RELG 253 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Tianxia, Son Of Heaven, Dong Zhongshu

• School: McGill University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELG 253
• Professor: Lisa M.Blake, Jingjing Li

Document Summary

Shang dynasty : 1600 bce - 1046 bce. Zhou dynasty : 1122 bce - 256 bce. Can be on a turtle shell (plastromancy) or (scapulimancy) scapular bone of a cow. A communication with the spirit world by reading the signs. Can be asked about marriage, harvest, war. Scrap the back of the bone and drill it. Write the question on the front side. Put a hot steel rod through one of the holes and it will cause the bone to crack. Question is written in a statement the cracks will say if its true or false. A good record of what was happening. Who is involved in oracle bone divination: Shaman diviner, person that performs it. Recorder record what happened, when the cracks were made, what the question was and what were the results. * beginning of chinese writing : ideograms look like what it does, not phonographs. E. g. elephant, which does not orient in china brought over by someone.