The Shang Dynasty in China(from -1767 to -1122 according to traditional chronology . The method of divination used to spread the time of the Neolithic culture of Longshan (-3000 and - 2000 approximately): The scapulimancy. It was to submit to the fire of the shoulder blades of animals, originally from deer and sheep and oxen, and observe the cracking. The Shang also used chest (ventral shell) turtle. Thereupon, the soothsayers were annotations. These are the jiaguwen "inscriptions on bones and scales." Here is an example of a historical inscription: "The Tufang (an enemy) has launched an attack on our eastern border and captured two villages.

History

The civilization of the Shang

The territory controlled by the Shang seems to have reached its maximum area in the middle of the dynasty. He then narrowed, despite the efforts of Wu Ding , who would reign in Anyang between -1198 and -1189. He drove himself and his troops he confided to his generals, such as Qin, Qiao, Chang Wang and Guo Zhi. He launched major campaigns against enemies called Tufang, he destroyed, or Gongfang Qiangfang (the Qiang ). The first two were perhaps in northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia while Qiang occupied northern Henan and Shaanxi , closer to the Shang. In most campaigns, 3000 to 5000 men were mobilized. These armies, which also included 30, 100 or 300 archers and officers of the horses were divided into three units, left, right and center. Apparently, there was an archer and an officer of the horses in each tank. It is unclear whether the soldiers were gathered around the tanks or if they were independent. The Shang had allies in Shanxi West, such as Gu Yue Xuan and Sui. Another ally, the state of Zhou, seems to have been located in the same region, along the River Fen. Zu Geng (about -1188 to -1178), son of Wu Ding, who left the command of his army to General Qin, seems to have struggled against the Gongfang Shaofang and .

Subsequently, the states of Sui Yue, Zhou Xuan and became enemies. After some time, Zhou was no longer mentioned in jiaguwen, what is explained by the fact that he had moved to the west, Henan , near the River Wei. His new territory would become the cradle of the Zhou dynasty. Under the last kings of the Shang territory became smaller and smaller. At the end of the dynasty, it may not be extended beyond 20 km around the capital. However, the Kings were still able to raid at great distances. We then noticed they were no longer appeal to the generals. They could be away for several months.

According to a tradition recorded only in ^the third century AD, King Pangeng moved the capital in the city of Yin (who was identified in Anyang) called Yin-hiu in ancient literature, and then took his dynasty's name this city This is why modern writers sometimes call Shang-Yin. Archaeological data have not confirmed this tradition. The term Yin seems rather to have been used by Zhou.

Royal Power

The Shang believed they existed at the center of a square earth. They called themselves as Zhong Shang zhong which translates as "central". Their land was ideally divided into four parts, the "Four Countries" (if you), oriented along the four cardinal points. The dynasty was divided into lines (zu), which were patrilineal descent groups. These lines functioned as political entities whose members were linked to the king by a hierarchy of relationships, privileges and obligations. They helped the king in war or hunting, and received in exchange for military assistance and religious. Royal lineage (zu wang), which included the king and his son, was the heart of the dynasty. At the head of their own lines, princes adults (zi) participated in sacrifices to royal ancestors. Shang vassals sent tribute in the form of cattle or horses or tortoise shells used in pyromancy .

Six ancestors pre-dynastic kings and 29 are in jiaguwen. They are designated by name in the temple. Since the beginning of the dynasty, it was common for the younger brother of a deceased king succeeded him, but after the reigns of Xin Lin and Kang Ding (Kings 24 and 25), the estate was made only from father son. There are only 17 generations, and since the first king, Da Yi. Wu Ding was the twenty-first king, and two of his son reigned, Zu Geng (King 22) and Zu Jia (King 23). For nine generations, there are quarrels between the brothers and their younger son, for the estate. The importance of a royal wife (fu) depended on its ability to give son. It was excavated the tomb of Fu Hao, wife of Wu Ding, who was buried with considerable pomp. These women took part in the consecration of the chest and bones used for divination, and their families supplied the diviners who served the king.

To count the days, the Shang used the sexagesimal cycle. There are ten Heavenly Stems, jia, yi, bing, ding, ..., mistletoe and twelve Earthly Branches, zi, chou, yin, ..., you, xu, hai. These designations of " heavenly stems (tian gan) and " heavenly branches (di zhi) were made after the Shang. The first day is called Jiazi, yichou the second, and so on until the tenth, which is Guiyou. To name the eleventh day, combining the first celestial body with the eleventh earthly branch: jiaxu. It gets kind of a cycle of 60 days which is divided into six decades (xun) starting one day and ending with jia gui one day.

Each name of a temple of the dead kings included a name of heavenly body, and Shang were more likely to offer a sacrifice during the day that they corresponded Da Jia jia was revered in the day (first day), Da Geng was venerated on the day geng (the seventh day), etc.. Zu Jia (King 23) appears to have been behind this reform. He decided that it would no longer that of divination to see if a whole decade is auspicious or harmful. He did more than one consulate ancestors for each event (to launch a military campaign, the future birth, etc.)..

He seems to have existed a genuine system of record for jiagu (scales and bones). It always noted the name of the diviner (drunk) and the date of divination, that is to say the name of the day in the sexagesimal system. The scribes were called shi. Bureaucratic habits appeared already: we carefully noted the enemy attacks, the number of prisoners captured and brought back the spoils thanks to campaigns, or the number of animals taken in hunts. A number of officers were spread on the territory of Shang, such as "field officers" (tian), who were engaged in agriculture, "officers of the dogs" (quan), which intervened in the hunt the "pastors" or "guards". Outside the area of Shang leaders designated by the terms of Hou Bo or were likely to become allies and to pay tribute in exchange for military assistance.

Religion

Ritual wine vessel bronze XIII ^centuryBC. BC the Shang dynasty, presented at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian , Washington, DC

The supreme god was Shang Di or apparently Shang Di , the High God. It does not seem to have been ancestral character, although he shared some power with the royal ancestors, such as to bring the disease. Diviners consulted him little, as they often addressed to the royal ancestors. Its ability to cause disasters shows that he had nothing guardian. He commanded the rain, thunder and winds. It also exerted an effect on crops and on the war. His name was included in the names of the last two kings temple.

At a lower level, were the natural powers, like you, Sol (as in the expression if you "four countries"), He, the Yellow River, Ri, Sun, and certain sacred mountains. In Chinese mythological texts, all postrieux to Shang, he remained a memory of you, as the Houtu. He was a god sometimes considered underground. Some experts thought it was female, but without serious reason. You were actually the Altar of the Soil. He was the god of the Shang territory and he was probably as subordinate gods Sol regional and local. Under the Zhou Dynasty , Chinese people have known as shi (written with a character including the character you). They were then represented as a tree planted on a mound surrounded by a grove. This cult of the gods of Sol is known to other peoples of the Far East, such as Thai or Yi (speaking of a Tibeto-Burman ).

In Chinese the same word, laughed, means the day and the sun. The ten heavenly stems, which used to number the days of a decade, are to be compared with the ten suns are talking about mythological texts. They are likened to birds, often crows. They were perched on a cosmic tree. These birds were totems. According to the poem 303, Shijing , which dates from the early Zhou Dynasty , "Heaven ordered a black bird down (on land) and to generate the Shang. They settled on the land of Yin and prospered there. "

Then came the First Lords, such as Nao Hai Wang and Yi Yin. Like Di, or the natural powers, some of these Lords had power over time, harvests or war. Contrary to the ancestors, they did not intervene in the affairs of the King: divination by jiagu, health or births. Chinese mythological texts have preserved memories of Wang Hai Yi Yin. The latter appears as a minister of Tang the Victorious, the mythical founder of the Shang dynasty. No doubt the First Lords they were officers of the early Shang kings, no relation with them and no name of a temple, but a cult which had been granted.

The king's personal affairs were the responsibility of pre-dynastic ancestors (Shang Jia Bao Yi Bao Bing Bao Ding Shi Ren, Shi Gui) and royal ancestors. The wives of royal ancestors in direct line also played a role. When a sacrifice was made to him or when he was asked an oracle, the soul of an ancestor returned to his funeral tablet, which was placed in a temple in the capital. Natural Powers and some First Lords, such as Nao, were also temples.

Popular religion certainly included shamanism. Shamans (shi) had the ability to leave their bodies to get to Heaven or Hell. These ecstatic journeys have been preserved in Taoism. This religion also took college magicians (wu) that existed as early as the Shang. They officiated as the royal sorcerers.

Society

Obviously, jiaguwen give much more information on the lives of kings and their entourage as that of the people. At least we know that the peasants lived in villages (yi) surrounded by fields (tian). They mainly cultivated millet (shu or he) but also wheat or barley. Deities such as Di, the Yellow River or mountain Yang were sometimes accused of doing harm to crops. Farms were controlled by the king, who confided to peasants led by officers. We had a large herd. Hundreds of oxen, sheep, pigs or dogs were killed at great sacrifice.

The same word, tian, designated fields and hunting, probably because agricultural land were also hunting. It was the game out of forests through fires, which opened at the same time new fields. North China was much more wooded than now. The clearing was the king's business and took on the appearance of military expeditions. This work was entrusted to zhongren, both peasants and soldiers, led by officers. The Chinese were encroaching on the territories of other nations, as the Qiang. Sometimes, the clearing was entrusted to strangers.

According to a view also known Indo-Europeans, hunting was considered a warfare training. Royal hunts were conducted as military campaigns and their booty could be impressive. During one of them, Wu Ding captured a tiger, 40 deer, 150 deer and 164 foxes.

There was a sharp separation between the nobility (including especially the royal family and their allied families) and the people. The nobles lived in cities centered around their palaces. They devoted themselves exclusively to religious activities, hunting and war. Psychics or craftsmen came together in these cities, which were small. The last capital was only 800 meters in circumference. Agriculture, however, was entirely devoted to the people. All products of labor of the peasants were normally used by the nobility, they were unable to collect the minimum necessary to live.

There is no evidence of the existence of slavery similar to the Greco-Roman world. Prisoners of war seem to have been used as a domestic labor. They also became victims of human sacrifice, that the Shang were on a massive scale. The Qiang are frequently mentioned.

Writing

Shang Dynasty used pictographic writing, with signet style (see Chinese calligraphy styles ). It is engraved on the bone, tortoiseshell and bronze.

Art

Shang bronze, Museum of Arts of the Far East Berlin

Found in the Shang Dynasty many art objects:

• carvings in ivory , bone, clay (and elements of molds for casting bronze). The decorative features are the diamond and the spiral;
• bronze vases measuring 30 cm to 80 cm, or completely symmetrical shapes of animals, with elaborate sets with marks of emblems but true that writing was found on bronze vessels of the next dynasty. Similarly, if we find some vases feet, tripod Chinese appear at the end of the Shang dynasty.
• discs jade ritual objects that are;
• Ceramic Pan-chan decorated with red and black spirals, continuation of the previous industry;
• jade jewelry, beryl , small amulets in the round representing various animals, carved marble, were found in graves of princes.

Dynasty

According to traditional historiography

The Shang Dynasty counted with certainty at least 29 kings

The king was dethroned by Xin Di Wu Wang founder of the Zhou dynasty.

Capitals of Shang kings

• Bo () of King Cheng Tang to King Zhong Ding.
• Ao () or () for kings Zhong Ding and Ren Wai.
• Xiang () during the reign of He Dan Jia.
• Geng () or () during the reign of Zu Yi.
• Bi () of Zu Yi to Nan Geng.
• Yan () of Nan Geng at Pan Geng.
• Yin () of Pan Geng to Di Xin.

References

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