High Level Overview of Chinese History: Bronze Age IV
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The Shang dynasty, åę ShÄngchĆ”o, also known as the Yin dynasty ę®·ä»£ YÄ«n dĆ i, which might also refer to the final capital, ruled over the central Yellow River valley from about 1600-1046 BCE, the second traditional dynasty after the Xia. It is the first that can be supported by archaeological evidence, at least toward the end of their reign, though the founding of the dynasty remains shrouded in myth and legends. The earliest writing that can be identified as writing also dates from the Shang dynasty in the form of oracle bones dating to about the 12th century BCE. Many of the accounts of the Shang dynasty were written long after they ruled, with one being written around the 6th century BCE supposedly by Confucius, while other accounts were written as late as about 91 BCE, and these accounts do not necessarily align with each other.
According to the founding myth, the Shang were the descendants of Emperor Ku, also a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and his wife Jiandi, who had 'swallowed an egg dropped by a black bird', and she gave birth to Xie, who assisted Yu the Great in controlling the flooding of the Yellow River, and for his service, Xie was 'granted a place called Shang as a fief'. As with the Xia dynasty, the name of the dynasty was taken from the land they controlled before they rose to power. Thirteen generations later, Tang, Xie's descendant, 'overthrew the impious and cruel final Xia ruler in the Battle of Mingtiao'.
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The discovery of artifacts dating back to the Shang dynasty date to about 1899, when Chinese pharmacists were selling things they called 'dragon bones' that had archaic characters on them. It wasn't until 1928 that these were traced to their origin at a site near Yinxu on the north side of the Yellow River. Excavations were disrupted by the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. In the 1950, another site was found near Zhengzhou in Henan Province, this one with rammed earth walls that would have been 20 m wide and 8 m tall and were likely made in the 15th century BCE. In 2022, an elite tomb was found in the city walls that held over 200 artifacts, including a gold face covering. Another walled city was discovered in 1999, across the river from Yinxu, now known as Huanbei that was in use for about a century before it was destroyed and then the Yinxu site was constructed.
Whether the Shang ans Xia existed and were considered kings over their own states at the same time or whether the Shang were under the Xia until they rose up in rebellion against an unfit ruler is unclear, though some think that the later is a myth that the Zhou invented to justify their overthrow of the Shang, saying that the 'mandate of heaven' had passed on from one dynasty to another. While the succession is accepted by Chinese historians in general, it might hide the complexity of the situation.
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Both bronze and pottery improved during the Shang dynasty, with bronze being more ceremonial than utilitarian. The amount of bronze items produced indicate that a large labor force was engaged in mining, refining, and transporting copper, tin, and lead. This large workforce and the logistics involved also indicate the need for managers. There were also ceremonial rules that dictated how many and what types of bronze vessels each class could own. The increase in bronze production also allowed for the army to use it for equipment and for the use of it in making wheeled chariots, which appeared in about 1200 BCE. The king maintained a standing army of 1000 soldiers at the capital in addition to a force of between 3,000-5,000 troops that were mustered up when needed for border campaigns, and up to 13,000 for suppressing rebellions, so the availability of bronze to equip these soldiers also resulted in a rudimentary military bureaucracy.
We have direct records of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning about 1250 BCE, in the Yinxu site. Bronze inscriptions and some pottery, jade, horn, stones, and other materials had writing on them, but the most commonly found were oracle bones. Because the writing system used for these inscriptions is complex and sophisticated, researchers think that there had to be a developmentally earlier system, but evidence of that system hasn't been found yet. They also had observations of Mars and various comets recorded.
We know from their writings that they practiced war and human sacrifice, with those recorded being captives Qiang people, who were taken in war. The skeletons of these victims were found in the Zhengzhou site, based on isotope analysis. The Qiang people were likely Tibeto-Burman people, though it was 'a Chinese exonym given to various groups of people at different periods in ancient China'. Also from their writings and the presence of cowry shells that there was trade with those on the sea coast, but it was limited because China was isolated at this time, but it also shows the beginnings of what would become the Silk Road via diplomatic ties with various civilizations.
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The first undisturbed grave found in the modern day was in 1976 and belong to Fu Hao, one of King Wu Ding's wives, of which he had many. Wu Ding, the 11th of 17 Shang kings, is the first king we have a direct record of, and Fu Hao was 'renown as a military general' for him. Within her grave, there were 109 inscriptions containing her name and over 200 bronze ritual vessels. She is mentioned in between 170 and 180 other oracle bone inscriptions as well. With these items, she was also buried with 'stoneware and pottery vessels, bronze weapons, jade figures and hair combs, and bone hairpins', suggesting both her military and ritual importance.
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We have records of their beliefs, with the king being the head of the ancestor worship cult and that they used oracle bones to perform divinations, with more being found from the end of the dynasty. These divinations are most often concerned with the peoples living outside their territory, especially those in the Yan Mountains. They also acted as high priests to the god Di, who was a storm god, responsible for wind, rain, and thunder. The state religion required sacrifice to six main recipients: Di; natural forces such as the sun and mountains; deceased humans that were part of the pantheon, such as former lords; pre-dynastic ancestors; male dynastic ancestors; and the royal wives who were ancestors to the king. They believed these ancestors held power over their lives and the divinations were to seek their approval for actions they wanted to take. From this evidence and the tombs they left behind, it does seem that the Shang believed in an afterlife and that the burial goods were needed for it. Kings were buried with 'up to a few hundred humans and horses as well to accompany the king into the afterlife, in some cases even numbering four hundred'. Jade was thought to protect against decay and confer immortality and was in the graves for this reason.
