Editing Shangdi (section)

===The Shang progenitor===

{{see also|Religion of the Shang dynasty}}
In Shang sources, Di is already described as the supreme ordainer of the events which occur in nature, such as wind, lightning and thunder, and in human affairs and politics. All the gods of nature are conceived as his envoys or manifestations. Shang sources also attest his cosmological [[Wufang Shangdi|Five Ministries]].{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=71}} Di, or Tian, as later texts explain, did not receive [[cult (religious practice)|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.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=72}}

According to some prominent scholars, including [[Guo Moruo]], Shangdi was originally identical to [[Emperor Ku|Ku]] (or Kui) or Diku ("''[[Divus]]'' Ku"), the [[progenitor]] (first ancestor) of the Zi ({{lang|zh|子}}) lineage, the founders of the Shang dynasty, attested in the ''[[Shiji]]'' and other texts.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=72}} According to this interpretation, this identification had profound political implications, because it meant that the earthly Shang kings were themselves by birth aspects of divinity.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=73}}

[[File:Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ 上甲 (Supreme Ancestor), version 1.svg|thumb|right|180px|alt=Shang designated character for the high ancestor Shangjia.|Shang designated character for the high ancestor Shang Jia.]]Further evidence from Shang sources suggests that there wasn't a complete identification between the two, as Di controls spirits of nature, while Kui does not; Di is frequently pictured sending down "approvals", while Kui is never so pictured; and Kui received cult, while Di did not. Moreover, Kui is frequently appealed in "horizontal" relationship with other powers, undermining any portrait of him as the apex of the pantheon.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=73}}

Interpretations of Shang oracle bones yield the possibility of Di being equated with Shang Jia, the utmost and supreme being of the "Six Spirits" who were predynastic Shang male ancestors. The bone graph for Shang Jia consists of a square encompassing a cross. Since the cross shape is understood to be "Jia", the square is therefore "Shang", indicating it to be the ancestral square that constitute Di's central core.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}}