| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 中國文學研究所 === 101 === The oracle inscriptions imply the authentic history of the Shang Dynasty available nowadays. Most of them functioned as divination in spite of their rich contents. Although Shang people practiced divinations on various issues, these divinations might represent only a part of the history of the Shang Dynasty. Besides, the messages revealed from the oracle inscriptions were fragmental and sporadic. Nevertheless, by contextualizing these messages, we can still demonstrate the history of the Shang Dynasty to a certain degree.
The investigation of this dissertation concentrates on the subject of war. In this regard, the materials during the reigning periods of Wu Ding, Zu Geng, and Zu Jia contain the most abundant information of wars in the Shang Dynasty. This situation confines the scope of this dissertation to the groups categorized according to the names of augurs, including the Bin group, the Li group, and the Chu group. The three groups overlapped with one another, and the dating of the Li group is problematic. Therefore, this dissertation also tries to dig up the information regarding the dating of the Li group from the investigation of the subject of war.
This dissertation aims at defining the geographical sphere of the Shang dynasty. Firstly, it examines the distinction between states and feudatories. States were relatively independent from the Shang Emperors, while feudatories were territories to where the power of the Shang Emperors was able to reach. Secondly, this dissertation sorts out associated states and feudatories mentioned in the Bin and Chu groups according to the geographical blocks. In addition to the author’s understandings and arguments, this part also collects and analyzes previous research findings regarding the characters of words, the political geography, and the conjunctions of oracle inscriptions in the discussion of the states and feudatories.
Chapter four compares the states and the feudatories mentioned in the Li group. On the one hand, it reveals the overlap of the names of many states. On the other hand, we can infer indirectly that those states with different names actually refer to the same one according to the analysis of words and political geography. This chapter concludes that the Li group belonged to the early period of the Shang dynasty.
After a clear definition of states and the feudatories, chapter five correlates the figures in the wars. It divides the history into three periods, namely, from the early to the middle periods of Wu Ding, from the middle and the late periods of Wu Ding, and from the late era of Wu Ding to Zu Geng and Zu Jia. This chapter points out that Que, Zhi Fa, and Bi were the main figures in respective period, and thereby correlates them to their associated states and feudatories. It demonstrates that wars in the early and middle periods of Wu Ding were mostly towards feudatories, while the wars in the latter two periods were mostly towards states. This exactly manifests the trend of “firstly maintaining domestic peace and then resisting foreign invasion.” It also indirectly proves “the resurgence of Wu Ding” recorded in ancient literature.
Chapter six discusses relevant consecrations through the oracle inscriptions on wars. There were four verbs regarding consecration, namely “proclaim, pray, beseech, and libate.” Among these verbs, “proclaim” was the most commonly used one, while the verb “burn” could only be treated as one that deals with the sacrifices. Nevertheless, we can infer that the Shang people still used animal sacrifices for military consecrations from the verb “burn.” What is worth noticing is that the oracle inscriptions about wars usually omitted the verb “burn.” In addition, the receivers of consecrations in the oracle inscriptions about wars demonstrated specific preference. Most of the receivers were the emperors with strong military forces in the Shang Dynasty, such as Shang Jia, Da Yi, Da Jia, Zu Yi, and Wu Ding. This chapter also discusses the sentence pattern of “X is blessed by Y,” and argues that it implies praying for blessings from the god of the enemy.
Chapter seven collects and analyzes relevant verbs in the oracle inscriptions about wars. It starts with the term of “someone attacks” and elaborates on examples of the sentence that adopted the term. This chapter then unfolds with different kinds of verbs according to the proceedings of war. More specifically, it unfolds with command verbs, followed by recruitment and organization verbs, and then reconnaissance and report verbs. These verbs represented the prelude of war. it subsequently proceeds with the verbs containing the meanings of intention, campaign, defense, and pursuit and attack. The verbs containing the meaning of annihilation represented the end of war. Furthermore, there were verbs about capture and giving prisoners in the aftermath of the war. In this chapter, the author will elaborate on these verbs one by one and then adopt or propose a specific explanation.
Chapter eight collates the military rituals mentioned in the Bin, Li, and Chu groups, and thereby sorts out the etiquette of war at that time. These rituals include the selection and designation of officers, military training, and carrying the god. These rituals indeed existed in the Shang Dynasty even though they might not appear in every war at that time. This chapter demonstrates the scenes of military affairs in the Shang Dynasty by collecting and synthesizing the afore-mentioned rituals.
To sum up, we are able to grasp the proceeding of wars and political geography in the Shang Dynasty through the investigation of this dissertation. This dissertation also demonstrates the ambitious expansion of the Shang people towards the east and the southeast, as well as their resistance against the states from the northwest. This indicates a strong military force of the Shang Dynasty. The Emperor Wu Ding was indispensible to the creation of a powerful nation at that time. He was in power for a long time and showed great resolution in resurgence. He stabilized the feudatories and conquered foreign states, and thereby spread out the Shang culture to a vast territory.
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