Divination, China

Abstract Divinatory practices featuring the provocation and interpretation of omens have been documented in China at least since the late Shang oracle bones of the late second millennium bce . Omens, however, were not only manually fabricated through solid media in ancient China, but were also calculated through algorithms or more passively observed in the macrocosmic environment or microcosmic bodies. As such, ancient Chinese divination essentially involved the interpretation of inherently ambiguous signs associated with culturally constructed notions of divine power. While many traditional Chinese forms of divination did not emerge until later periods of Chinese history, others, like astrology, calendrical astrology, meteoromancy, pyro‐osteomancy (divination with bone and fire), achilleamancy (divination with yarrow stalks), oneiromancy, portentology, and physiognomy are well attested in ancient Chinese texts and continued to develop and change long after the end of the Han.