Something Dead, Such As Health: The Yin Ruins Of The Late Shang Tombs Burial Concept

"Honoring the dead as the living" derives from The Rites. As a concept of funeral, it is not the pecularity of the Shang dynasty , which appeared in the primitive society and still exists nowadays, as one of the basic principles of funeral institution of China. Its expressions, characteristics and reasons always adapt to some social form and reflect the conditions of different historic periods. The civilization of Shang, especially Late Shang has been acknowledged by Chinese and international scholars. Being the center of Late Shang, archaeologists unearthed rich archaeological evidence in the Yin Ruins. Therefore, the study of the burial concept of Late Shang is significant and has firm material foundation. Based on rich archaeological material, combined with historical records and achievements of predecessors, this dissertation discusses the expressions ,characteristics and reasons of the study.This dissertation is composed of five sections. The first section is an introduction of the significance , methods of the study and the achievements of predecessors, on which my topic is based .In the second section ,the author analyzes the expressions of the burial concept of Late Shang, which is about clothing, eating, living and travelling closely related to people's life by the archaeological evidence. In the third section, the author summerizes the characteristics of the study, which is based on the previous analyses of the expressions. In the forth section, the author thoroughly analyzes the reasons of the study. The author sums up the main points of this dissertation in the final section.Through a comprehensive analysis, the author considers the burial concept of Late Shang_Honoring the dead as the living_ to be the arrangement of the ghosts' life according to the real life of the Late Shang society, which is suitable to the social development of Late Shang. The burial concept of Late Shang embodies itself mainly in clothing, eating, living and travelling, people arranges the life of ghosts based on the needs of the living and systematically manifests the conditions of the ghost before his death. Meanwhile, it characterizes what reflects the complex social classifications and advanced material civilization having vivid contemporary characteristics, because the graves of Yin Ruins are unearthed completely and systematically. As a burial concept, it bases itself on the concept of soul and on the advanced material civilization of Shang Dynasty.