Two Shang political genealogies: sacrificial systems and memory tensions

This work analyzes the historical evolution of the zhouji (sic)(sic), the series of cyclical sac- rifices dedicated to non -royal and royal ancestors, first implemented during the reign of the king Zu Jia (sic)(sic). This cycle allows for anthropological observations about the struc- ture and historical evolution of the Shang royal lineages. The cycle can be considered as a ritual aiming to establish a consensus between them since all the types of royal succession were acknowledged. It was also a memorial ritual since it began with Shang Jia (sic)(sic), representing the clanic identity of the Shang as a whole. We also analyze a type of cyclical sacrifices ( beng (sic) ) implemented from the reign of Wen Ding (sic)(sic) on, a memorial ritual with a much more limited scope, linked to an attempt to establish a strict line of royal succession between father and son. Contrasting those two cycles allows for a much better understanding of the anthropological and political stakes of the last stage of Shang society, and particularly the tensions between linages' memo- ries. We will, in the conclusion, attempt to show that those tensions were due in part to one of the characteristics of monarchy as such.