Shang Dynasty (1570? -1045? BC)

Shang dynasty arose during the Bronze Age in China. Thousands of archaeological finds in the Yellow River valley--the cradle of Chinese civilization, provide evidence about the Shang dynasty, which ruled roughly from 16th to 11th BC. A rebel leader who overthrew the previous Xia dynasty founded the Shang dynasty. The Shang directly controlled only the central part of China proper, present day Henan Province. However, the Shang influence extended beyond the state's borders, and the Shang art motifs are often found in artifacts from more-distant regions. Shang's civilization was based on agriculture and animal husbandry.

Shang kings were the religious and political heads of the country. They ruled through dynastic alliances; prophesy; and royal journeys, hunts, and military campaigns that took him to outlying areas. The Shang people were often at war with neighboring peoples and moved their capital several times. Shang kings could mobilize large armies for warfare and huge numbers of workers to construct defensive walls and elaborate tombs.

Two important features of this dynasty were the development of a writing system, as revealed in ancient Chinese inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones), and the use of bronze metallurgy. In the early 20th century, the archaeological discovery of the Shang oracle-bone inscriptions with records of the king's predictions on topics such as the weather and harvests, proved the historical existence of this Chinese dynasty. A number of ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions date from the Shang period and bronze weapons, the workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.

The writing system used by the Shang is the direct ancestor of the modern Chinese writing system, with symbols or characters for each word. This writing system would evolve over time, but it never became a purely phonetic system like the Roman alphabet, which uses symbols (letters) to represent specific sounds. Thus mastering the written language required learning to recognize and write several thousand characters, making literacy a highly specialized skill requiring many years to master fully.

The Shang used bronze more for purposes of ritual than war. Although some weapons were made of bronze, the great quantity of the surviving Shang bronze objects are cups, goblets, steamers, and cauldrons, presumably made for use in sacrificial rituals. They were beautifully formed in a great variety of shapes and sizes and decorated with images of wild animals. The bronze industry required centralized coordination of a large labor force to mine, refine, and transport copper, tin, and lead ores, as well as to produce and transport charcoal. It also required technically skilled artisans to make clay models, construct ceramic molds, and assemble and finish vessels, the largest which weighed as much as 800 kg.