Scientists and scholars have devoted a lot of time to the study of Taoism and Confucianism, but Chinese superstition and everyday spiritual life remain little studied.ĭr. Some of these practices still have enthusiastic followings in China today. Animism (the worship of natural spirits), fertility rites, cults and ancestor worship were also present in the Shang dynasty. Oracle bones appear to have held a high place in Shang culture and this would lead one to conclude that superstition held a very high place in the lives of the ancient Chinese. Over 100,000 "oracle bones" have been found, mostly in storage pits in Xiaotun in Henan.
The predictions, often made by the king rather than the diviner, and answers were engraved on the bones. The ensuing cracks were read by fortunetellers for "auspicious" and "inauspicious signs" and messages from natural spirits and ancestors.
Priests in the Shang period (1600 – 1046 B.C.) practiced an unusual form of divination that involved placing heated rods in grooves carved into specially-prepared ox scapulae (shoulder bones) and turtle plastrons (the undesides of turtle shells).
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