Shang Dynasty Research Paper
3. SHANG DYNASTY
The Chinese had settled in the Huang He, or Yellow River, valley of northern China by 3000 BC. By then they had pottery, wheels, farms, and silk, but they had not yet discovered writing or the uses of metals.
The Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC) is the first documented era of ancient China. The highly developed hierarchy consisted of a king, nobles, commoners, and slaves. The capital city was Anyang, in north Henan Province. Some scholars have suggested that travelers from Mesopotamia and from Southeast Asia brought agricultural methods to China, which stimulated the growth of ancient Chinese civilization. The Shang peoples were known for their use of jade, bronze, horse-drawn chariots, ancestor worship, and highly organized …show more content…
armies.
Like other ancient peoples, the Chinese developed unique attributes. Their form of writing, developed by 2000 BC, was a complex system of picture writing using forms called ideograms, pictograms, and phonograms. Such early forms of Chinese became known through the discovery by archaeologists of oracle bones, which were bones with writings inscribed on them. They were used for fortune-telling and record keeping in ancient China.
Bone libraries and others: ancient times. The earliest known libraries were connected with palaces and temples. In China, records of the Shang dynasty (1767?-1123? BC) were written on animal bones and tortoise shells. An early library called "The Healing Place of the Soul," in the palace of Egypt's King Ramses II (1304?-1237 BC) at Thebes, consisted of thousands of papyrus scrolls. Among the most important libraries in the ancient Near East was the palace library of Ashurbanipal (668?-627? BC) at Nineveh in Assyria. This early type of national library, collected "for the sake of distant days," consisted of over 30,000 clay tablets. Early librarians were usually priests, teachers, or scholars. The first known Chinese librarian was the philosopher Lao Tse, who was appointed keeper of the royal historical records for the Chou rulers about 550 BC.
Dates of the Shange Dynasty
The Shang dynasty is thought to have run from c. 1600 - c.1100 B.C. It is also called the Yin Dynasty (or Shang-Yin). Tang the Great founded the dynasty. King Zhou was its final ruler.
The Shang kings were linked to the rulers of the areas around who paid tribute and provided soldiers for military operations. The Shang kings had some bureaucracy with the highest offices presumed filled by close friends and family of the king. Records of major events were kept.
Shang Population:
The Shang probably had about 13.5 million people, according to Duan Chang-Qun et al. It was centered on the North China Plain northward to modern Shangdong and Hebei provinces and westward through the modern Henan province. Population pressures led to multiple migrations and the capitals moved, too, until settling in Yin (Anyang, Henan) in the 14th century.
"Relocation of Civilization Centers in Ancient China: Environmental Factors," by Duan Chang-Qun, Gan Xue-Chun, Jeanny Wang and Paul K. Chien. Ambio, Vol. 27, No. 7 (Nov., 1998), pp. 572-575.
Shang dynasty. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9067119
China Knowledge
"The Shang of Ancient China," by L. M. Young. Current Anthropology, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jun., 1982), pp. 311-314.
Start of the Shang Dynasty:
Tang the Great defeated the last, evil king of the Xia Dynasty, sending him into exile. The Shang changed their capital numerous times because of environmental problems, hostile neighbors, or because they were a semi-nomadic people used to moving.
Shang Dynasty Kings:
Da Yi (Tang the Great)
Tai Ding
Wai Bing
Zhong Ren
Tai Jia
Wo Ding
Tai Geng
Xiao Jia
Yong Ji
Tai Wu
Lü Ji
Zhong Ding
Wai Ren
Hedan Jia
Zu Yi
Zu Xin
Wo Jia
Zu Ding
Nan Geng
Yang Jia
Pan Geng
Xiao Xin
Xiao Yi
Wu Ding
Zu Ji
Zu Geng
Zu Jia
Lin Xin
Geng Ding
Wu Yi
Wen Ding
Di Yi
Di Xin (Zhou)
Shang Accomplishments:
Earliest glazed pottery, evidence of a potter's wheel, industrialized bronze casting used for rituals, wine, and food, as well as weapons and tools, advanced jade carving, determined the year was 365 1/4 days, made reports on diseases, first appearance of Chinese script, oracle bones, Steppe-like war chariots.
Remains have been found of palace foundations, burials, and rammed earth fortifications.
Source:
China. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-71625.
"Shang Divination and Metaphysics," by David N. Keightley. Philosophy East and West, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 367-397.
Fall of the Shang Dynasty:
The cycle of founding of a dynasty by a great king and ending a dynasty with the ousting of an evil king continued with the Shang Dynasty. The final, tyrannical king of the Shang is commonly called King Zhou. He killed his own son, tortured and murdered his ministers and was overly influenced by his concubine.
The Zhou army defeated the last king of the Shang, whom they called the Yin, at the battle of Muye. The Yin king immolated
himself.
The Chinese had settled in the Huang He, or Yellow River, valley of northern China by 3000 BC. By then they had pottery, wheels, farms, and silk, but they had not yet discovered writing or the uses of metals.
The Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC) is the first documented era of ancient China. The highly developed hierarchy consisted of a king, nobles, commoners, and slaves. The capital city was Anyang, in north Henan Province. Some scholars have suggested that travelers from Mesopotamia and from Southeast Asia brought agricultural methods to China, which stimulated the growth of ancient Chinese civilization. The Shang peoples were known for their use of jade, bronze, horse-drawn chariots, ancestor worship, and highly organized …show more content…
armies.
Like other ancient peoples, the Chinese developed unique attributes. Their form of writing, developed by 2000 BC, was a complex system of picture writing using forms called ideograms, pictograms, and phonograms. Such early forms of Chinese became known through the discovery by archaeologists of oracle bones, which were bones with writings inscribed on them. They were used for fortune-telling and record keeping in ancient China.
Bone libraries and others: ancient times. The earliest known libraries were connected with palaces and temples. In China, records of the Shang dynasty (1767?-1123? BC) were written on animal bones and tortoise shells. An early library called "The Healing Place of the Soul," in the palace of Egypt's King Ramses II (1304?-1237 BC) at Thebes, consisted of thousands of papyrus scrolls. Among the most important libraries in the ancient Near East was the palace library of Ashurbanipal (668?-627? BC) at Nineveh in Assyria. This early type of national library, collected "for the sake of distant days," consisted of over 30,000 clay tablets. Early librarians were usually priests, teachers, or scholars. The first known Chinese librarian was the philosopher Lao Tse, who was appointed keeper of the royal historical records for the Chou rulers about 550 BC.
Dates of the Shange Dynasty
The Shang dynasty is thought to have run from c. 1600 - c.1100 B.C. It is also called the Yin Dynasty (or Shang-Yin). Tang the Great founded the dynasty. King Zhou was its final ruler.
The Shang kings were linked to the rulers of the areas around who paid tribute and provided soldiers for military operations. The Shang kings had some bureaucracy with the highest offices presumed filled by close friends and family of the king. Records of major events were kept.
Shang Population:
The Shang probably had about 13.5 million people, according to Duan Chang-Qun et al. It was centered on the North China Plain northward to modern Shangdong and Hebei provinces and westward through the modern Henan province. Population pressures led to multiple migrations and the capitals moved, too, until settling in Yin (Anyang, Henan) in the 14th century.
"Relocation of Civilization Centers in Ancient China: Environmental Factors," by Duan Chang-Qun, Gan Xue-Chun, Jeanny Wang and Paul K. Chien. Ambio, Vol. 27, No. 7 (Nov., 1998), pp. 572-575.
Shang dynasty. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9067119
China Knowledge
"The Shang of Ancient China," by L. M. Young. Current Anthropology, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jun., 1982), pp. 311-314.
Start of the Shang Dynasty:
Tang the Great defeated the last, evil king of the Xia Dynasty, sending him into exile. The Shang changed their capital numerous times because of environmental problems, hostile neighbors, or because they were a semi-nomadic people used to moving.
Shang Dynasty Kings:
Da Yi (Tang the Great)
Tai Ding
Wai Bing
Zhong Ren
Tai Jia
Wo Ding
Tai Geng
Xiao Jia
Yong Ji
Tai Wu
Lü Ji
Zhong Ding
Wai Ren
Hedan Jia
Zu Yi
Zu Xin
Wo Jia
Zu Ding
Nan Geng
Yang Jia
Pan Geng
Xiao Xin
Xiao Yi
Wu Ding
Zu Ji
Zu Geng
Zu Jia
Lin Xin
Geng Ding
Wu Yi
Wen Ding
Di Yi
Di Xin (Zhou)
Shang Accomplishments:
Earliest glazed pottery, evidence of a potter's wheel, industrialized bronze casting used for rituals, wine, and food, as well as weapons and tools, advanced jade carving, determined the year was 365 1/4 days, made reports on diseases, first appearance of Chinese script, oracle bones, Steppe-like war chariots.
Remains have been found of palace foundations, burials, and rammed earth fortifications.
Source:
China. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-71625.
"Shang Divination and Metaphysics," by David N. Keightley. Philosophy East and West, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 367-397.
Fall of the Shang Dynasty:
The cycle of founding of a dynasty by a great king and ending a dynasty with the ousting of an evil king continued with the Shang Dynasty. The final, tyrannical king of the Shang is commonly called King Zhou. He killed his own son, tortured and murdered his ministers and was overly influenced by his concubine.
The Zhou army defeated the last king of the Shang, whom they called the Yin, at the battle of Muye. The Yin king immolated
himself.