A Glimpse of China’s Earliest Decision-Making
The Meaning of Zhēn 貞 ‘Test’ in the Huāyuánzhuāng East Oracular Inscriptions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22240282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Adam Craig Schwartz (0000-0002-8441-6657, Hong Kong Baptist University), Adam Schwartz (0000-0002-3525-0689, Hong Kong Baptist University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-35 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Old World Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2667-0755 • E-ISSN: 2667-0755 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/26670755-01010012 |
| OpenAlex | W4226458018 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 2 |
Statistics drawn from the Shāng oracle bone inscriptions discovered in Pit H3 at Huāyuánzhuāng East challenge an assumption that all divination statements, or ‘charges’ mìng cí 命辭, be classified as zhēn cí 貞辭, and question an inflexible practice that systematically reads the prefatory word zhēn 貞 ‘test (the correctness of)’ into a divination account when it is absent. The restricted use of zhēn in this unified corpus of inscriptions implies that it had a particular and focused application in the process of decision-making. The Huāyuánzhuāng East inscriptions thus reveal a complex divination matrix that exemplifies the development of royal divination as an institution at Ānyáng more widely
Algorithm · Art · Correctness · Divination · Epistemology · Literature · Oracle · Programming language · Chinese history and philosophy · Classics · Computer Science · History · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |