Qualified Xianbi of enjoying human sacrifice in oracle inscriptions of Shang Dynasty

Abstract

Human sacrifice in the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC) refers to the practice of killing of human beings in rituals such as slaves, war prisoners as offerings to divine patrons and ancestors. The reason for this is the worship of the ancestors and the sacrifice of slaves to the gods to expand the ranks of their ancestors in another world. This paper aims to demonstrate that the Shang culture was based on human sacrifice to the wife of a king of Shang called Female Ancestors(xianbi 先妣) and the focus of this article is qualified xianbi of enjoying sacrifice in oracle inscriptions of Shang Dynasty. This research shows that xianbi had a quite high status in Shang dynasty, they enjoyed the same species of human sacrifices and animals with male ancestors(xianwang 先王). These results are evidence showing that the status of men and women were equal in the royal system of Shang Dynasty.