Thus through the whole course of Chinese history the scarcity of metal and insufficiency of production of metal continually produced extensive fluctuations of the stocks and the value of metal, amounting virtually to an economic law in China.  Consequently metal implements were never universally in use, and vessels were always of earthenware, with the further result of the early invention of porcelain.  Porcelain vessels have many of the qualities of metal ones, but are cheaper.

The earthenware vessels used in this period are in many cases already very near to porcelain:  there was a pottery of a brilliant white, lacking only the glaze which would have made it into porcelain.  Patterns were stamped on the surface, often resembling the patterns on bronze articles.  This ware was used only for formal, ceremonial purposes.  For daily use there was also a perfectly simple grey pottery.

Silk was already in use at this time.  The invention of sericulture must therefore have dated from very ancient times in China.  It undoubtedly originated in the south of China, and at first not only the threads spun by the silkworm but those made by other caterpillars were also used.  The remains of silk fabrics that have been found show already an advanced weaving technique.  In addition to silk, various plant fibres, such as hemp, were in use.  Woollen fabrics do not seem to have been yet used.

The Shang were agriculturists, but their implements were still rather primitive.  There was no real plough yet; hoes and hoe-like implements were used, and the grain, mainly different kinds of millet and some wheat, was harvested with sickles.  The materials, from which these implements were made, were mainly wood and stone; bronze was still too expensive to be utilized by the ordinary farmer.  As a great number of vessels for wine in many different forms have been excavated, we can assume that wine, made from special kinds of millet, was a popular drink.

The Shang state had its centre in northern Honan, north of the Yellow river.  At various times, different towns were made into the capital city; Yin-ch’ue, their last capital and the only one which has been excavated, was their sixth capital.  We do not know why the capitals were removed to new locations; it is possible that floods were one of the main reasons.  The area under more or less organized Shang control comprised towards the end of the dynasty the present provinces of Honan, western Shantung, southern Hopei, central and south Shansi, east Shensi, parts of Kiangsu and Anhui.  We can only roughly estimate the size of the population of the Shang state.  Late texts say that at the time of the annihilation of the dynasty, some 3.1 million free men and 1.1 million serfs were captured by the conquerors; this would indicate a population of at least some 4-5 millions.  This seems a possible number, if we consider that an inscription of the tenth century B.C. which reports about an ordinary war against a small and unimportant western neighbour, speaks of 13,081 free men and 4,812 serfs taken as prisoners.