China has been known for many things in the present world including the fact that the country is now developing to be a world recognized economy.
However, China also has a great history that dates back to emperor Huang Di, the yellow emperor. The history of animal sacrifice occurs in China about 1500 BC although it could also have started much earlier since there were bones found inscribed with divination with the oldest dating about 3500 years. It is placed on the Bible World History Timeline at 1500 BC.
The Chinese rites of passage and rituals included animal sacrifices like many other cultural practices in the Middle East. However, animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC were also sometimes accompanied by human sacrifices during burials, a fact that could be used to show the uniqueness of the Chinese animal sacrifices during this period.
Animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC was presided over by high priests who are credited with being the very first people to begin a state in the world. The Shang offered animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC as a way of honoring the ancestors and natural spirits who gave them power and determined how the Shang state would be governed. The animal sacrifices were sometimes accompanied with human sacrifices for the same reasons. It is at this time that urban craftsmen in China started making great products such as ceramics and their bronze castings were at their best.
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The high priests were the rulers of the state they are credited to have started and they referred to themselves as the sons of Heaven. It is worth mentioning that although animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC were conducted in China, there is only the mention that the sacrifices were to appease the ancestors and spirits and not a god. Some believe that at this time the Chinese were religious although a god to them may not have existed and believed that their powers came from the ancestors and spirits of those that had lived in the lands before.
Other reports indicate that the supreme god of the Chinese, ShangDi was the reason for the many animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC when the Shang state was founded. The animals used for the sacrifices to ShangDi were lambs and sheep because the Chinese apparently recognized the sheep as a source of truthfulness, beauty, righteousness and eternity. It is, however, not explained why the animals sacrifices around 1500 BC were accompanied by human sacrifices. There is no mention of how the humans offered for sacrifice were selected and neither did they explain what the humans represented. Perhaps an explanation of the human sacrifices that sometimes accompanied the animal Sacrifice about 1500 BC could be to show the ancestors and the spirits, or ShangDi, the supreme Chinese god, that the people humbled themselves so that they could even offer one of them to either receive sanctity or win a certain favor from whom the sacrifices were directed.
Animal sacrifices in china were conducted with great spirituality since they represented a very important part and the link between the Chinese and their god, Shang Di. It is believed that ShangDi was a loving creator of the Chinese race, and, therefore, they humbled themselves to his command. When the sins of those in China were so many, the god blocked the path between heaven and earth so that the people when ahead and sacrificed a lamb to show how humble they were.
The most important sacrifice in the Shang state was that of Emperor Tang who disguised himself as a lamb, and was thus sacrificed so that god sent rain to the people as a result of the humble action of the emperor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huangti.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice
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Yes! More about the ancient Chinese belief about the Creator God can be found at http://www.edholroyd.info/Beginning/index.htm where Dr. Ethel Nelson, C.H. Kang, Dr. Chan Kei Thong, and Richard E. Broadberry have written books on the original ancient Chinese characters (pictographs) and what each element within them means. Several books have been written:
1. The Discovery of Genesis, How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language
2. Genesis and the Mystery Confucius Couldn’t Solve
3. God’s Promise to the Chinese
4. The Beginning of Chinese Characters
5. Faith of Our Fathers, God in Ancient China