Shang dynasty
- Other name: Yin dynasty
- Location: North China
- Dates: c. 1600â1046 bce
- Capitals: Various; Yin (at modern Anyang) was the last major capital
- Preceded by: Xia dynasty (traditional historiography)
- Succeeded by: Zhou dynasty
- Known for: Bronze work; early Chinese writing (oracle bone inscriptions); jade carving; earliest securely documented Chinese dynasty
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What was the Shang dynasty?
The Shang dynasty is the first Chinese dynasty with both documentary and archeological evidence. It was centered on the North China Plain, extending to modern Shandong and Hebei provinces and westward through Henan province. The dynasty is thought to have ruled from about 1600 to 1046 BCE. During the Shang dynasty, the Chinese writing system began to develop. The Shang Dynasty is known especially for its bronze work.
The worship of royal ancestors was central to the dynasty. They sought goodwill through prayer and offerings. The highest power was Di, or Shangdi, "the Lord on High".
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When and where did the Shang dynasty exist?
The Shang dynasty, the first Chinese dynasty with historical records, ruled from about 1600 to 1046 BCE. Shang China was centered on the North China Plain and extended as far north as modern Shandong and Hebei provinces, and westward through present-day Henan province. The kings of the Shang are believed to have occupied several capitals, one of them possibly at modern Zhengzhou, but they settled at Anyang in the 14th century BCE.
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What were the main achievements of the Shang dynasty?
The Shang dynasty, which ruled from approximately 1600 to 1046 BCE, stands out for several achievements. It was during this time that Chinese writing began to develop, with the earliest known writing found on bone or tortoise shells.
Shang society had a highly developed calendar system, consisting of a 360-day year divided into 12 months of 30 days each. The bronze work of the period is outstanding, progressing from primitive examples to elegant ceremonial objects, cooking and serving dishes, utensils, and ornaments. Jade carving was also advanced, with ceremonial weapons, jade fittings, and figurines discovered in tombs.
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How did people in the Shang dynasty live and work?
The Shang dynasty, which ruled from approximately 1600 to 1046 BCE, was the first Chinese dynasty to leave behind historical records. Royal authority was an extension of patriarchal control rooted in kinship ties. The king, regarded as "the one man," traveled his domains to ensure economic and political support.
Society was highly stratified, consisting of ritual specialists, officers, artisans, retainers, farmers, and nobles appointed by the king. While some Marxist historians have characterized the Shang as a slave society, a more accurate description might be a dependent society. Everyone, from the king to the commoners, was bound by obligations to superiors, ancestors, and dependents.
The king also determined when to plant crops, and the society had a 360-day calendar divided into 12 months of 30 days each.
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What was the Shang dynasty's writing system like?
The Shang dynasty's writing system, which began to develop around the early 2nd millennium BCE, is the earliest known writing in China. Evidenced by inscriptions on bone and tortoiseshell used for oracular divination, the writing system by 1400 BCE already contained some 2,500 to 3,000 characters.
Known as jiaguwen, the writing consists of pictographic script. Characters were first brushed onto the bone in red or black ink and then incised with a sharp instrument. Over three thousand characters have been identified, about half of which have been deciphered. The script included pictographs, ideograms, and phonograms.
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How did the Shang dynasty end and what came after it?
The Shang dynasty, which ruled from about 1600 to 1046 BCE, coexisted with the Zhou in the west. One of the Zhou ruling houses devised a plan to conquer the Shang, and a decisive battle was fought, probably in the mid-11th century BCE. However, a rebellion broke out before the whole Shang territory could be consolidated by the Zhou. The fighting went on for three years before the rebellion was put down, and finally the Zhou solidified their reign over all of China.
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Shang dynasty, the first recorded Chinese dynasty for which there is both documentary and archaeological evidence. The Shang dynasty was the reputed successor to the quasi-legendary first dynasty, the Xia (c. 2070âc. 1600 bce).
History and society
The dates given for the founding of the Shang dynasty vary from about 1760 to 1520 bce, and the dates for the dynastyâs fall also vary, from 1122 to 1030 bce. The period of the dynastyâs rule has traditionally been dated 1766â1122 bce. However, more recent archaeological work has placed the Shangâs starting date at about 1600 bce and has identified the dynastyâs end as being 1046 bce. The latter part of the Shang dynasty, from the reign of the Pangeng emperor onward (i.e., c. 1300 bce), has also been called the Yin dynasty.
Shang China was centred in the North China Plain and extended as far north as modern Shandong and Hebei provinces and westward through present-day Henan province. The kings of the Shang are believed to have occupied several capitals one after another, one of them possibly at modern Zhengzhou, where there are rich archaeological finds, but they settled at Anyang in the 14th century bce. The king appointed local governors, and there was an established class of nobles as well as the masses, whose chief labor was in agriculture. The king issued pronouncements as to when to plant crops, and the society had a highly developed calendar system with a 360-day year of 12 months of 30 days each. It was during the Shang that Chinese writing began to develop, and the symbol for âmoonâ wasâas it has remainedâthat also for âmonth.â The calendar took cognizance of both lunar and solar cycles, and, when it became necessary to adjust the basically lunar year to the seasonal reality of the solar year, intercalary months were added.
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Arts and artifacts
Musical instruments had evidently come down from the Xia or whatever society preceded the Shang, for the early Shang instruments were well developed and included a clay ocarina, tuned chimes of stone, and bells and drums of bronze. (Legend traces the origin of pipes of bamboo earlier, even before the mythical Xia.)
The architects of the Shang period built houses of timber over rammed-earth floors, with walls of wattle and daub and roofs of thatch. Tombs were dug in clay, and their walls show traces of paintings that strongly resemble some of the ornamentation and animal shapes reflected in the outstanding bronze work of the period. The earliest bronzes of the Shang were primitive, but a course of development is evident that culminates in elegant ceremonial objects as well as a substantial range of cooking and serving dishes and various utensils and ornaments. There was a three-legged li for cooking, and upon it could be fitted a bronze zeng, a bowl with a pierced bottom to function as a steamerâtogether called a yan. Serving bowls were often stemmed, and pouring vessels, such as the gu, had long spouts. Those and numerous other vessels were often richly decorated.
Pottery objects were abundant, and Shang potters made fired-clay sectional molds for casting bronzes. They also used clay molds to imprint decorations into clay vesselsâwhose shapes in many cases clearly inspired designs in bronze. Some of the pottery gives evidence of possibly having been shaped on a potterâs wheel. Pottery included dishes and bowls in a white glaze for ceremonial and ritual use, as well as black pottery and a rich brown glaze for more mundane purposes.
Jade carving became quite advanced during the Shang dynasty. Ceremonial weapons of jade were made, as well as jade fittings for actual weapons. Jade figurines included both human and animal shapes, carved in the round in careful detail. Many of those objects have been found in tombs of the period. Other funerary art ran a gamut in size from tiny objects of jade or carved bone and ivory (sometimes inlaid with turquoise) to chariots of lacquered wood. Larger sculptures in marble followed animal motifs.
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Writing
No literature as such survives from the Shang, but quite numerous records and ceremonial inscriptions and family or clan names exist, carved into or brushed onto bone or tortoise shells. Three kinds of characters were usedâpictographs, ideograms, and phonogramsâand those records are the earliest known writing in China.