[MUSIC] We were discussing the deeply religious ethos of the Shang state, and how it may even be described as a theocracy. Now, the king was assisted by a special class of experts, the shamans, who specialize in communicating with the divine through esoteric techniques, such as spirit possession, the use of special drugs, and divination. Shamanism generally refers to a religious tradition, which sees the world as being created and ruled by spirits, who's presence and wishes are vital to human survival, and can only be deciphered by the expert shamans. Shamanism is an important part of ancient Chinese religion. Also, one early Chinese text, the Guoyu, or Discourses of the States, for example, has this to say about early Chinese religion. I quote, "Anciently, men and spirits did not intermingle. At that time there were certain persons who were perspicacious, single-minded, and reverential that they were able to penetrate and discern the deepest mysteries of the universe. And their insight is so profound that the spirits would descend into them, the possessors of such powers were called, if they were men, xi. And if they were women, wu, usually translated as shamaness. It is the shamans who supervised all the religious ceremonies including the kinds of offerings to be made, the positioning of the spirits, and the officiants at the ceremony, and so on. As a consequence, the spheres of the divine and the profane were kept distinct," as the text continues. "The spirits sent down blessings onto the people, and accepted from them their offerings." "There were," and this is important, "there were no natural calamities." Now what exactly did the shamans and the shamanesses do in ancient China? If you were the king, what would you have your shamans do? Perform ritual ceremonies, of course, make offerings to the Lord on High (Shang Di), and ancestors, and other deities. But then, there would be other questions as well. For example, when should sacrifices be made? If you were the king, would you not want to know whether the gods would accept my offerings and send blessings in return? Or you may want to ask, is today a good day to go hunting? Will harvest be good this year? Will this be a good marriage? So all these questions were very important to a culture that is deeply religious. Even today, I would suggest, traces of this kind of religiosity survive in Chinese communities all over the world. The shamans can provide answers to these questions through the practice of divination. Divination in the Shang dynasty was performed by shamans for the king. Fortunately, we still have archaeological records of this activity, and these records are the so called oracle bones. What this means is that Shang divination made use of animal bones, usually the shoulder blades of buffalo and cattle, and also turtle shells. First, these bones and shells would be treated and prepared in a special way. The process is very complex. But basically, the objects, the bones or shells would be cleaned, polished, and then a series of hollows would be made on this surface, like this. I wish I could show you the real thing, but I'm afraid we'll have to make due with a replica, handmade painstakingly by my able assistant, Mr. Jonathan Sim. Now the king would then address a question to the shaman diviner. For example, would it rain this month in time for planting? The shaman would then inscribe the question on the bone or shell, and apply heat to the hollows already made on the surface. Under heat, cracks would form along the surface, and the diviner would interpret these cracks to answer the king's question. You may be surprised to learn that this was quite a highly controlled process. Because of the way the bone or shell was treated, only a predictable number of types of cracks would form on the surface. So, the answer is actually not entirely arbitrary. Sometimes the answer would be inscribed on the bone or shell as well. In some cases, the answer would be verified in the light of subsequent events and inscribed on the bone. For example, it might say it rained. Typically then, an oracle bone inscription would consist of a preamble stating the date and the name of the person doing the divining. The king's charge would then be recorded next, followed by the answer, and sometimes by the verification, sort of like this. We still have several thousands of these oracle bones, which tell us quite a bit about Shang culture and religion. Later, as we will see, divination developed significantly in the Zhou dynasty, resulting in the system contained in the famous book, or classic of changes, the Yijing. At this point, it is enough to remember that divination ensures that there is no breakdown of communication between the sacred and the human. And for this reason, shamans occupied a crucial place in Shang society. One thing I would emphasize, however, is that all these religious beliefs and practices from the high god Di, ancestor worship, to shamanism and divination form a coherent whole in the Shang context. All of them are intimately related. And together, they provided stability to the Shang state. And more importantly, they provided the core values and a sense of identity to the Shang people. This begins the process of laying the foundation of the Chinese tradition. The Shang dynasty was eventually overthrown by the Zhou clan. Shang values and traditions, however, did not disappear. There were no doubt important changes. And certainly, new ideas came into being when the Zhou dynasty took over control of the country. But what is equally clear is that the Zhou, in many ways, inherited and continued some of the Shang traditions. Confucius later was to say that the Zhou built on the Shang, just as the Shang had built on the institutions of the earlier Xia dynasty. In this way, a culture, a distinct culture, began to emerge. [MUSIC]
