Study on the Combined Calendar of the Zhou Sacrificial Rites in the Late Shang Dynasty

Author: Xu Fengxian
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The Zhou sacrifice refers to a ritual system that was practiced in certain phases of the late Shang Dynasty, established based on oracle bone inscriptions. According to this system, the Shang king performed five types of sacrifices for the ancestors and their consorts, with one sacrificial cycle approximately corresponding to a solar year. The study of Zhou sacrifice began in the 1930s, but previous research had never found a way to reasonably place Zhou sacrifice materials into historical chronology. This book uses calendrical calculations to determine the calendrical consistency of the Zhou sacrifice materials from the Huang group of oracle bone inscriptions and the inscriptions on late Shang bronze vessels, and then, based on the constraints of the calendar, derives the characteristics of the calendar for the corresponding periods, thereby proposing possible dates for the corresponding Zhou sacrifice systems. Therefore, this book theoretically solves the methodological problem of using Zhou sacrifice materials for chronological research. Through calendrical calculations, this book proposes possible dates for the Zhou sacrifice system of Emperor Xixin. Additionally, based on the traditionally recognized materials of the Zhou sacrifice system of Emperor Yidi, it proposes possible dates for Emperor Yidi's reign. By analyzing the calendrical issues of the traditional materials of Emperor Yidi and Emperor Wendi, the book attempts to re-group these two sets of materials and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional grouping method and the re-grouping method. This book also provides a comprehensive arrangement of the materials previously referred to as the "twenty sacrifices."