Shang Di: China’s One True God?

Introduction

In the Old Testament Bible, at the book of Genesis, we are given a narrative that in the beginning, from the first human pair; Adam and Eve, they and all their children knew of one True God, who was their creator.

After the story of the Great Flood, we are told the only survivors; Noah and his children along with their wives, went their own ways to repopulate the Earth or the lands again (Genesis 9:1, 18-19), and later the languages and cultures of humanity split from the Tower of Babel.

If this whole narrative of mankind’s origin is true, this means all peoples would be descendants of those who were originally worshippers of the God Yah (YHWH), who is considered to be the One True God of the Universe in Abrahamic or Hebrew religious traditions.

In such a circumstance, it would stand to reason that many of the world’s earliest cultures would have had very similar religious beliefs and practices to one another, even if their cultures and religious practices began to differ from one another over time – and that there would be some lines of evidence of this in ancient history.

This takes us to the topic of this article, the discussion of “Shang Di”, the ancient God of the Chinese people.

What is Shang Di?

When it comes to Chinese religion, most people are familiar with the faiths and philosophies of Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and perhaps some folk beliefs, such as Animism and Shamanism… However, very few people are aware of a religion from ancient China that predates all of the above, which is worship of Shang Di.

The term “Shang Di (上帝)”, is a Chinese word which simply means “Highest Deity”, “Highest Lord” or “Lord Above”.

Shang Di worship, based on what historical records we have, is in fact one of if not the oldest religion of ancient China that we have evidence of, with several records dating back to the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 B.C), the second oldest recorded period of China, with other historical traditions even claiming that this faith even existed ‘prior’ to the ‘first’ Dynasty of Xia (2070–1600 B.C), said to be established by Yu the Great after a “Great Flood“.

“The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great…

Gun, the father of Yu the Great, is the earliest recorded member of the Xia clan. When the Yellow River flooded, many tribes united together to control and stop the flooding. Gun was appointed by Emperor Yao to stop the flooding… Yu was highly trusted by Shun, so Shun appointed him to finish his father’s work”. - Xia dynasty, Wikipedia

“The earliest references to Shangdi are found in oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty in the 2nd millennium BC, although the later work Classic of History claims yearly sacrifices were made to him by Emperor Shun, even before the Xia Dynasty”. – Shangdi, Wikipedia

For the longest time, Shang Di was worshipped consistently by the ancient Chinese, and an altar was dedicated to him at a place now known as the “Temple of Heaven (天壇)”, located in Beijing. However, this faith was later abandoned in favour of the other religions and schools of thought which came after.

The beliefs of the worshippers of Shang Di have been described as Henotheistic. Whilst the ancient Chinese people may have worshipped several “lesser gods” and the spirits of their ancestors, the religion of Shang Di revolved around the notion that this God was the highest and most powerful God or being of all, and was seen as the ‘ultimate’ authority above all the other spiritual beings.

Shang Di was believed to be the ruler of all other lesser gods and spirits, and was the one who had control of the sun, moon and stars, all of the Earth’s elements, seasons, harvests, weather, and that it was he who also dictated all of the world’s rulers.

This God was also described as being a God of the skies and heavens, and was often given descriptions of lightning and thunders. He was also considered so uterly transcendant, that he could only be communicated to via agents or mediators, and yet he was also active in the world through the elements – all descriptions not too dissimilar to the God of the Hebrew Bible.

Parallels with Hebrew Religion

From only a quick surface glance of the descriptions of Shang Di, we can draw several parallels with how YHWH is described in the Hebrew scriptures.

A Shared Title & Description

We know the Israelites called God “El Shaddai” and “El Elyon”, both meaning “God Almighty” and “God Most High” respectively. A phrase, akin to the meaning of Shang Di.

The Hebrew God was described often as lightning and thunders, as the ruler of all the kings of the Earth, and as the one that controlled the Earth’s elements, and was also transcendant (Psalm 18:13, 47:2, Daniel 2:21, Romans 13:1, Zechariah 10:1, 1 Kings 8:27).

A God of gods

It is also of note that the God of Israel was called the “God of gods”, and that his angelic sons of the Heavens were also called “gods”. In relation to this, the oldest texts of the Hebrew Bible also states that God appointed his heavenly sons to rule over and represent his interests over all the nations, before these sons rebelled against him to announce themselves as their own deities to the peoples they were appointed over:

• “When the Most High divided the nations, when the sons of Adam, He moved apart, He set the borders for all of the nations by the numbers of the messengers (or angelic sons) of God. Jacob (His people), became YHWH’s portion; Israel was what He’d inherit“. – Deuteronomy 32:8-9
• “God stands in the gathering of gods, and among them, He’s passing judgment. So, how long will You judge their injustice And put up with the presence of sinners? Please defend the orphans and the poor, to the afflicted and oppressed, please bring justice! Rescue the weak and the needy, from the hands of sinners, please save them! Yet, the [sinners] don’t know, nor do they perceive (Because they travel in darkness), that the earth will be shaken to its foundations. I said to them: ‘You are gods, you are sons of the Most High! But, like men, you’ll perish too, and like their rulers, you’ll fall.’ So arise, O God, and judge the whole earth, for, You’ll inherit the nations!”. – Psalm 82

This is not so different from what we know of Shang Di worship, that the people believed there were many lesser gods and spirits, of whom they worshipped, including what they believed to be the spirits of their dead ancestors, yet they recognised there was one Highest God, above all of them, of whom they were ultimately answerable to.

“All the gods of nature are conceived as his envoys or manifestations. Shang sources also attest his cosmological Five Ministries. Di, or Tian, as later texts explain, did not receive cult for being too remote for living humans to sacrifice to directly. Instead, an intermediary such as an ancestor was necessary to convey to Di the offerings of the living“. – Shangdi, Wikipedia

If going by the assumption that the Genesis world view is true, then Shang Di and YHWH, the God the Hebrews (and the world), just might be one and the same.

Of course, a major difference between Shang Di religion, and Israelite religion, was that only YHWH the Most High was truly worthy of worship, and to worship the other “lesser gods” was considered to be idolatry, for God had not granted men permission to worship them as such.

However, going by the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, we are told these other gods made themselves rulers and objects of idolatry against the wishes of Yah. And so, if Shang Di really is the same God of the Bible, the worship of other lesser beings in Shang Di religion should not be something shocking to us, or an indication that this disproves any potential connection between Shang Di and YHWH.

We are told clearly in the New Testament, that God “put up with humanity’s idolatry” (Acts 17:30) ever since the nations were given into the hands of these rebellious spirits of the Divine Council.

Requirement of a Mediator

Another similarity of note, is that both religions believed in the requirement of a mediator between the Highest God and mankind, and in the practice of sacrificial animal offerings to appease him. Whilst in Shang Di worship, the mediators were believed to be the spirits of the people’s dead ancestors, in Israelite worship, the High Priest of the Temple was seen to be the people’s mediator, as well as angelic messengers.

Interestingly, however, the Jewish High Priest, according to Christian belief, was a shadow of the greater reality of a Heavenly High Priest, of whom we believe to be God’s Son, Yeshua (Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 4:14-16, 1 Timothy 2:5).

Offering of Animal Sacrifices

Both Chinese Shang Di and Hebrew Yah worship, would offer up sacrifices such as sheep and cattle to God. One major difference however being that it is also believed that the Shang Di worshippers also offered pigs and other animals on their altars, and this was forbidden in Israelite worship, as a pig was considered an unclean animal.

However, it is important to note this prohibition only came from the Mosaic Law, and possibly was not mentioned to Noah verbatim, or anyone after him until that time, though this might be a debatable topic given the mention of “clean and unclean animals” in Genesis, if it not be a Jewish cultural anachronism (Genesis 7:8). Therefore, it might be understood that such offerings were common place amongst the Gentiles, and such being acceptable to YHWH – but if it wasn’t, again, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these people offering up incorrect sacrifices, considering the other numerous practices and beliefs they held to which would have been displeasing to the Hebrew God.

Another point to make, is that the worshippers of Shang Di, were practioners of some would considered divination with their “oracle bone” practices, as they would used the broken bones of their sacrifices to write inscriptions, and then attempt to interpret the fractures in the bone from the fire they burned them in, to see what message God wanted to give them.

Of course, whether or not this was always a form of pagan diviniation, or merely the form of communication they were given with God, who is to say. For even the Israelites had some “similar” practices, when the priests may have sometimes cast lots or would make use of the Urim and Thummim (possibly precious stones) to detirmine God’s will (1 Samuel 14:41-42). Of course, if God had not given the Chinese people instruction on such a thing, it would be thus considered a form of false worship on their part – especially if doing it to try and communicate with “other gods” or the spirits of their ancestors, which they certainly did practice.

The Hebrew scriptures do afterall, condemn divination, especially so the kinds that the Gentile pagan nations would practice. But what was truly considered to be demonic diviniation, and communication with the True God, was all very contextual.

Lack of Idols

Another note to take, is that worship of Shang Di, based on what archeological evidence we currently have, didn’t involve any use of images or idols. In fact, there is a great lack of idols in general in the earliest periods of Chinese religion.

It was only later, when the faith of Shang Di was completely abandoned or reformed into other religions, did idols begin to be introduced into Chinese worship.

Whilst we don’t find anything on the prohibition of idols in ancient Chinese texts, the lack of idol use in Shang Di religion, is another similarity to how the Hebrews worshipped their own God.

Conclusion

Overall, what we see here are very fascinating similarities of Shang Di worship and Israelite worship, and even some theological similarities with how the spiritual Heavens are arranged and organised. The differences between the two, from a Judeo-Christian perspective, can be easily explained by the Biblical narratives provided, that at one time all men worshipped the true God, before being deceived or given over to the lesser gods, the sons of the Heavens, when they rebelled against him.

The themes share, not only elements of worship and the conceptions of God, but even some chronological similarities with major world events. This faith being established very early, and continuing in prominence after the events of a Great Flood, not too dissimilar to Noah’s Flood story of the Bible, and several other global flood legends.

So, what might this all indicate?

Well, if the Biblical narrative is true, it might just be possible that Shang Di, and the Most High God of the Bible are the same being, simply worshipped slightly differently due to historical and cultural shifts as humanity began to spread all over the Earth, and of course with the introduction of false worship by the fallen angels.

And this idea isn’t a new one, as even several historical Christians drew these same parallels.

We of course, don’t have any direct evidence that they called this God YHWH, or recognised him as the same God as the Hebrews’. And perhaps, there is no connection between them at all, and it is coincidental, or perhaps the worshippers of Shang Di were serving what we as Christians would call a “false god” posing as the True Highest God from the very start.

Nevertheless, the parallels are there, and the considerations of the possibilities here are rather tantalising for the mind to ponder over.