X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Shang dynasty


Compton Verney House

The collections include Neapolitan art from 1600 to 1800; Northern European medieval art from 1450–1650; British portraits including paintings of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Edward VI and works by Joshua Reynolds; Chinese bronzes including objects from the Neolithic and Shang periods; British folk art; and 20th century textiles including creations by Enid Marx.

Shang Dynasty

The Erligang culture represented by the Zhengzhou site is found across a wide area of China, even as far northeast as the area of modern Beijing, where at least one burial in this region during this period contained both Erligang-style bronzes and local-style gold jewelry.

Other advances included the invention of many musical instruments and observations of Mars and various comets by Shang astronomers.

Cowry shells were also excavated at Anyang, suggesting trade with coast-dwellers, but there was very limited sea trade in ancient China since China was isolated from other large civilizations during the Shang period.

Zhuangjiashan

In 1988, a site containing historical relics of the Shang Dynasty was discovered 50 meters to the south of the village.


Book of Documents

Although Confucius invoked the pre-dynastic emperors Yao and Shun, and figures from the Xia and Shang dynasties, he complained of the lack of documentation prior to the Zhou.

The chapters are grouped into four sections representing different eras: the semi-mythical reign of Yu the Great, and the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The chapters are grouped into four sections representing different eras: the semi-mythical reign of Yu the Great, and the three ancient dynasties of the Xia, Shang and Zhou.

Chinese astronomy

Star names later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions have been found on oracle bones unearthed at Anyang, dating back to the middle Shang Dynasty (Chinese Bronze Age), and the mansion (xiù:宿) system's nucleus seems to have taken shape by the time of the ruler Wu Ding (1339-1281 BC).

Feizi

During the Shang Dynasty, Boyi's descendant Zhongjue (中潏) was in charge of Xichui (西垂, also called Quanqiu, in present-day Li County, Gansu) in the midst of the Rong tribes.

Kong Xuan

When the evil king Zhou, the last ruler of Shang dynasty was rebelled against by his former subordinate King Wu, general Kong Xuan fought the rebel army in the Golden Cock Range.

Longnan

Longnan is very important in Chinese history: it was the home of Rong tribes that troubled the Shang and Zhou dynasties and is considered the homeland of the House of Ying, the family of the Qin dynasty that united China at the end of the Warring States period.

Records of the Grand Historian

#12 volumes of Benji (本紀), "Basic Annals" or "Imperial Biographies", contain the biographies of all prominent rulers from the Yellow Emperor to Qin Shi Huang and the kings of Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips

Another text running across 14 slips recounts a celebratory gathering of the Zhou elite in the 8th year of the reign of King Wu of Zhou, prior to their conquest of the Shang dynasty.

Yinglong

Carr (1990:106) cites Chen Mengjia's hypothesis, based on studies of Shang Dynasty oracle bones, that Yinglong was originally associated with the niqiu 泥鰍 "loach".


see also

Boyi

Boyi and Shuqi (伯夷 and 叔齊), brothers who were said to have lived in China at the time of the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty transition