Peng (diviner)

Peng
彭
Peng in oracle bone script.
Peng 彭 in oracle bone script.
Bornc. 11-12th Century B.C.
Shang dynasty
OccupationShang dynasty diviner
Years activec. Zu Jia to Geng Ding's reign[1]
Known forEvidence of scribal training in Yin in the He group
Early examples of education
Peng
Peng in small seal script.
Chinese彭
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinpéng
Bopomofoㄆㄥˊ
Wade–Gilespʻeng²
Wu
Romanizationban6
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinesebaeng
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)/*C.[b]ˤraŋ/
Zhengzhang/*braːŋ/

Peng (彭) was a religious practitioner during the Late Shang period of the Shang dynasty. A member of the He 何 group in Period III, their[a] name appears across multiple oracle bones, giving a rather complete picture of their life relative to other diviners like Zheng or Nan, beginning as a student learning oracle bone script before flourishing as a scribe.[2]

Early life

Despite only being visible in oracle bone evidence, Peng appears in myriad texts dated to the reigns of Zu Jia,[3] Lin Xin, and Geng Ding, within the textual styles of the He 何 group.[2][1] Rao Zongyi has dated Peng back further to Wu Ding's reign through stylistic analysis, particularly on the use of fu 父 "father," which is more typical of Wu Ding-era inscriptions, and uses this to determine that Peng could not have been active during the reign of Wu Yi.[4] In the earliest instances they are seen, Peng is seen in contexts where the handwriting is noticeably inept and almost anomalous, which implies that they were learning to write, possibly as a child.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Smith (2011) has therefore surmised that Peng was a student scribe, possibly learning divination.[2] It appears that Peng worked in a xue 學 "workshop"[b] and gained literacy through working with established diviners.[2][11]

Career

As oracle bone scribes were not necessarily diviners, it is unknown whether Peng was an actual diviner, only that Peng at least operated as a scribe.[11][2] However, later texts show Peng issuing charges, which appear to show an emerging career later in life.

One of the earliest cases of Peng performing a true divination and not merely copying as they learn to write was during a sacrifice to Hé 河, a deity representing the Yellow River. This was coupled with documenting numbers of sheep to use in sacrifice.[12][2]

己巳卜，彭貞：御于河，三十人。十月又二……
On the jisi day, plastromancy was performed. Peng charges: Sacrificing to Hé, 30 people. On the tenth month there was two...

Later in life, Peng becomes more proficient, being seen making a divination towards holding a banquet towards princes.[13]

甲寅卜，彭貞：多子其饗。
On the jiayin day, plastromancy was performed. Peng charges: May we perform a banquet for the many princes?

Similarly, they also did wrote enquiries regarding banquets to perform for ancestral kings, namely Da Yi, Zu Yi, and Zu Ding:[14]

癸亥卜彭貞大乙祖乙祖丁暨饗
On the guihai day, plastromancy was performed. Peng charges: Should we perform a banquet for Da Yi, Zu Yi, and Zu Ding?

Peng would go on to write more extensively, such as in the case of this bone, where Peng is involved with a you sacrifice to Bi Ji, the wife of Zu Ding:[15]

癸亥卜彭貞其侑于丁妣己在十月又二小臣𡆥立
On the guihai day, plastromancy was performed. Peng charges: May we perform a you sacrifice to Ding's wife, Bi Ji, in the tenth month? Two minor officials were present to the divination.

Notes

  1. ↑ Peng's gender is not known.
  2. ↑ While in modern Chinese, this is a verb "to study," it is implied that it functioned as a noun in the Shang dynasty as well as a verb.

References

  1. 1 2 Li Xueqin 李學勤 and Peng Yushang 彭裕商. 1996. 殷墟甲骨分期研究. Shanghai: 上海古籍出版社. ISBN 7532520854 / 9787532520855. pp. 171-172
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smith, Adam (2011). "Evidence for Scribal Training in Anyang". In Feng, Li; Banner, David Prager (eds.). Writing & literacy in early China: studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar. Seattle: University of Washington press. pp. 196–200. ISBN 9780295991528.
  3. ↑ 曲正清, 刘源. 2023. “毓祖丁卣”铭文新释.” 故宫博物院院刊 2023, no. 2 (总第250期): 35–39.
  4. ↑ 饒宗頤. 1959. 殷代貞卜人物通考. 2 vols. Hong Kong: 香港大學出版社. pp. 899.
  5. ↑ 甲骨文合集 27543
  6. ↑ 甲骨文合集 27042
  7. ↑ 甲骨文合集 26899
  8. ↑ 甲骨文合集 28107
  9. ↑ 甲骨文合集 31420
  10. ↑ 甲骨文合集 31427
  11. 1 2 Takashima, Kenichi (2011). "Literacy to the South and East of Anyang". In Feng, Li; Banner, David Prager (eds.). Writing & literacy in early China: studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar. Seattle: University of Washington press. pp. 151–155. ISBN 9780295991528.
  12. ↑ 甲骨文合集 26907
  13. ↑ Boileau, Gilles. 2023. “The Prince of Huayuanzhuang 花園莊, Zu Jia 祖甲, and the Succession of Wu Ding 武丁: Alliance and Crisis.” Early China 46: 79–130.
  14. ↑ 甲骨文合集 27147.3
  15. ↑ 甲骨文合集 27875.1
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