifice
was that they were strongly given to the belief
that people who in the natural realm continued
to live in another realm, one inhabited by the
spirits. Subsequently, they theorized that while
these ancestors exercised a relevant degree of
influence over the realm of the living, they needed
offerings of appeasement in order to bring about
favorable circumstances. Consequently, ‘offerings
of grains, wine, animals and humans were buried
with the dead in order to satisfy the hunger of
the ancestors’ (Ayers, 2004). And the relevance
of this is something that is emphasized quite
strongly when considering it in light of the fact
that at its most extreme, aristocrats were buried
with their full entourage including wife, servants,
chariots, horses and riders (Allan, 1984).
Conclusion (s)
It is quite apparent, thus
speaking and taking into consideration all that
has been said and discussed within the entirety
of the paper, that human sacrifice within the
Shang dynasty was a particularly socio-ideological
phenomenon. This is accentuated when considering
that the titular socio-cultural traits of the
[Shang] era seem to insinuate that human sacrifice
was something of a societal norm. That is to say
that the very idea of sacrificing humans appears
to have been contemplated as a socio-cultural,
religious conventionality of the times, this being
the reason due to which it appears to have flourished
to such an exceptional extent. Moreover, while
the popularly respective beliefs appear to hold
that most pre-dated races involved in human sacrifice
upon the pretext of soothing and appeasing the
gods and the spirits, this was not exactly the
case with the Shang, as has already been indicated.
While the tombs of royal ancestors were filled
with the bodies of human and animal victims along
with many ritual objects; a good deal of this
grisly paraphernalia typically found its way into
the tombs long after the actual burial ceremony
itself. This is since the Shang was uncharacteristically
given to the worship of their ancestors rather
than the gods. It would thus be conclusively appropriate
to acknowledge that Shang rulers sacrificed to
their ancestors more than they sacrificed to the
spirits. It is quite apparent, thus speaking,
that human sacrifice in the Shang dynasty was
practiced primarily as a form of ancestor worship
which, in turn, was seen as the most relevant
way to induce the goodwill of the spirits and
gods responsible for the conditions of everyday
life in the Shang dynasty.
Bibliography
1. Gernet, J. (1968). Ancient China from the
Beginnings to the Empire. Berkley: University
of California Press.
2. Chang, K. C., (1980). Shang Civilization.
New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 202
3. Yap, Young & Cotterel, A. (1975) The Early
Civilization of China. New York: G.P. Putnam Sons,
pp. 24-29
4. Allan, S. (1984) Drought, Human Sacrifice
and the Mandate of Heaven in a Lost Text from
the Shang Shu, BSOAS XLVII, pp. 523-535.
5. Ayers, S. A. (2004) Shang Bronzes: A Window
into Ancient Chinese Culture (1523 B.C.-1028 B.C.)
The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: Accessed
on 18 November, 2004 @ <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/3/98.03.01.x.html>.
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