Introduction to the Magical Oracle Bones aka China’s version of Divination.

Version 1: Imagine one of your fellow students has missed Thursday’s class: how would you explain to them what this topic or text is?

Hello fellow classmate. In Thursday’s class, we talked about Oracle Bones. We used our knowledge from our homework to further our learning. We learned that they were used in Shang Dynasty China. We learned they were made by finding a stick and whittling it down, then create the cracks. From these cracks, certain people (i.e. priests) could read the bones to tell the future. The predictions normally came from the ancestors or even higher up deities. The surface area of the bone or shell would have traditional Chinese characters (or something like that) written around the cracks to show what they thought the crack meant. The difference between the ancestors and the deities are that ancestors are more willing to bargain (this could be anything, even human sacrifice). We also discussed how it is a scam, similar to the lottery number fish, but it gave Chinese rulers hope for their land and for the continuing of a lineage.

Version 2: How would you explain what this topic or text is to somebody who is not in this course at all? (For instance: your roommate, or a good friend from your FYS.)

Oracle Bones were used by Shang Dynasty China which started in 1600 BCE. Oracles Bones foretold predictions from the future that the interpreters (normally priests or people delegated to the role) would get from the ancestors or deities. Ancestors are people who have died and now watch over the living and deities are gods. Ancestors can be bargained with to change the predictions, but it is much harder to do with deities. Chinese people used Oracles Bones to tell weather/crop predictions, pregnancy, etc. The bones were usually found in tombs of famous rulers. The bones were made smooth and then intense heat was applied to it to make it crack. From there, the cracks were read and Chinese characters were written with what it meant and sometimes if it came true. An example of a divination is “Divined: “There is a sick tooth; it is not Father Yi who is harming (it/him)”” This shows that the ancestors are not harming the ruler. Oracle Bones are very interesting because it showed how much the Chinese trusted the ancestors even if that meant human sacrifice.

Keightley, David. “Chapter 1: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of the Late Shang Dynasty”. In Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, edited by W. deBary et al. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1999.