從現今考古而出的殷墟商王大墓及甲骨文研究，商文明耗費了大量的財富於祭祀與殉葬之上。本文的第一部份，將細部考證甲骨卜文中所記載的祭祀幅度，展現商朝人祭與牲祭規模之龐大。並以商王大墓與婦好墓為例，列舉其中的陪葬祭品如大量的青銅器等，這般的宗教行為似乎可被視為炫耀性的毀壞，如同炫耀財富的盛宴一樣。誠然，商王以宗教性的活動來消費掉財富，經由祭祀、占卜、及殉葬等活動，消耗了畜牲、人牲、及大批的青銅器；大量的文明財富掌握在商王室手中，證明了商王同時具有的政治主、宗教主、與死後世界的王這三層地位，本文將辯證其中商王所擁有的至高性（souveraineté）之意義。 然而，把這樣「巨大的財富」拋棄掉，彷彿只是為了「炫耀性的毀壞」而已？本文的第二部分，將以法國當代思想家Georges Bataille的總體經濟學為例，考察商文明濫費之意義。Bataille曾以原初的祭祀，辯證出有用性的俗世界之外神聖的「濫費」概念，並特別以此解釋了古阿茲提克帝國的太陽神祭之意義。Bataille認為，人類特有的「死亡禁忌」與「性禁忌」乃「神聖世界」與「世俗世界」之中介，通過了死亡與性禁忌，人類將由有秩序的俗世界之中「越界」到聖世界，而文明之財富的濫費，同時是主權至高性的展現，同時亦是此越界之可能。本文認為，Bataille的總體經濟學之思想，亦可以用來解釋商文明的宗教祭儀，並且如此之詮釋，將是一嶄新的，對於上古宗教現象的研究。

This article discusses Georges Bataille’s concept of consumption and interprets it through reference to examples of religious sacrifice in the Shang dynasty. The first part of this paper examines the huge scale of human and animal sacrifices recorded in the oracle bones buried in the Shang kings’ tombs. The large amount of funerary offerings and ritual vessels also found in these tombs may be interpreted as a form of ostentatious destruction in a manner similar to potlatch feasts. The second part of this article illuminates Bataille’s theory of consumption. Bataille believed that the “death taboo” and the “sex taboo” served as intermediaries between the “sacred world” and the “profane world”. By violating these taboos through the excessive consumption of energy or wealth, human beings could transgress the boundaries that separated the sacred from the profane.. Bataille originally advanced the concept of consumption to explain the significance of the Sun god sacrifice in the Aztec empire. This article provides an original interpretation of ancient Chinese religious conduct by arguing that Bataille’s theory can also be used to explain sacrificially ostentatious destruction in Shang civilization.