"Shang" redirects here. For other uses, see Shang (disambiguation).
"Yin dynasty" redirects here. For the dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, see Yin (Five Dynasties period).
Shang
商
c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC
Approximate territory of the Shang dynasty within present-day China
Capital
Bo (亳) (either modern Yanshi or Zhengzhou)
Ao (隞) (near modern Zhengzhou)
Yan (奄) (near modern Qufu)
Xiang (near modern Anyang)
Yinxu (near modern Anyang)
Zhaoge (near modern Qi County, Hebi)
Common languages
Old Chinese
Religion
Shang spiritual religion
Government
Monarchy
King
• c. 1600 BC
Tai Yi
• c. 1250 – 1191 BC
Wu Ding
• c. 1075 – 1046 BC
King Zhou
Historical era
Bronze Age
• Established
c. 1600 BC
• Zhou conquest
c. 1046 BC
Area
c. 1122 BC[1]
1,250,000 km2 (480,000 sq mi)
Currency
Shell money
Shell mussels
Tong Bei
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Xia dynasty
Zhou dynasty
Today part of
China
Shang
"Shang" in oracle bone script (top left), bronze script (top right), seal script (bottom left), and regular script (bottom right) forms
Chinese
商
Hanyu Pinyin
Shāng
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Shāng
Bopomofo
ㄕㄤ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Shang
Wade–Giles
Shang1
Tongyong Pinyin
Shang
IPA
[ʂáŋ]
Wu
Romanization
Saon
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Sēung
Jyutping
soeng1
IPA
[sœːŋ˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ
Siong
Tâi-lô
Siong
Old Chinese
Baxter (1992)
*hljang
Baxter–Sagart (2014)
*s-taŋ
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese
殷
Hanyu Pinyin
Yīn
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Yīn
Bopomofo
ㄧㄣ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh
In
Wade–Giles
Yin1
Tongyong Pinyin
Yin
IPA
[ín]
Wu
Romanization
In
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Yān
Jyutping
jan1
IPA
[jɐn˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ
Ûn
Tâi-lô
Ûn
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)
*ʔər
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Paleolithic
Neolithic(c. 8500 – c. 2000 BC)
Yellow, Yangtze, and Liao civilization
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Xia(c. 2070 – c. 1600 BC)
Shang(c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC)
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The Shang dynasty (Chinese: 商朝; pinyin: Shāng cháo), also known as the Yin dynasty (Chinese: 殷代; pinyin: Yīn dài), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th to 11th centuries BC, with more agreement surrounding the end date than beginning date.
The Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history firmly supported by archaeological evidence. Excavation at the last Shang capital Yinxu, near modern-day Anyang, uncovered eleven major royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites, containing weapons of war and remains from both animal and human sacrifices. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts have been found.
The Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones – turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones. More than 20,000 were discovered in the initial scientific excavations during the 1920s and 1930s, and over four times as many have been found since. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization.[2]
^Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 219–229. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
The Shangdynasty (Chinese: 商朝; pinyin: Shāng cháo), also known as the Yin dynasty (Chinese: 殷代; pinyin: Yīn dài), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled...
The state religion of the Shangdynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC) involved trained practitioners communicating with deified beings, including deceased ancestors...
China, the Shangdynasty (c. 1600 - 1046 BCE), developed a polytheistic religion that focused on worshipping spiritual beings. The dynasty developed a...
afterward coalesce or absorb each other. The Shang pronunciation of "Di" is reconstructed as *têks. The Shangdynasty designed 23 versions of Di, all based on...
to him. In traditional historiography, the Xia was succeeded by the Shangdynasty. There are no contemporaneous records of the Xia, who are not mentioned...
name given to Di Xin of Shang (商帝辛; Shāng Dì Xīn) or King Shou of Shang (商王受; Shāng Wáng Shòu), the last king of the Shangdynasty of ancient China. He is...
as, in English, Tai Yi (太乙) or Da Yi (大乙), was the first king of the Shangdynasty. Traditionally considered a virtuous ruler, as signified with the common...
King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye, marking the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou enfeoffed a member of the defeated Shang royal family as...
kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning with Wu Ding in the second half of the 13th century BC and ending with the overthrow of the Shang by the Zhou in the...
both the Shangdynasty and its final capital, the name Yīn (殷) appears to have not been used in this way until the succeeding Zhou dynasty. In particular...
pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shangdynasty. Scapulimancy is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the...
Western Zhou and Han dynasties derived ancestral lineages based on Shangdynasty-era legendary materials, while the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian's...
dynasty has been synonymous with the Shangdynasty in history, although it has lately been used to refer specifically to the latter half of the Shang...
reigning Shangdynasty. The Zhou army, led by Wu of Zhou, defeated the defending army of king Di Xin of Shang at Muye and captured the Shang capital Yin...
zhōng bells and dǐng tripodal cauldrons from the Shangdynasty (2nd millennium BC) to the Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd century BC) and even later. Early bronze...
: 22 The Zhou dynasty, people continued to wear the yichang as a set of attire. The yichang was similar to the one worn in the Shangdynasty period; however...
through marriage and adopted into the Shang ancestral temple. A poem about the last years of the Shangdynasty reads "Heaven sends down death and disorder;...
The Shangdynasty of China (c. 1600 – 1046 BCE) practiced a spiritual religion that includes veneration of deceased royal ancestors. Shang ancestors were...
during the Shangdynasty of ancient China, before its conquest of the Shang in 1046/1045 BC which led to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty. It was ruled...
dynasty). Chinese music has always been interacting with different cultures throughout its long history, dating all the way back to the Xia and Shang...
was defeated by Tang of Shang, bringing an end to the Xia dynasty that lasted about 500 years, and a rise to the new Shangdynasty. Jié 桀 (variant: 傑) (<...
later adoption of the Western concept of religion in China. In the Shangdynasty system of polytheism, the supreme god, the "Shangdi", is only a natural...
antiquities, reaching its zenith during the ShangDynasty (1600–1046 BC) and the early part of the Zhou Dynasty (1045–256 BC). The majority of surviving...
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