what led to the development of shang writing

Selena Lai and Waka Takahashi Chocolate-brown
November 2006
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Excerpt from Chinese Dynasties Part One: The Shang Dynasty Through the Tang Dynasty, 1600 BCE to 907 CE

The Shang Dynasty marked the middle of Cathay'due south Bronze Historic period and was a dynasty that made great contributions to Chinese civilization. Scholars practise not fully concur on the dates and details of the earliest Chinese dynasties, simply nearly have that the Shang Dynasty is the offset one to have left behind written records and solid archaeological prove of its existence. The Shang is the second dynasty of the Three Dynasties Period. Legends speak of the earlier Xia dynasty, just no written records from that time have been plant to ostend this. Fifty-fifty though texts written afterward than the Shang Dynasty mention the Xia Dynasty, Western scholars contend that they are not enough to prove it truly existed. Therefore, most Western scholars regard the legendary Xia equally an early on civilization that existed betwixt the Neolithic and Shang cultures. But many Chinese scholars firmly believe that the Xia did indeed exist even if written records have never been found.

Because the Three Dynasties' civilisation occupied the Xanthous River valley, this geographic area is ofttimes called the birthplace or cradle of Chinese civilization. While this is true in some regard, 1 must continue in heed that the Shang was just one of several contemporary civilizations in Communist china.^ane It may have been the only one with written records, but that does not mean it was the just one in beingness. More recently discovered archaeological sites far away from the Yellowish River valley reveal distinctly different cultures from the Shang, and scholars are now trying to determine how much these cultures influenced each other.

Oracle Bones

Before the discovery of the Shang oracle bones and the interpretation of their inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, scholars had no firm proof that the Shang Dynasty existed. Upwardly to that indicate, Shang history had been based heavily on historical accounts written long later on the Shang period ended. Shang bronze inscriptions were unremarkably very curt. With and then piffling information, scholars questioned whether the dynasty fifty-fifty existed. The information and details inscribed onto oracle basic matched what was recorded in texts written centuries later, thereby providing the prove scholars needed. The oracle bone inscriptions and the bronze inscriptions marking the showtime of written Chinese history.

The rex or professional diviners hired by the rex used oracle bones to make predictions almost the hereafter or to respond questions such as, "Will the king have a son?", "Volition information technology pelting tomorrow?", "If we send 3,000 men into battle, will we succeed?", or even "Is the long drought caused by ancestor X?"^two The scribe carved the question onto a bone (almost oft the shoulder bones of h2o buffalo or other cattle) or a tortoise plastron.³ On the other side of the os or plastron he would carve a number of small pits. He then inserted a hot metal rod into these pits until the os cracked; and the king or diviner interpreted the cracks. Then, on the other side of the bone, the scribe carved the answer and the eventual consequence.

Past analyzing oracle bone inscriptions, other artifacts, and archaeological sites such as tombs and aboriginal cities, scholars take been able to piece together many details of Shang civilization. They have confirmed the names of its kings, its style of authorities, its military history, its religious behavior and rituals, and its lodge.

The Kingdom

According to legend, the Shang Dynasty was founded old around 1600 BCE past a virtuous man named Cheng Tang, who overthrew the evil king of the legendary Xia. The Shang Dynasty was a monarchy governed by a series of kings, 29 or xxx in total, over the course of almost 600 years.⁴ The rex was served by officials who held specialized positions of authority and function; and the officials belonged to a hereditary form of aristocrats, usually related to the king himself.^five

While the king lived in and ruled from a capital city, information technology wasn't always the same city. Although historical records mention many unlike Shang capitals, simply a few have actually been confirmed with archaeological evidence. No one knows exactly why a king would move the capital but some scholars think it had to do with internal power struggles inside the majestic family.

Cheng Tang is said to have established the dynasty'south first upper-case letter at a town called Shang (near modernistic-day Zhengzhou), but later kings moved the capital many more than times, the concluding being a place called Yin (near modern-twenty-four hours Anyang). Archaeological evidence suggests that the boondocks of Shang was the ancestral capital letter of the dynasty that remained in a stock-still location throughout the dynasty. It was where the Shang kings kept their most sacred ancestral temples, tablets, and regalia. The political capital was where the kings lived and ruled from. While the political uppercase moved many times during the dynasty, the ancestral capital letter never moved.⁶

The core of the dynasty was located in the northern part of modern-day Henan province, in a triangular area between the cities of Anyang, Luoyang, and Zhengzhou, the latter 2 of which are on the Yellow River. In improver to uncovering the remains of several Shang cities, archaeologists accept found huge tombs of many Shang kings and their families. Even though the dynasty was centered in this area, its civilisation reached places much farther away.

As the oracle bones and other artifacts and records revealed, the Shang kings were constantly at war with outsiders well-nigh and far. Many of the oracle bones bore questions related to battles, such as the outcome of a hereafter battle or how many men to send into battle. The king sent out armies of as many as thirteen,000 men to fight battles on behalf of the kingdom. Victorious armies brought back prisoners of war—as many as 30,000 at a fourth dimension—who either became laborers or ritual sacrifices.^vii The armies as well helped proceeds new territories and bring back precious resources for the kingdom.

Organized religion

The Shang worshipped the "Shang Di," who was the supreme god that ruled over the lesser gods of the dominicus, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces and places.^eight They also worship8ped their ancestors because they believed that although their ancestors lived in heaven afterward their decease, they were still actively involved in the diplomacy of family and descendants. The kings communicated with their ancestors using oracle bones and fabricated frequent sacrifices to them. Equally in many other societies, they sacrificed animals to imperial ancestors and to diverse nature gods,^nine using sacrifices to ask the ancestors or gods for help and to feed the ancestors or gods to go on them stiff.^x They believed that if they failed to properly worship their ancestors, their family and the kingdom would experience many disasters.

Because the Shang believed in the afterlife and antecedent worship, they thought very seriously about burial and what was to accompany the deceased to his or her grave. The vast and elaborate tombs of the Shang royal family are signs of their strong beliefs. Among the many treasures buried in important people's tombs were the remains of many other people. Some were nameless individuals who had been captured during battle and used as human sacrifices at burials. Others were relatives or lower-ranking dependents of the deceased. This exercise of burying lower-ranking people reflected the Shang'due south conventionalities that those related to a king or lord by claret or service in life were expected to continue that human relationship in death.^eleven

Shang Contributions to Chinese Civilization

The Shang made many contributions to Chinese civilization, but four in detail ascertain the dynasty: the invention of writing; the evolution of a stratified authorities; the advancement of statuary engineering science; and the use of the chariot and bronze weapons in warfare.

The Invention of Writing
The oracle bone inscriptions are the oldest known form of Chinese writing. By comparing and equating the inscriptions to mod Chinese characters, scholars have shown that the Shang had already developed all the principles of the modern writing system used today. In fact, Chinese writing has undergone relatively few changes since information technology was first adult three,500 years ago.

Since Shang documents were originally recorded on strips of bamboo and silk that have long since decomposed, the oracle bones and statuary inscriptions bear the only written history from the Shang era. Since Shang bronze inscriptions were very short and did not say much, most of what is known about the Shang Dynasty is from the oracle bones. Toward the end of the Shang, writing was also inscribed on bronze objects.

A Stratified Government and Lodge
The Shang political system was organized into a bureaucracy, meaning that information technology had many levels of rank and many specialized functions and jobs, all passed downwardly inside a noble family. Shang club was also hierarchical with many dissimilar levels of social rank.

The invention of writing had a profound result on Shang regime and its power to dominion. It increased the regime's ability to organize on a large scale, whether information technology be to oversee a hierarchical assistants; rule the state's many territories; organize the mining of big quantities of ore for bronzework; wage large military campaigns; construct city walls and palaces; or build elaborate tombs for themselves.

Bronze Technology
The Shang Dynasty existed during Cathay's bronze historic period. At that time, bronze represented ability, wealth, and luxury. Past looking at the way bronze was used by the Shang, it is clear that only those with any degree of power in the kingdom had access to using bronze objects. Shang bronzes autumn into two categories: weapons or formalism vessels for food and wine. By far, nigh of the pieces are ceremonial vessels and speak of a society and culture that valued rituals, such every bit rituals for burial, commemoration, and worshipping gods and ancestors. Bronze was not used for common tools, such equally hammers or hoes.

Archaeologists have dug up thousands of Shang bronze pieces, ranging from small objects to huge nutrient and wine vessels weighing as much as 2,000 pounds. The artistry and workmanship of the bronze pieces reveal the Shang's mastery of bronze engineering science. The Shang perfected a technique known every bit piece-mold casting, a complicated procedure that involved creating a mold out of clay; carving a design into information technology; pouring molten statuary into the mold; cracking the mold away; and adding handles every bit a final footstep. The actual shape, design, and ornament of ritual vessels changed over time according to changing importance of rituals and belief systems.

The Utilise of the Chariot and Bronze Weapons in Warfare
The advancement of bronze technology and the use of bronze weapons gave the Shang military great advantage over their enemies and completely changed the way they fought wars. They used newly-developed weapons like the statuary-tipped halberd and spear, the compound bow; and nearly importantly, they used horse-fatigued chariots.

The chariot, which had about likely been introduced from western asia, completely inverse the way battles were fought. Chariots immune commanders to supervise their troops efficiently and across great distances. They likewise gave soldiers a significant edge over their opponents by making them highly mobile and fast. Since war was central to life during the Shang Dynasty, these developments in weapons were very important in allowing the Shang to maintain its military supremacy.

The End of the Shang

The Shang Dynasty ended in about 1050 BCE, when conquerors from the state of Zhou invaded the capital and successfully toppled the Shang Dynasty. The Zhou conquerors claimed to overthrow the Shang Dynasty for moral reasons. They said that the Shang king was evil and that heaven no longer wanted him to dominion. They blamed the Shang's downfall on its king'south excessive drinking, indulgent lifestyle, and immoral behavior. The downfall remained a cautionary tale to kings and emperors for years to come.

Notes

1. Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy, editors, The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 14.
2. Charles O. Hucker, China'south Royal Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975), 29.
3. David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang History: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age Prc (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978), 6.
4. Kwang-Chih Chang, Shang Civilization (New Haven CT: Yale University Printing, 1980), 6; David N. Keightley, "The Shang: China'south Outset Historical Dynasty," in The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilisation to 221 B.C., edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaugnessy, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 232.
5. Hucker, 30.
6. Chang, 212.
7. Chang, 194.
8. Richard Hooker, "Ancient Mainland china: The Shang" (1996), , 1.
9. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History: China (Cambridge, United kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 25.
10. Ebrey, 25.
11. Keightley, "The Shang: China's First Historical Dynasty," 286.

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Source: https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/the_shang_dynasty_1600_to_1050_bce

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