Shangdi (上帝)

Shangdi (上帝), also known as Di, was the supreme deity in ancient China during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE). He was the greatest ancestor and deity, and was believed to control: Victory in battle, Harvest, The fate of the capital, The weather, and The floods of the Yellow River. Shangdi was considered too distant and inscrutable to be influenced by mortals, and he did not have a cult following like other Chinese deities. Instead, emperors would access Shangdi through the souls of their royal ancestors. Oracle bone inscriptions record petitions to Shangdi, often for rain or approval for state action. Some say that Shangdi is identical to the God of the Bible. The Early Zhou pronunciation of Shangdi is "djanh-tigh", which is phonetically similar to El Shaddai, one of the Hebrew names for God.