In addition to the time-honored but dubious traditional accounts, four “irrefutable” sources exist for studying the nature and evolution of warfare in the late Shang dynasty: fortifications, archaeologically recovered weapons, a few cauldrons with commemorative inscriptions, and the divinatory materials preserved on comparatively fragile turtle plastrons and animal bones already noted. Apart from a few characters preserved on early ceramics, these famous oracular inscriptions comprise China’s earliest written historical materials and thus the key source for any reconstruction of Shang activities.38
Despite their large numbers and the extensiveness of their subject matter, the inscriptions suffer from inherent constraints, including serious questions about their representational validity. Insofar as they only record activities significant or troubling enough to compel the ruler to query the ancestors or Ti—whether to shift responsibility, gain their sanction, or invoke their assistance—they are necessarily limited in scope. Many subjects no doubt fell outside the purview of such invocations or were simply too mundane to report to the ancestors. In addition, the vast number of oracle bones so far recovered may constitute only a small percentage of the total created during the process of divinatory inquiry, and further discoveries may reveal radically different concerns.
Debate also continues about whether they are records of real inquiries or simply charges to the spirits beseeching their aid or seeking confirmation of the moment’s appropriateness for some already predetermined course, an impression certainly conveyed by many explicitly martial inscriptions. Finally, although they were certainly regarded with respect, even viewed as numinous, and therefore collected for burial at designated locations rather than simply burned or discarded, there is no sense that they were intended to be preserved for posterity, to function as an archive of some sort, particularly as written records supposedly existed that have been lost or have disintegrated.39
The process of scrutinizing thousands of prognostications for over a hundred years, at first perfunctorily but now intensely and in detail, aided by fortuitous discoveries of significant groups and numerous inquiries on single scapula, has produced a number of valuable chronologies and useful topical studies. From the several thousand inquiries that focus on martial activities the outlines, though perhaps not yet the entire substance, of Shang warfare can be gleaned.40 In particular, the names of allies and enemy states,41 the major campaigns, cycles of incursion and plundering, commanders, troop strength, component forces, and various vestiges of the military organization can be glimpsed. However, ignorance still prevails with regard to any tactics that may have been employed apart from straightforward assaults or perhaps two-pronged attacks, as well as actual battle sites, frequency of casualties, and numerous other questions integral to any serious study of military history. Similarly, despite much speculation and many views having been offered, the nature and composition of the troops remain more a matter of conjecture than definitive knowledge.
Discernible motives for undertaking outwardly directed military activities range from a desire to react to incursions and thereby thwart or punish enemies that were encroaching upon the Shang or preying upon its allies; to consolidating the Shang’s position; to imposing or enforcing Shang will; and, less frequently, to simply projecting power. Although the oracle bones vividly depict a state beset by threats and responding to challenges, because martial events are great affairs entailing the lives of the populace and prestige of the ruler, they tend to be disproportionately emphasized in divinatory inquiries. In contrast, peace and tranquility can often only be inferred.
Expansive bronze workshops,42 great hoards of cauldrons and weapons, and extensive fortifications all provide evidence that the Shang employed tens of thousands of men in mining, manufacturing, farming, and state labor projects. Military campaigns that might be undertaken in response to perceived threats or as part of power projection efforts, although still major events, were no doubt easily sustained and therefore not as significant in the life of the state as might be imagined. Nevertheless, the numerous raids and incursions it suffered, some more damaging than others, must have troubled and enervated the powerful Shang.
Although the final resolution of many of these conflicts cannot definitively be known—the Shang apparently prevailed most of the time—oracular inscriptions and archaeological discoveries do show the era’s warfare to have been both brutal and bloody. Heavy casualties and doom were inflicted upon the defeated, especially the Ch’iang, who were frequently enslaved or sacrificed on Shang altars. Even the briefest encounter was never the ritualized confrontation that supposedly characterizes “primitive warfare” or would be depicted in traditional writings of later centuries, but an intensely violent clash primarily wrought with shock weapons intended to destroy the enemy as quickly and thoroughly as possible.43
Finally, it should be noted that despite the study of oracular inscriptions having advanced to being somewhat more science than art, even the simplest statements not only often spawn divergent readings and opinions, but also frequently become embroiled in arguments about the probable transcription of characters and pronunciation of names. Apart from the inconvenience of these and numerous other technical and interpretive issues, the conclusions being reached are also premised upon fundamental assumptions about the nature of Shang divination. Except when the results have been verified or can be deduced from subsequent inquiries, they essentially ignore the question of whether a contemplated course of action was actually implemented. Thus, for example, the conclusion that two or three different enemies were simultaneously attacked may be not only unjustified, but completely erroneous.