An outline, era by era

Shang dynasty (~1600 – ~1046 BCE)

oracle bones, earliest Chinese writing

Bronze Age · ~3300 – ~1200 BCE

The Shang dynasty ruled parts of the Yellow River plain in northern China from about 1600 to about 1046 BCE. Its kings held power from a series of capitals, the last and best known being near present-day Anyang in Henan province. The Shang is the earliest Chinese dynasty confirmed by writing and excavation, and its society was led by a king, a warrior aristocracy and specialist craftsmen.

The Shang is famous for its oracle bones, turtle shells and ox shoulder blades on which diviners scratched questions for the king and ancestors. These inscriptions are the earliest known Chinese writing, and the script is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters. The Shang also produced magnificent bronze ritual vessels, built walled cities and practised human sacrifice at royal burials. It ended when the Zhou people defeated the last Shang king in a battle traditionally dated to 1046 BCE, though the date is debated.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Xie, born from a swallow's egg

    Origin story

    The legend

    A woman of the ancient court, Jiandi, swallows an egg dropped by a dark bird sent from heaven. She gives birth to Xie, who helps the great Yu control the floods. He is rewarded with a fief at Shang, and from him descend the kings who found the dynasty.

    The rest is history

    The tale appears in the Book of Songs, in the Shang hymns, and in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, written around 100 BCE. The bird was probably a clan totem, and a bird connection suits a ruling house that honoured its ancestors. Oracle bone inscriptions do not mention the swallow story, but they do list royal ancestors, among them Shang Jia, and many of these names match Sima Qian's list. That match is strong evidence that the later lineage preserved real memory. Xie himself cannot be confirmed from Shang records.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryShijing (Book of Songs), Shang hymns, including Xuanniao. Chinese poetry, compiled by the 6th century BCE or earlier.
    2. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 3, Yin benji. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    3. BookKeightley, David N. The Ancestral Landscape: Time, Space, and Community in Late Shang China. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2000.Discusses Shang ancestors and kingship.

  2. Tang overthrows the tyrant Jie

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Cheng Tang, a virtuous lord of Shang, is helped by his wise minister Yi Yin. The last Xia king, Jie, is cruel and wasteful. Tang rises against him, defeats him in battle and founds the Shang dynasty, having won the right to rule by his virtue.

    The rest is history

    This is the model of dynastic change by which a wicked last ruler loses Heaven's favour, and it was written down centuries after the events, mostly by the Zhou and later authors. Shang oracle bones do honour a founder called Da Yi or Tang, so he was probably a real ancestor. But no inscription mentions Jie, and the Xia is not confirmed by writing from its own time. The cruel last king is a standard pattern that was also applied to the last Shang king. Archaeology shows an early Shang city at Zhengzhou, from about 1600 BCE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryShangshu (Book of Documents), chapter Tang shi. Chinese text, composed and compiled over the Zhou period and later.
    2. BookLoewe, Michael, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
    3. BookChang, Kwang-chih. Shang Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980.

  3. Dragon bones and the discovery of oracle script

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In 1899 a scholar named Wang Yirong is ill with malaria and is given a traditional medicine containing 'dragon bones'. He notices strange markings on them, and so discovers the earliest Chinese writing by accident.

    The rest is history

    The story is widely retold, but its details are doubtful and no contemporary source confirms the malaria. What is certain is that farmers near Anyang had been digging up inscribed bones, and that apothecaries sold them as medicine, ground up. Scholars such as Wang Yirong and Liu E began collecting them around 1899 to 1903. Systematic excavation began in 1928, and in 1936 a pit with about 17,000 inscribed pieces was found. Roughly 150,000 inscribed pieces are now known. The script was identified as Shang writing, with several thousand distinct signs.

    Sources

    1. BookKeightley, David N. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
    2. BookBagley, Robert, ed. Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization. Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, 2001.Context for Bronze Age China beyond the Shang.

  4. Fu Hao, the warrior queen

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Fu Hao, a consort of King Wu Ding, leads armies in the king's wars and also presides over rituals. She is a great general who fights the neighbouring peoples and is honoured after death.

    The rest is history

    This is based on real evidence. Oracle bones record the king asking about Fu Hao leading troops of several thousand against enemies such as the Tufang and Qiang, and about her childbirth, illness and sacrifices. Her tomb at Anyang, found intact in 1976, held about 1,600 objects, including over 400 bronzes, many jade pieces and weapons, and the remains of sacrificed people and dogs. Bronzes inscribed with her name identify her. The tomb is one of the few royal-level Shang burials not looted. How far she really commanded is debated, but she was clearly a woman of high rank.

    Sources

    1. BookThorp, Robert L. China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
    2. BookChang, Kwang-chih. Shang Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980.
    3. BookKeightley, David N. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.

  5. King Zhou and the Pool of Wine

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Zhou, the last Shang king, is a cruel tyrant who is besotted with his favourite, Daji. He builds a pool of wine and a forest of hanging meat, and tortures his critics. Heaven withdraws its favour, and King Wu of Zhou overthrows him at the battle of Muye.

    The rest is history

    The story was told mainly by the Zhou conquerors and later writers, who had reason to justify the conquest by blaming the defeated king. Later novels such as Investiture of the Gods, from the 16th century CE, added gods and demons. Shang sources do not describe him this way, and he is known as Di Xin. Excavations at Anyang do show feasting, ritual wine vessels and human sacrifice on a large scale. The Zhou victory at Muye is traditionally dated to 1046 BCE, though scholars have proposed other dates.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 3, Yin benji. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookShaughnessy, Edward L. Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
    3. BookLoewe, Michael, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

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