Calendar and Geography of Shang Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions

The discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins also provides the most reliable first-hand information for the study of Shang calendar, and there have been many achievements in this field for decades. Li Yinpu was published in Yin Shi, Sichuan in 1945. It is a masterpiece of Dong Zuobin's research on the calendar method of the Yin Dynasty and the sacrificial spectrum of the Zhou Dynasty in 12. In the first volume of this book, it is suggested that businessmen use dry branches to mark the days, which has continued to this day without interruption; Shang month is a lunar month, and there are big and small months (falling on the 29th and big on the 30th). After 14 or 16, the two big months are connected. He thought that the year of the lunar calendar was adopted at that time, so there was a setting method for leap months, which was 65,438+09,7. According to his views on the difference between the old school and the new school, it is pointed out that the old school (such as Wu Ding) set up a leap at the end of the year (65,438+03) and the new school (such as Zujia) set up a leap in the middle of the year. In the third volume, he also discussed the eclipse of the sun and the moon seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, trying to prove that there were four divisions in ancient times and the ugly system in the first month. Chen's summary of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins further affirmed some statements made by Dong Shi, and revised them at the same time, thinking that leap at the end of the year or leap in the middle of the year is a parallel (with Zujia) in a period. However, Chen criticized Dong Shi's statement that the calendar of Yin Dynasty was divided into four parts and ugly in the first month was "completely wrong". The History of Astronomical Literature in China, published in 198 1 year and written by astronomical historians, affirmed Dong and Chen's views on the combination of Yin and Yang and the size of the moon, affirmed Dong Shi's view that the calendar of main branches and branches has never stopped since Yin Dynasty, affirmed the leap at the end of the year, but denied the possibility of leap in the middle of Yin Dynasty [142] The Yin Dynasty was dominated by the lunar calendar, and scholars who ruled Oracle Bone Inscriptions, such as Dong Zuobin, used to think it was the northern day. Both the previous paper "History of Chinese Astronomy" and the paper published by Zhang Peiyu in 1984 [143] think that the appearance of the new moon should be the first time. Japanese scholar Guo Neiqing put forward the same view in 1957 [144]. However, Textual Research on the First Month of Li Yin published by Shi Feng 1990 [145] still holds that the first month of the Yin people is the first day of the new moon, because the relatively sparse new moon can still be obtained through observation. It can be seen that the debate on this issue will continue in the future. The geographical knowledge of Shang Dynasty is very important for studying the social history and culture of Shang Dynasty. However, before the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, there were only a few records in the literature, so the place names in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins attracted the attention of scholars. In 19 14 (or 19 15), Wang Guowei, the pioneer of the geographical study of Oracle inscriptions in Yin Ruins, wrote a very short article, Textual Research on Geographical Names Seen in Oracle Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, and selected 8 geographical names which were found in the literature and were close to Anyang. At this time, there is no connection between place names. Guo Moruo is a scholar who really created an effective scientific method for the study of geography in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In the Complete Works of Oracle Bone Inscriptions published by 1933 (Japanese Literature Enquiry Hall), he took Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a hunter in Shang Dynasty, as the research object, calculated the distance between places through the daily difference of several Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the same edition, and then contacted other place names through different editions with the same name, thus establishing a geographical regional framework in combination with literature records. Since then, although many scholars have continued to explore the geographical research field of Shang Dynasty, the methods adopted are all based on Guo's joint branch method. By the end of 1980s, Dong Zuobin, Chen, Li Xueqin, Shimamoto Nan, Matsumaru Daoxiong, Zhong and others had made outstanding achievements in governing land in Shang Dynasty [146]. Dong Shi's achievement is to systematically collect the sites of Huang Group's surrender to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and connect them according to the main branches, so as to interpret his views and draw a road map. On the other hand, Chen comprehensively discussed various geographical structures in the late Shang Dynasty, such as the area where Dayi merchants were located, Qinyang hunting ground, etc., sketched out the network of place names in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and revised Dong Shi's theory of intercepting people. Li's monograph made a detailed regional division of Qinyang Hunting Ground, corrected Guo Moruo's mistake in interpreting the word "Yi Zhui" as a place name, and pointed out that "Yi" should be pronounced as "Yin", "Tong" or "He". Matsumaru Daoxiong's works theoretically explore the method of estimating the hunting ground distance, which is also his advantage over other scholars. In Zhong's article, the names of Oracle Bone Inscriptions are divided into God Blessed Geography, Agricultural Geography and Tribal Geography. He made a detailed analysis of the achievements, methods and viewpoints of previous studies. Although the study of hunting place names still adopts the method of linking branches, the conditions for using words are strictly stipulated [147]. The latest achievement in the study of the geography of Oracle inscriptions in Yin Ruins is an Introduction to the Geography of Shang Dynasty published by Zheng Yu 1994 [148]. Its characteristics are as follows: first, make a detailed textual research on place names in order to accurately understand the characters; Secondly, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is more complete, not only using Oracle bone inscriptions, but also new materials such as Xiao Tunnan's Oracle bones, which are not found in his books; Third, the book makes full use of the latest field archaeological data.