Peng (diviner)
Late Shang diviner
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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 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 examples of education
Peng 彭 | |
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Peng 彭 in oracle bone script. | |
| Born | c. 11-12th Century B.C. |
| Occupation | Shang dynasty diviner |
| Years active | c. Zu Jia to Geng Ding's reign[1] |
| Known for | Evidence of scribal training in Yin in the He group Early examples of education |
| Peng | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Peng in small seal script. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 彭 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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"[a] 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
- 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.