Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-68ccn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T07:15:30.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reports from the Shang: A Corroboration and Some Speculation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

David N. Keightley
David N. Keightley*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Scholars trained in Taiwan tend to read the oracle-bone crack notation as shang chi, “highly auspicious”; scholars in the People's Republic read the same graphs as erh kao,“two reports.” In the first part of this article, a reexamination of the evidence, which was significantly assisted by Ho Hou-hsüan's presence at Berkeley, leads me to conclude that, contrary to what I wrote in Sources of Shang History, erh kao is the correct reading. The second part of the article considers the possible meaning of various kao crack notations, how certain strategic period II inscriptions might be punctuated and translated, and how we can explain the disappearance of kao and the appearance of chi, “auspicious,” as a crack notation in period III and later; some account of the discussions at the Berkeley “Workshop on Divination and Portent Interpretation in China” is provided. Finally, I suggest that kao, “report,” may have referred to the sounds produced by the cracking, but it is clear that we need to know more about the technical aspects of crack production. The comments of five scholars on the hypotheses proposed are given at the end of the article, together with my reply.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
Early China , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , 1985 , pp. 20 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1983 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Kiyoshi, Akatsuka 1977 Chūqoku kodai no shūkyō to bunka--In ōchō no saishi Tokyo.Google Scholar
Biot, Edouard, tr. 1969 Le Tcheou-li ou rites des Tcheou. 3 vols. Paris, 1851. Reprint, Taipei.Google Scholar
Kuang-yüan, Chang 1982 “Late-Shang Divination: An Experimental Reconstruction of Methods of Preparation, Use and Inscription of Oracle-Bone Materials.” International Conference on Shang Civilization, East-West Center, Hawaii, 7–11 09 1982.Google Scholar
Ping-ch'üan, Chang 1952, “Shuo chi ” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 23.2:621–637.Google Scholar
Ping-ch'üan, Chang 1954 “Yin-hsū pu-kuei chih pu-chao chi ch'i yu-kuan wen-ti ” Kuo-li chung-yanq yen-chiu yüan yüan-k'an 1:213–247.Google Scholar
Ping-ch'üan, Chang 1967 "Chia-ku-wen ti fa-hsien yü ku-pu hsi kuan ti k-ao-cheng Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 37.2:827–879.Google Scholar
Tsung-tung, Chang 1970 Der Kult der Shanq-Dynastie im Spiegel der Orakel inschriften: Eine palaögraphische studie zur Religion im archaischen China. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Ya-ch'u, Chang and Yü, Liu, 1981 “Ts'ung Shang Chou pa kua shu-tzu fu-hao t'an shih-fa ti chi-ke wen-t'i .” K'ao-ku 2:155–163, 154. [An English translation appears in Early China 7 (1981-82):46-54.]Google Scholar
CKWP Chung-kuo k'e-hsüeh-yüan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-so Chia-ku wen-pien . Peking, 1965.Google Scholar
Couvreur, Séraphin, tr. 1951 Tch'ouen ts'iou et Tso tchouan: La Chronique de la principauté de Lou. 3 vols. Ho-kien-fou, 1914. Reprint, Paris.Google Scholar
CWP Keng, Jung . Chi-wen-pien . Peking, 1959.Google Scholar
Hou-hsüan, Hu 1944 “Shih ssu .” In Chia-ku-hsüeh Shang-shih lun-ts'ung ch'u-chi . Ch'eng-tu.Google Scholar
Hou-hsüan, Hu 1956 “Shih Yin-tai ch'iu nien yü ssu-fang ho ssu-fang feng ti chi-ssu .” Fu-tan hsüeh-pao 1956.1:49–86.Google Scholar
Hsü, Hu 1782–1787 “Pu-fa hsiang-k'ao.” In Ch'in-tinq ssu-k'u ch'dan-shu tzu-pu 7.Google Scholar
P'ei-jung, Huang 1969 “Chia-wen ‘pu X X’ yi-tz'u ti chien-t'ao .” Chunq-kuo wen-tzu 32.Google Scholar
Tsung-yi, Jao 1961 “Yu pu-chao chi-shu t'ui-chiu Yin-jen tui-yü shu ti kuan-nien--kuei-pu hsiang-shu lun .” Chung-yang yen-chiu-yüan li-shih yü-yen yen-chiu-so wai pien 4.2:949–982.Google Scholar
Heng, Kao 1976 Chou Yi ku-ching chin-chu . [Peking, 1947.] In Wu ch'iu pei-chai Yi-ching chi-ch'eng , edited by Ling-feng, Yen , vol, 109. Taipei.Google Scholar
Kargren, Bernhard 1950 The Book of Odes. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Kargren, Bernhard 1965 “Loan Characters in Pre-Han Texts.” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 37:1–136.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1974 “The Sources of Shang History.” Manuscript.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1978 Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1978a “How the Cracks Were Read: The Existence of the Subcharge.” Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Toronto. 12 04.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1982 “Was the Chou Yi a Legacy of Shang?” Paper presented to the panel, “Early Chinese Divination: The Yijinq and Its Context.” 24th Annual Meeting, Association for Asian Studies, Chicago. 3 04.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1983 “The Late Shang State: When, Where, and What?” In The Origins of Chinese Civilization, edited by Keightley, David N., pp. 523–564. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Keightley, David N. 1984 “Late Shang Divination: The Magico-Religious Legacy.” In Explorations in Early Chinese Cosmology, edited by Kosemont, Henry Jr, Journal. American Academy of Religion Studies 50.2:11–34.Google Scholar
Legge, James, tr. 1899 The I Ching. In The Sacred Books of the East, edited by Müller, F. Max. Vol. 16. Oxford.Google Scholar
Ching-ch'ih, Li 1981 Chou-yi t'ung-yi . Peking.Google Scholar
Hsiaoting, Li 1965 Chia-ku wen-tzu chi-shih . 8 vols. Nankang, Taiwan.Google Scholar
Hsüeh-ch'in, Li 1957 “p'ing Ch'en Meng-chia Yin-hsü pu-tz'u tsung-shu .” K'ao-ku hsüeh-pao . 1957.3:119–130.Google Scholar
Hsüeh-ch'in, Li 1980 “Kuan yü Tui tsu pu-tz'u ti yi-hsieh wen-t'i .” Ku-wen-tzu yen-chiu 3:32–42.Google Scholar
Sheng, Lin 1964 “Yün-nan Yung-sheng hsien Yi-tsu (T'a-lu jen) ‘yang ku pu’ ti tiao-ch'a ho yen-chiu .” K'ao-ku 1964.2:98–102.Google Scholar
Nivison, David S. 1977 “Royal Intercession in Curing Illness.” Typescript. 02.Google Scholar
Nivison, David S. 1982 “The ‘Question’ Question.” International Conference on Shang Civilization. East-West Center, Hawaii. 7-11 09 1982.Google Scholar
Kunio], S[hima 1971 Inkyo bokuji sōrui . 2d rev. ed. Tokyo.Google Scholar
Serruys, Paul L-M 1970–1971 “The Function and Meaning of yün in Shih Chinq.” Monumenta Serica 29:264–337.Google Scholar
Shaughnessy, Edward L. 1983 “The Composition of the Zhouyi.” Ph.D. dissertation. Stanford University.Google Scholar
chu-shu, Shih-san-ching Shih-san-ching chu-shu . 14 vols. Taipei, 1965. (Facsimile of the 1815 edition).Google Scholar
Vernant, J-P. 1967 “Parole et signes muets.” In Divination et Rationalité, edited by Vernant, O.P. et al., pp. 9–25. Paris.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, Richard and Baynes, Cary F. 1967 The I Ching or Book of Changes. The Richard Wilhelm Translation Rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Bollingen Series 19. Princeton.Google Scholar
Minoru, Yagimoto 1966 “Kiboku zakkō: shu to shite shunjū jidai ni okeru .” Niigata daiqaku kyōiku qakubu kiyō 9:31–40.Google Scholar
Yi-p'ing, Yen 1978 Chia-ku-hsüeh . 2 vols. Taipei.Google Scholar