Shang Religion, the Fall of Shang, and the Mandate of Heaven

Shang religion centered on Shangdi, "Sovereign on High," a supreme deity who governed natural phenomena and the political fate of the state but who was never approached directly. Instead, the king communicated with Shangdi only through the intercession of his deceased royal ancestors, each of whom received a temple name and regular sacrifices on an established ritual calendar, offerings that on significant occasions included human beings, generally war captives, sacrificed in considerable numbers. The royal necropolis at Xibeigang, near Anyang, documents this practice archaeologically: its monumental cross-shaped tombs contain the remains of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of sacrificial victims buried to accompany the deceased king into the afterlife.