Shang Dynasty

About 1700 BCE to 1100 BCE

Main Idea: Rulers known as the Shang became powerful because they controlled land and had strong armies.

Little is known about how Chinese civilization began. Archaeologists, however, have found pottery in the Huang He valley dating back thousands of years. These artifacts show that the Huang He valley was the first center of Chinese civilization. Archaeologists think that people stayed in the valley and farmed the land because of rich soil. As their numbers expanded, they began building towns, and soon after, the first Chinese civilization began.

China’s first rulers were probably part of the Xia (SYAH) dynasty. A dynasty (DY• nuh•stee) is a line of rulers who belong to the same family. Little is known about the Xia. We know more about the next dynasty, the Shang. The Shang kings ruled from about 1750 B.C.E to 1045 B.C.E.

Who Were the Shang?

Archaeologists have found massive walls, royal palaces, and royal tombs from the time of the Shang.

These remains show that the Shang may have built the first Chinese cities. One of these cities was Anyang (AHN• YAHNG) in northern China. Anyang was China’s first capital. From there, the Shang kings ruled the early Chinese people.

The people of the Shang dynasty were divided into groups. The most influential group was the king and his family. The first Shang king ruled over a small area in northern China. His armies used chariots and bronze weapons to take over nearby areas. In time, the Shang kings ruled over most of the Huang He valley.

Later, Shang kings chose warlords to govern the kingdom’s territories. Warlords are military leaders who command their own armies. However, the king controlled even larger armies that defended the kingdom’s borders. The king’s armies helped him stay in power.

Under the king, the warlords and other royal officials made up the upper class. They were aristocrats, nobles whose wealth came from the land they owned. Aristocrats passed their land and their power from one generation to the next.

In Shang China, a few people were traders and artisans. Most Chinese, however, were farmers. They worked the land that belonged to the aristocrats. They grew grains, such as millet, wheat, rice, and raised cattle, sheep, and chickens. A small number of enslaved people captured in war also lived in Shang China.

Spirits and Ancestors

People in Shang China worshiped gods and spirits. Spirits were believed to live in mountains, rivers,

and seas. The people believed that they had to keep the gods and spirits happy by making offerings of food and other goods. They believed that the gods and spirits would be angry if they were not treated well. Angry gods and spirits might cause farmers to have a poor harvest or armies to lose a battle.

People also honored their ancestors or departed family members. Offerings were made in the hope that ancestors would help in times of need and bring good luck. To this day, many Chinese still remember their ancestors by going to temples and burning small paper copies of food and clothing. These copies represent things that their departed relatives need in the afterlife.

Telling the Future

Shang kings believed that they received power and wisdom from the gods, the spirits, and their ancestors. Shang religion and government were closely linked, just as they were in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. An essential duty of Shang kings was to contact the gods, the spirits, and ancestors before making important decisions.

The kings asked for the gods’ help by using oracle (AWR• uh • kuhl) bones. They had priests scratch questions on the bones, such as “Will I win the battle?” and “Will I recover from my illness?” Then the priests placed hot metal rods inside the bones, causing them to crack. They believed that the pattern of the cracks formed answers from the gods. The priests interpreted the answers and wrote them down for the kings. In this way, kings could make the gods, and their ancestors guided decisions that they believed. Scratches on oracle bones are the earliest known examples of Chinese writing.

The Chinese Language

The scratches on oracle bones show how today’s Chinese writing began. However, the modern Chinese language is much more complex.

Like many other ancient languages, early Chinese writing used pictographs and ideographs. Pictographs (PIHK • tuh • GRAFS) are characters that stand for objects. For example, the Chinese characters for a mountain, the sun, and the moon are pictographs. Ideographs (IH • dee • uh • GRAFS) are another kind of character used in Chinese writing. They join two or more pictographs to represent an idea. For example, the ideograph for “east” relates to the idea of the sun rising in the east. It is a combination of pictographs that show the sun coming up behind trees.

Unlike Chinese, English and many other languages have writing systems based on an alphabet. An alphabet uses characters that stand for sounds. The Chinese use some characters to stand for sounds, but most characters still represent whole words.

Shang Artists

The people in Shang China developed many skills. Farmers produced silk, which weavers used to make colorful clothes. Artisans made vases and dishes from fine white clay. They also carved statues from ivory and a green stone called jade.

The Shang are best known for their works of bronze. To make bronze objects, artisans made clay molds in several sections. Next, they carved detailed designs into the clay. Then, they fit the pieces of the mold tightly together and poured in melted bronze. When the bronze cooled, the mold was removed. A beautifully decorated work of art remained.

Shang bronze objects included sculptures, vases, drinking cups, and containers called urns. The Shang used bronze urns to prepare and serve food for rituals honoring ancestors.