Shang Dynasty | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

The Shang (1766–1045 BCE) is the earliest Chinese dynasty for which any significant archaeological documentation exists, placing it at the historical forefront of the Chinese cultural sphere. It is true that evidence of a prior dynasty, known in legend as the Xia (2100–1766 BCE), may soon be confirmed by ongoing archaeological studies of the settlement at Erlitou (which presently is considered to be either preor early Shang), or through new discoveries at other sites. Traditional Chinese historiography suggests that thirty kings ascended to the Shang throne through the rather complicated system of determining social status through ancestral connections. The first of these was said to have been named Cheng Tang (Tang the Successful; reigned 1766–1754?).

Extant written records dating from the Shang itself cover only the reigns of the last nine kings (Wu Ding, said to have reigned 1198–1189 BCE, through to Di Xin, who died around 1045 BCE), and it is of this later period that one can speak with some authority. The oldest form of writing from this period exists as brief inscriptions on bronze ritual vessels (jin wen) or as oracle-bone inscriptions (jia gu wen), which were either the shells of turtles or scapulas of oxen on which questions concerning divinatory or ceremonial matters were "answered" in the cracks appearing when the materials were heated. The language of the inscriptions is an early form of written Chinese.

One of the most important characteristics of the Shang, as it appears from the surviving traces of their civilization, is that the basis of the empire's governance was a comprehensive combination of religious ceremony and state ritual. At least by the end of the dynasty, the king, as the sole interpreter of the oracle-bone messages, acted as head shaman. The importance of the king's religious obligations may account for the many moves that appear to have been made in the location of the capital city. The king was said to have regularly marked and claimed his empire by performing ceremonial acts at sacred mountains located at the four cardinal directions on the boundaries of his realm. It is likely that he moved the center of government as he traveled. In addition, the political authority of the ruler was reaffirmed in the state worship of the royal ancestral line. The Shang ancestors, in return, were believed to have used their otherworldly positions to ensure an orderly and beneficial influence on the state. The interrelationship between political governance and ancestor worship served to perpetuate Shang rule. Rulers acquired legitimacy from their genealogical charter, and the Shang was ratified as a ruling house.

The pervasiveness of ritual in court life is well documented in the area of Anyang in northern Henan Province, settled during the reign of Wu Ding and therefore considered the final stage in Shang development. Especially at the royal residence, enormous tombs evidence the practice of human and animal sacrifice, the ritual burial of chariots, and the ceremonial use of vessels and oracle bones. To assist in providing ceremonial materials, the central court assumed control of natural resources. Mining became a particularly important industry; Chinese casting techniques, unmatched in the rest of the world, made possible the production of large and complex items. A bronze foundry used to cast ritual items and covering 10,000 square meters was discovered at the Miaopubei site, south of Anyang.

Palaces and temples have also been tentatively identified (on the basis of size) near Anyang at the Xiaotun compound. Another settlement yielding archaeological finds of primary importance is that of Zhengzhou, situated directly beneath the modern city of the same name in central Henan Province. Artifacts from Zhengzhou predate those from Anyang, and therefore the Zhengzhou developments are felt to represent a middle period of Shang development. Urban populations would have been engaged for the most part in the concerns of the state, including enterprises such as metallurgy, as well as in running or providing support services for the offices of the court. The rural populations, primarily engaged in the farming of millet, also served the Shang state. Often the agricultural lands are referred to as the "king's land" or the "Shang's land," indicating that a significant portion of the crops was intended for collection by the state.

The extent of Shang influence is astounding. Over five hundred sites that were culturally (although not necessarily politically) Shang have been found in Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning Provinces (an area covering much of present day China). Remnants of Shang culture have even been discovered among the artifacts of cultures that were distinctively non-Shang.

The Shang means of ruling the many scattered cultures under its influence was essentially that of an aristocratically configured feudalism based on clan birthright, perpetuated in the cult worship of royal Shang ancestors. Advanced techniques of metallurgy also aided Shang control, because military might allowed the Shang to maintain authority and prevail in the frequent wars against neighboring tribes, and especially against members of the Qiang tribal clan, who were often the victims of Shang sacrificial practices. Alliances between the Shang core authority and other clans were in a constant state of flux, and the true area through which the king and his retinue could travel safely was limited to the heartland of the Shang state in northern and eastern Henan and western Shandong. The population of the Shang is, as of yet, inestimable.

The fall of the Shang at the hands of a neighboring clan-state, the Zhou (1045–256 BCE) did not cut short the dynasty's influence on subsequent mainstream Chinese development. The Zhou, and to an extent successive dynasties, perpetuated the legacy of the Shang through continuing practices of ancestor worship, a patrimonial system of inheriting political status, an elaborate burial ritual, divination as a primary means of state advisement, and writing.

Zhou Dynasty

Allan, Sarah. (1991) The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Chang, Kwang-chih. (1980) Shang Civilization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Keightley, David, ed. (1983) The Origins of Chinese Civilization. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Loewe, Michael, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. (1999) The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

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