When it comes to the destruction of Chinese culture, in our impression, the first place is the book burning pit Confucianism. However, what is less known is that as early as 800 years before Qin Shi Huang, there was actually a cultural destruction in China, that is, the Duke of Zhou destroyed a culture that lasted for 3,000 years. What is even more outrageous is that Confucius definitely agreed with the behavior of the Duke of Zhou in destroying culture!
The question is: Qin Shi Huang burned books to punish Confucianism, thus carrying the name of a tyrant and being whipped by generations of Confucianists, but when the Duke of Zhou destroyed a cultural tradition, even mixed with countless Shang Dynasty texts, why was he praised by Confucius and became a Confucian saint?
Zhou Gongdan - Culture Destroyer?
After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou proposed to "respect virtue and protect the people" and formulated a system of etiquette, and the Shangshu recorded that "the Duke of Zhou lived for three years and made ceremonial music", so the Zhou Dynasty was a civilization of etiquette, which is recorded in detail in the "Rites of Zhou". After arriving in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, as the royal family's strength declined, this system could not be maintained, so there was a "collapse of etiquette and happiness" in the eyes of Confucius.
The Zhou people ruled the country with etiquette, so what did the Shang Dynasty govern? The history books only have a few words such as "Yin people respect God, lead the people to serve God", how the details are completely left without documents, let alone a complete set of documents handed down, but Zhou Gong once said that "only Yin ancestors, there are books and classics", there are more than 100,000 oracle bone scripts, merchant books must be a lot, it stands to reason that there should be relevant Shang Dynasty governing texts handed down, but the reality is basically not circulated, what is the reason? It is not difficult to conclude that it was destroyed by the Zhou people, and the Zhou Duke destroyed the old and established the new!
But the question is: the image of the Duke of Zhou outlined in the history books is not a destroyer of civilization, but more like a humble, benevolent, and tolerant old man. Modern archaeology and oracle bone research have solved the mystery, so it is no wonder that Confucians honor the Duke of Zhou as a "saint".
Forgotten History: Cruel Human Sacrifice!
The Shang Dynasty asked God for fortune to learn of Ji's fortune, and the oracle bone records were mainly the divination records of the Shang royal family. Through oracle bone interpretation, one of the cruel acts is renewed, which is human sacrifice (human sacrifice in the broad sense includes human martyrdom, this article refers to human sacrifice in the narrow sense)!
Modern archaeology has found that sporadic human sacrifices began to appear about 6,000 years ago, and later became more common, but they were not very popular in the early Shang Dynasty. Although there is no record in the history books, it can be seen that the phenomenon of Yinxu human sacrifice is extremely common, there are all levels and industries, and a complete set of fixed operating procedures has been developed, to the point of appalling and reaching the pinnacle!
First, the number of "human sacrifices" in the Shang Dynasty
According to oracle bone records, there were at least dozens of methods of sacrifice in the Shang Dynasty, most of which required the provision of "human animals" or "animal animals". According to modern scholars' statistics, only during the period of King Wuding of Shang, there were 1,006 human sacrifices, 9,021 sacrifices, and 531 uncounted people. Some scholars estimate that the total number of "human sacrifices" recorded in the oracle bone text alone is no less than 30,000 (some scholars believe that it is more than 100,000).
Modern archaeology has found that in the Yinxu King Mausoleum area, about 2,000 sacrificial pits dedicated by successive Shang kings have been discovered, and 1,400 have been excavated, with an average of ten "human animals" per pit. The various sacrificial pits outside the Wangling area have not yet been fully counted.
He Junqian's article "Population Recovery of Yinxu Cemetery and Speculation on the Population Size of Yinxu Capital" pointed out that the population was the largest in the fourth period of Yinxu (the time of Emperor Yi and King Cheng), but the average annual population may be more than 70,000 people, and the maximum will not exceed 140,000. Based on the previous extrapolation, the population of Yin Wu during the Wuding period should only be less, but the number of Wuding used for "human sacrifices" was nearly 10,000, how terrifying?
Of course, the "human sacrifices" may not be the people of Yindu, but more prisoners of war and slaves, but compared with the number of "human sacrifices" and the population of Yin, the general conclusion is enough to make people shudder. More importantly, the oracle bones found so far may not reflect all the human sacrifices of the Shang royal family, and the "human sacrifice" outside the Shang royal family is not included. Therefore, the total number of "human sacrifices" after the Shang Dynasty moved to Yin can only be shocking.
It should be noted that the "human sacrifices" may not be prisoners of war, slaves, or nobles. The circular sacrificial pit in Hougang in the era of King Shun contains a large number of sea shells (coins of the time) and bronze vessels, one of which records that King Shun gave sea shells to "Shuzi", so that "Shuzi" was cast to commemorate it. Scholars pointed out that the "human sacrifices" in the circular sacrificial pit in Hougang should be 78 members of the family of "Shuzi", located near the "Shuzizi" family house, or were used as human sacrifices for offending the king of Shuzi.
According to historical records, Ji Chang's father Ji Li was imprisoned by Wen Ding, and Ji Chang's son Bo Yi Kao seems to have been steamed to death. So, are they also used for human sacrifice?
Li Shuo, a young genius scholar, pointed out in "The Merchants": Merchants believe that the higher the level of human animals, the better the sacrificial effect, so merchants often capture foreign chiefs or uncles, and human sacrifices are not just ordinary prisoners of war or slaves. From this point of view, it is very likely that the Ji Li and Bo Yi Kao were used as human sacrifices.
Second, the Shang Dynasty disposed of "human sacrifices"
The disposal of "human sacrifices" is not a one-time killing, but a variety of means, presumably different methods for different rituals. Through the words on the oracle bones, we can get a glimpse of the leopard.
For example, "卯" is to split the human body from top to bottom, divide one into two, and then hang it to sacrifice to the gods; "俎" (zǔ) means chopping human animals into meat sauce, "烄" (jiāo) means putting human animals on fire and burning them, and "and" is cooking human animals........ In addition, there are live burials, submerged water, exposure (made into preserved meat) and so on.
The above-mentioned circular sacrificial pit in the back post shows that most of the bones in the pit are incomplete, especially the parts of the "human sacrifice" of children and infants, and it is more likely to be steamed, used for sacrifice, or eaten by the sacrificial person.
Li Shuo pointed out in "The Merchant of Talents": Some behaviors that deliberately do not directly kill "human sacrifices" may be because the merchants believe that the more miserable and loud the "human sacrifices" cry, the more they will be heard by heaven, and the better the sacrificial effect, of course, so that the main priests and onlookers can get "spiritual satisfaction" as if watching gladiators.
In contrast, the cannon burning punishments recorded in the history books are all pediatrics.
Normally, the Shang Dynasty human sacrifice is so developed, there must be relevant introduction texts, according to the inertia of history, this ritual will also be passed down, perhaps the future will slowly die, but in fact, there was no sacrifice in the Zhou Dynasty, and the history books of the Zhou Dynasty did not mention human sacrifice, how did the Zhou people forget this culture that passed down for three thousand years?
The reason is very simple, the human sacrifice passed down for three thousand years is too cruel, too wasteful of labor, and even the nobles dare not guarantee that they will not become "human sacrifices", so the Duke of Zhou destroyed them all, strictly prohibited this kind of human sacrifice, and deleted all documents to prevent the revival, and then formulated a ritual system and established a secular humanism, which is why there is almost no trace of human sacrifice in the various history books of the Zhou Dynasty! Of course, when banning the destruction of Shang Dynasty human sacrifice materials, it is inevitable that other documents will also be destroyed, but Zhou Gong's move is still more than excessive, allowing China to "worship ghosts and gods and stay away" from then on and enter the world of secular "people".
For this dusty past, the first to pursue and verify is probably Confucius, a descendant of businessmen, who said that "Zhou is because of Yin Li, the gains and losses can be known", indicating that he traced the truth, but did not reveal it, but continued the cause of Zhou Gong, such as he proposed "benevolence", "love others", "do not do unto others what you do not want", etc., and also criticized "the initiator has no descendants", and finally put forward the idea that is diametrically opposed to the human sacrifice of the Shang Dynasty!