Shang Dynasty Inscribed On Hunting

Hunting inscriptions are an important part of Shang oracle bones inscriptions. Byanalyzing these materials, not only could we know the routinely hunting places ofShang kings and nobilities, their favorite dates for hunting, the organization ofhunting activities, the prediction of tripping good or ill fortune, the equipment andmeans for hunting, but also could speculate the climate and environment of Shangtime, and the nature of Shang nobilities’ hunting activities through discussing theanimals appearing in “charge” mingci,命辞and “verification” yanci,验辞.There were more than10types of wild animals appearing in hunting inscriptions,including tiger, rhinoceros, deer, David’s deer, elephant, roebuck, wild pig, swallow,fish, etc. If taking the samples of wild animals excavated from archaeological sitesinto account, there would be more wild-animal species in Shang dynasty. Based onthese historical materials and the modern geographical distribution of these animals,we find out that large and medium scale animals were the main quarries of Shangkings and nobilities. Among these quarries, wild buffalos, David’s deer, and roebuckare all water-preferred animals, usually resting in swamps full of water and plants.Even the tigers, wild pigs and elephants usually reside near water environment.Through the living environment of these animals, we can obtain a deep understandthat the central plains of China had a warmer and humid climate in Shang dynasty.These typical animals now living in subtropical zones, and the natural environmentfull of lakes, marshes, rivers and streams in central plain China in Shang dynasty,provide us the necessary material to study the climate of Shang dynasty. Combinedthe materials of recording month and rain in agricultural inscriptions and huntinginscriptions, we conclude that the first month of Shang dynasty is tantamount to ourApril in solar calendar, around Guwu in lunar calendar.This thesis is limited to study the early inscriptions. According to Dr. HuangTianshu’s division system, the author divide early inscriptions into two large groups,and then subdivide them into9small groups. The first large group is King’sinscriptions, including Shi-group and Bin-group. The second large group is non-king’sinscriptions, including Hua-dong Zi-group, Jia-type non-king-group, Yi-typenon-king-group, round-type non-king-group and sloppy-type non-king-group. Whendiscussing the types of inscriptions, the author does not subdivide Shi-group andBin-group, but only subdivide the non-king inscriptions into several groups, for themain subject of this thesis are hunting activities. In order to reflect different huntingplaces in different groups, we divide Bin-group into three sub-groups whendeciphering hunting place names in early hunting inscriptions, not using thetraditional way to classify these names by geographical location. The contrast showsthat in earlier times, the choice of hunting places was more haphazard, while in latertimes, the choice was much more fixed. The hunting places in Shi-group seldomappeared in later inscriptions. The hunting places in late inscriptions like Gong, Sang,Yu, Xiang, etc., began to appear in Bin-Yi-group and Dian-Bin-group. The mostimportant hunting places in later inscriptions almost all appeared in Bin-san-group.By contrasting the hunting places among different groups, we find that the hunting places of Shang kings has a certain coincidence with that of the nobilities,although the scripts of these place names may have slight difference. After excludingthe possibility that Shang kings invited or ordered the nobilities to hunt together, weconclude that in Wu ding’s period, the nobilities also had the right to hunt in the kings’hunting places. At the same time, we have to agree that the fixed hunting parks similarwith that in the Eastern Zhou period had appeared in Shang time.This thesis also discusses the relationship between-sacrifice and hunting, andconcludes that the time of-sacrifice is quite arbitrary, not restricted before or afterhunting. The ancestors are the main objects of-sacrifice. The most importantfeature of-sacrifice is that it uses animals captured during hunting to sacrifice. Theanimal sacrificial pits in Jia-group house-foundation and kings’ tombs in Xi bei gangare all remains of-sacrifice.This thesis asserts that, hunting had a military significance in Shang dynasty, andwas a way to give the nobles and civilians military training. The training programincluded: the use of chariots and horses, infantry attack formation, training archers,and so on. Hunting had no necessary links with the development of agricultural lands,but it certainly would eliminate some harmful animals that threated crops.This thesis also asserts that, the main purpose of hunting was for the nobles’entertainment. Large hunting activities would be held in agricultural slack seasonevery year. Hunting activity had some help for agricultural production, but it wasunreal that a region would become into agricultural area after hunting activities.