Is it really normal for the Shang royal family to sacrifice to the living and even eat?

It is true that the Shang Dynasty sacrificed to the living, but there is no obvious evidence to support the royal cannibalism.

As we all know, the Shang Dynasty attached great importance to sacrifice. Divination and sacrifice are the national affairs of businessmen. Shang dynasty prayed for the support of ghosts and gods through sacrifices, and asked ghosts and gods about the fighting through divination.

In Shang dynasty, the living offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods was regarded as the supreme respect for ghosts and gods. There are many ways to sacrifice the living, some are sacrificing the whole living, some are sacrificing the head, and some are hollowing out the internal organs.

However, there is no obvious evidence to support Shang's theory of cannibalism. Scholars generally believe that cannibalism is an event that only happens when food is scarce. With the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, cannibalism is no longer necessary in the agricultural civilization. Of course, Boycott is said to have been chopped into meat paste and then forced to eat by King Wen, but it is hard to say whether this is the habit of Shang Wang eating people or a punishment. Just like Liu Bang once cooked Peng Yue and distributed it to the Ministry. Moreover, Boyikao was eaten during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and its credibility is unknown.

The Zhou dynasty still used the living to sacrifice, but the number was less than that of the Shang dynasty. It is hard to say whether this decrease is due to the moral belief in murder or the complete difference between Zhou and Shang civilizations. However, Confucius said that Zhou was inherited from there. Therefore, the reduction of living sacrifices may be attributed to the overall development of human civilization.

The Zhou Dynasty blacked out the Shang Dynasty and cooked the heads of the Shang royal family in a tripod. In a fairly primitive slave society, what seems quite bloody today may be very normal at that time. Even in the Ming dynasty, the whole slavery society still had the situation of living sacrifice.