Shang Dynasty 商朝: China's first dynasty with written records of its existence
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The Shang Dynasty began about 1600BC, when the dynasty at the time, known as the Xia Dynasty (夏朝), was led by a brutal and incompetent ruler named Jie. Jie angered not only his own people but also the tribes around him, and soon the Shang Kingdom, led by King Tang (成湯), declared war on the Xia. After numerous victories, Tang soon faced Jie in battle directly. Jie (桀) was soundly defeated and fled. The Shang Kingdom took over the region and established the Shang Dynasty. They set up their capital in modern day Zhengzhou, near the Yellow River.
Now originally the Shang, like the Xia Dynasty before it, was considered a legendary dynasty with very few written records. Some questioned if it even existed. This all changed one day around 1900 when a Chinese scholar discovered strange glyphs on animal bones (mostly the shoulder blades of cattle and the bellies of tortoises) that had been dug up by farmers. He investigated and found that the writing dated back all the way back to the Shang Dynasty and was the first recorded instance of Chinese characters.
We call these bones “oracle bones.” (甲骨) Why is that? Well, a soothsayer would write a question on one side of a bone, like, “Will I have a son?” He would then flip the bone over, press a red-hot iron into the center, and as the bone split, interpret the cracks as divine messages. From these bones we learn much about the state of affairs of Shang society, the concerns of the average citizen, and even preparations for battles and other affairs of state.
The Shang is also famous for its perfection of bronze metallurgy, which was used for two main purposes: ceremonial items and weapons of war. The Shang were heavily into rituals for burials, worship, and other purposes. They believed not only in local gods but also worshipped ancestors. Since the use of bronze was restricted to only the highest classes, these items signified a great honor to the gods or ancestors they dignified. These bronze ceremonial tools also had written inscriptions on them, helping us to understand more about Chinese civilization at the time.
The Shang’s development of bronze tools, like bronze arrow heads, spears, and swords helped to revolutionize war. Their skill in bronze-making helped them to create bronze-tipped spears, compound bows, and most importantly, the horse-drawn chariot, which enabled generals to quickly survey and organize large numbers of troops. This was especially helpful for the Shang, who often sent over ten thousand troops into battle.
For all the advances the Shang made to Chinese civilization, its existence was surprisingly troubled. The dynasty had to repeatedly change its capital and was constantly beset by rival tribes during its 600-year-rule. The dynasty’s biggest rival, the state of Zhou, which was based in modern day Xi An (西安), proclaimed that the Shang was evil and must be overthrown. They had good reason for this, too: the Shang are now known to have engaged in large-scale human sacrifice. These human offerings were mutilated and then killed, sometimes hundreds at a time.
Around 1046BC, the Zhou led a 45,000-man army against the Shang, defeating them and thus beginning the reign of the Zhou Dynasty, which we’ll cover in our next little episode.
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