Shang Dynasty

Shang : 商朝
←      → 1766 BC – 1122 BC
General Information
Aliases:	Yin Dynasty Shang Empire Dayi Shang (大邑商)
Time of Exist:	1776 BC - 1122 BC (traditinal dating) c. 1600 BC - c. 1046 BC (Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project)
Government:	Monarchy
Languages:	Old Chinese Script: Oracle Bone Script
Religions:	Shang State Religion
Capital City:	Listed in chronological order. Bo (亳) Ao (隞) Xiang (相) Geng (耿) Bi (庇) Yan (奄) Yinxu Zhaoge
Relations and Opinions
Enemies:	Xia Dynasty Guifang Qiang Xirong Zhou Dynasty
Likes:	Bronze, pots, oracle bones, sacrificial rituals, rain, axes, wine cups, Taotie, halberd, business, money, wizards, mysticism, spirits, hunting, moving his capital
Dislikes:	Droughts, famine, Jie of Xia
Historical Information
Preceded By:	Xia Dynasty Predynastic Shang
Succeeded By:	Zhou Dynasty

Shang Dynasty, also known as the Yin Dynasty (殷代), is the second dynasty of China. He existed in the Bronze Age and have many bronze tools, such as pots and daggers. His bronze making skill is unmatched, especially for his time. This royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC for around six to seven centuries, traditionally succeeding the Xia Dynasty and followed by the Zhou Dynasty.

Being not a desendant of the Huaxia but rather of the Yi (夷), the Shang’s civilization was vastly different from the Xia (but still Shang is still descendent from XuanYuan HuangDi). Compared to Xia, Shang was less benevolent, is more mystic, believes strongly in spirits and demons, hires wizards to deal with the realm of the spirits, and performs many sacrifices. He burns turtle shells and see which way the cracks form as fortune telling.

The dynastic colour of the Shang dynasty is white.

History

Beginning

The Shang dynasty, emerged from the Predynastic Shang (which was a separate clan from China at the time), was founded by Tang of Shang, who led an army and stormed the Xia capital to invade a get rid of the tyrannical Jie of Xia. Shang achieved this through the support of many Xia people who also disliked Jie, and at the Battle of Mingtiao (present-day Xia County) the Shang won victorious.

After defeating Xia, Shang suffered from a famine, no crops were harvested for five years, and no rain came down, causing a drought, despite Tang’s prayers. The wizard told Tang that a live human needs to be sacrificed to the heavens in order for the drought to end. Tang blamed his own sins for the drought, so he lied down on a pile of firewood and told people to set him on fire and sacrifice himself. Just when Tang was about to be burnt, great rain came down.

Shang Dynasty moved his capital many times. The first capital was Bo, and Tang lived there.

Middle

In the 11th year of king Tai Wu's reign, he ordered the Wuxian (a Chinese shaman) to pray at to the mountains. In the 26th year of his reign, the Queen of Xirong sent an envoy to Shang. In the 46th year of his reign, there was a great harvest of crops. In the 58th year of his reign, he built the city of Pugu (蒲姑). In the 61st year of his reign, the nine east barbarian Yi tribes (東九夷) sent envoys to Shang.

During the reign of Yong Ji, the 8th king of Shang, the economy started to decline. Zhong Ding, either the 9th king or the 10th king of Shang, moved the capital from Bo to Ao due to flooding and war. In the sixth year of his reign he attacked the Blue Yi (蓝夷).

During king Wai Ren's reign there was a rebellion from Shang's vassals of Pi (邳) and Xian (侁) peoples. And in the first year of He Dan Jia's reign, Shang conducted many military campaigns. He also moved his capital to from Ao to Xiang. In the third year of He Dan Jia's reign, his Minister Pengbo (彭伯) conquered Pi who had rebelled. In the fourth year of his reign he launched another attack against the Blue Yi. In the fifth year of his reign the Xian occupied Banfang (班方) but were later defeated by the king's ministers, and sent an envoy to the Shang.

In the first year of king Zu Yi's reign, he moved his capital to Geng where he held a ceremony and wrote the article of Zuyi. The following year he moved his capital again, this time to Bi where six years later his palace was completed. During his reign the Shang became stronger than ever thanks to some fine appointments including Wuxian (巫贤) as his prime minister in the third year of his reign and Gaoyu (高圉) as his vassal in the fifteenth year of his reign.

In the third year of the reign of king Nan Geng, the capital was moved from Bi to Yan.

In the third year of king Yang Jia, Shang dynasty sent troops against the barbarians of Danshan (丹山). Yang Jia's reign is said to have marked the general decline of the Shang, though there were still times of prosperity here and there.

Late

Around 1312 BC, the Shang Dynasty capital of Yan was filled with resentment, and people who could move around came to the streets, either whispering or talking loudly. There is only one topic of discussion - the relocation of the capital. The person who proposed to move the capital was Pan Geng, who had just ascended the throne, who was the 9th grandson of Tang and was either the 18th or 19th king of the Shang Dynasty. Why did he risk the world's great disobedience to move the capital of the country? There is a deep grievance here.

Before moving the capital, Pan Geng asked people to find the address of the new capital, and after several screenings, it was finally determined that Yin was the best location to build the capital. The terrain there is flat and wide, far from the often flooded Yellow River, and there is foam water available near the city.

Pan Geng knew that the relocation of the capital over the years had caused resentment among the subjects, and that this time would be no different. But, he did not expect that the whole country would almost unanimously oppose the relocation of the capital. In the face of such huge resistance, Pan Geng's determination did not waver, he was not afraid to spend his ideas, and even personally went to the streets and alleys to preach to people the benefits of the move. Later, some commoners were willing to move the capital, because their land in the old capital were plundered by the nobles, and are hoping that they get some new land after moving the capital. However, the nobles were mostly not in favor of this.

Pan Geng was also more polite to the noble courtiers at first, telling them again and again that the reason for moving to Yin was because the land in there was relatively fertile, the natural disasters were less and lighter, and the construction of the capital there was conducive to the development of agricultural production. And after the capital is moved, everything will start from scratch, so that the tensions between nobles and peasants can be eased a little. Then there is the possibility of moving to avoid dangerous rebel forces, the capital is safer, and the rule can be more stable.

Some people listened and obediently prepared to go, while some people, for their own interests, still opposed the relocation of the capital, contacted each other, and fanned the flames everywhere and spread rumors to confuse the public. So, Pan Geng sentenced several people who took the lead in making trouble to capital punishment. At this time, although the nobles were unwilling, there was no longer any objection in their mouths. And in around 1316 BC, the Yin city wall palace was basically completed, and Pan Geng ordered the relocation. "Go for it! Explore a new path of life! I will now lead you to migrate and build a permanent home for you in a new place!" The move of the capital led to a prosperous reign.

The 20th or 21st Shang king, Xiao Yi, in the 6th year of his reign, ordered his son Wu Ding, to live at He (河) and study under Gan Pan (甘盘), a famous official in the Shang Dynasty and one of the ancestors of the Gan surname.

During the reign of King Wu Ding (around 1250 BC), the Shang dynasty reached his height. Wu Ding is remembered for his military campaigns, which expanded Shang territory, and for his contributions to the development of Shang society, including advancements in metallurgy, particularly bronze casting. Under Wu Ding's rule, the Shang Dynasty became a major regional power, with a well-developed system of agriculture, commerce, and ritual practices. And since the Shang’s battles mostly resulted in victory, many enemies were captured as slaves, providing an abundance of human sacrifices, causing it to peak in this era. According to oracle bone records, once 1000 people were sacrificed in the same event.

Wu Ding also defeated the Guifang people, and made his wife, Fu Hao, a military general.

In the 12th year of king Zu Jia's reign, Shang dynasty decided to sent troops to fight Rong people in the west until winter. A year after, Shang was defeated, and the West Rong people sent an envoy to Shang. In the same year he ordered the vassal of Fen (邠) to establish an army at Gan (绀).

Oracle bone inscriptions of Zu Jia's reign show that he changed some aspects of Shang religion. His modification targeted at sacrifices. Decades before, Wu Ding had reformed the sacrificial system by restricting the number of sacrifice to ancestors; the situation in which he announced the reform is recorded in the Book of Documents (Shangshu). Zu Jia critically reversed the reform, increasing ancestral sacrifices in terms of number, while reducing sacrifices to mythical spirits.

King Wu Yi of Shang was known for his disrespect towards the heavens. He was supposed to have carved a wooden statue (偶) of "the God of Heaven" and had one of the people to throw dice to represent it. He played liubo with the idol, and if the idol lost the game, he humiliated it. Another time, he filled a leather bag with blood and hung it high in the air, then shot it with arrows, which he called "shooting Heaven". Wu Yi was killed by a lightning strike.

During Wu Yi's son, king Wen Wu Ding's reign, Shang used the leader of his vassel Predynastic Zhou, Jili to attack multiple Rong people groups. The first attempt in the 2nd year of his reign was a faliure, but the rest, such as the ones that happened in the 4th year and 7th year, were victorious, and Shang gained new vessels. But Shang is worried that Jili became too powerful, so he sent Jili to a rural store house and had him starved to death there.

Fall

The last king of Shang, Di Xin (AKA Zhou of Shang), was a tyrant.

Many leaders of the neighboring ethnicities and kingdoms were sacrificed once captured by Shang forces. When King Wen of Zhou, the patriarch of Predynastic Zhou during the final years of Shang dynasty, was captured by Di Xin, he feared greatly of being sacrificed. His family was worried too, so his eldest son, Bo Yikao, plead for his freedom, only to be killed and turned into meat cakes. Those meat cakes were fed to Wen, and Wen figured it was his son, since he was proficient of I Ching. But for the sake of getting out and getting revenge for his son, he ate the cakes. Di Xin figured that if he didn’t know the meat was of his son’s, then he was not sent by the Mandate of Heaven, and if he knew but still ate it, it means that he was cruel and definitely not sent by he Mandate of Heaven. So, Wen was eventually released.

The human sacrifices bred hatred between the Shang people and the neighbors ethnicities, who were the main victims of this ritual. The anger boiled up until the Zhou peoples, who had Qiang blood in them, invaded and destroyed the weak Shang. This was one of the factors that caused the fall of Shang.

Di Xin moved all the best troops to the southeast border to attack the Dongyi peoples. Wu of Zhuo, younger brother of Bo Yikao, seized this opportunity, got together all his allies and made a grand army to invade Shang, and also take revenge for his father and brother. By the time Di Xin knew about this, it was too late to call back the soldiers from the southeast border, so he made an army of still remaining soldiers and slaves to form a relatively big army. The two grand armies met at Muye, and fought a huge battle, known as the Battle of Muye. The Zhou won and the Shang fell.

A reason why the Zhou won is because many of the Shang army that fought them was made of slaves, whose family members have been sacrificed, and don’t know when they will be sacrificed too. So when the Shang gave them a weapon and told them to fight, they knew who they were going to be fighting: not the Zhou, but the Shang. So many of the Shang army purposely led the Zhou soldiers to the capital, Zhaoge. Di Xin committed suicide by immolation.

Maybe the reason Di Xin wanted to burn himself was to copy the virtuous first king of the Shang dynasty, Tang, to pseudo-sacrifice himself and let the Heavens save him and win against Zhou. But, no rain came down to put out the fire, and no angels came down to stop him, and Di Xin really just burned to death, like many of his sacrifices.

The dynasty died, but the people didn’t, and the religion didn’t. So the many many people from the Shang, who now lived under the new Zhou regime, still practiced human sacrifice. And Shang loyalists still existed after the death of Di Xin, which caused the Rebellion of the Three Guards (c. 1042 BC-1039 BC) which as a result finally snuffed out the remaining Shang territory.

Society

The Shang kings and their nobles ruled the mainly rural populations from walled towns and cities. Horse-drawn chariots were the chief means of transport, and sea shells are used as currency. Shang peoples would voyage into the ocean to collect sea shells.

Artifacts

Major archeological discoveries have been made of artifacts from the Shang dynasty, such as containers. Some graves were also found, containing remains of human sacrifices. The Shang people likes to carve Taotie, an ancient Chinese mythological creature, onto all of their bronze cauldrons and cups. The primary attribute of this frontal animal-like mask is a prominent pair of eyes, often protruding in high relief. Between the eyes is a nose, often with nostrils at the base. Taotie can also include jaws and fangs, horns, ears, and eyebrows. Many versions include a split animal-like body with legs and tail, each flank shown in profile on either side of the mask. While following a general form, the appearance and specific components of taotie masks varied by period and place of production. Other common motifs for Shang ritual bronze vessels were dragons, birds, bovine creatures, and a variety of geometric patterns. Currently, the significance of the taotie, as well as the other decorative motifs, in Shang society is unknown.

Religion

The Shang peoples were extremely mystic. Before doing anything, they almost always ask the spirits and gods. They strongly believe in the Shang State Religion.

Like the Aztec civilization, the Shang sacrificed many people to the gods, stemming from the belief that a human is the most precious and valuable thing and therefore should be given to the gods. This human sacrifice ritual appeared in around the Late Shang period. From oracle bone records, the Shang sacrificed more than 14000 people, and have more than 11 methods of doing so. In fact, many Chinese characters that are used today evolve from depictions of human sacrifice methods. The main source of human sacrifice are soldiers and leaders from other conquered or defeated tribes/ethnicities.

List of Shang Kings

NOTE: Due to the conflicting dates given by many sources, it is hard to pinpoint the exact dates for everything. The below is an estimated based on various sources and some original research. List list is also a WIP.

Rulers of the Shang dynasty

Name	Chinese Name	Number	Years of Reign	Years (BC)	Family	Capital	Personal Name	Notes
Tang	汤	1	12	1776 BC-1754 BC	Son of Zhu Gui	Bo	Zi Lü (子履)	Founder of Dynastic Shang. Also known as Da Yi (大乙).
Bu Bing	卜丙	2	18	1754 BC-1736 BC	Son of Tang	Bo	Zi Sheng (子勝)	Also known as Wai Bing (外丙).
Zhong Ren	仲壬	3	4	1736 BC-1732 BC	Son of Tang	Bo	Zi Yong (子庸)	Oracle Bones inscriptions do not list him as one of the Shang kings.
Tai Jia	太甲	4	12	1732 BC-1720 BC	Son of Da Ding	Bo	Zi Zhi (子至)	Temple name is Taizong (太宗).
Wo Ding	沃丁	5	28	1720 BC-1692 BC	Son of Tang	Bo	Zi Xuan (子绚)	Other sources claim he ruled for 19 or 29 years.
Tai Geng	太庚	6	25	1692 BC-1667 BC	Son of Tai Jia	Bo	Zi Bian (子辨)	Also known as Da Geng (大庚). Sources conflict on how many years he ruled. Sima Qian said he ruled for 5 years while the Oracle Bones states that he ruled for 25 years.
Xiao Jia	小甲	7	17	1667 BC-1650 BC	Son of Tai Jia	Bo	Zi Gao (子高)	Other sources claim that he ruled for 36 or 57 years.
Yong Ji	雍己	8	12	1650 BC-1638 BC	Son of Tai Geng	Bo	Zi Zhou (子伷)	Also known as Lü Ji (呂己).
Tai Wu	太戊	9	75	1650 BC-1563 BC	Son of Tai Geng	Bo	Zi Mi (子密)	Also known as Da Wu (大戊).
Zhong Ding	仲丁	10	13	1563 BC-1550 BC	Son of Tai Wu	Ao	Zi Zhuang (子庄)	Other sources claim that he ruled for 9 or 11 years.
Wai Ren	外壬	11	15	1550 BC-1535 BC	Son of Tai Wu	Ao	Zi Fa (子發)	Some sources, like the Bamboo Annuals, claim that Wai Ren ruled for 10 years.
He Dan Jia	河亶甲	12	9	1535 BC-1526 BC	Son of Tai Wu	Xiang	Zi Zheng (子整)	Also known as Jian Jia (戔甲).
Zu Yi	祖乙	13	19	1526 BC-1507 BC	Son of Zhong Ding	Geng	Zi Teng (子滕)	Also known as Xia Yi (下乙). Ruled for 20 years according to the Imperial Jingshi (皇極經世).
Zu Xin	祖辛	14	16	1507 BC-1491 BC	Son of Zu Yi	Bi	Zi Dan (子旦)	The Bamboo Annuals claim that Zu Xin ruled for 14 years.
Wo Jia	沃甲	15	25	1491 BC-1466 BC	Son of Zu Yi	Bi	Zi Yu (子逾)	Also known as Qiang Jia (羌甲). Other sources claim that he ruled for 20 years.
Zu Ding	祖丁	16	32	1466 BC-1434 BC	Son of Zu Xin	Bi	Zi Xin (子新)	According to the Bamboo Annuals, he ruled for 9 years.
Nan Geng	南庚	17	25	1434 BC-1409 BC	Son of Wo Jia	Yan	Zi Geng (子更)	The Bamboo Annuals records that he ruled for 6 years while various other sources say 29 years.
Yang Jia	陽甲	18	7	1409 BC-1402 BC	Son of Zu Ding	Yan	Zi He (子和)	Also known as Xiang Jia (象甲). Other sources claim that he ruled for 17 years.
Pan Geng	盤庚	19	28	1402 BC-1374 BC	Son of Zu Ding
Xiao Xin	小辛	20	21	1374 BC-1353 BC	Son of Zu Ding			Other sources claim that he ruled for 3 years.
Xiao Yi	小乙	21	28	1353 BC-1325 BC	Son of Zu Ding			Other sources claim that he ruled for 10 years.
Wu Ding	武丁	22	59	1325 BC-1266 BC	Son of Xiao Yi
Zu Geng	祖庚	23	7	1266 BC-1259 BC	Son of Wu Ding			Other sources claim that he ruled for 11 years.
Zu Jia	祖甲	24	33	1259 BC-1226 BC	Son of Wu Ding			Also known as Di Jia (帝甲). Other sources claim that he ruled for 16 years.
Lin Xin	廩辛	25	6	1226 BC-1220 BC	Son of Zu Jia			Other sources claim that he ruled for 4 years.
Geng Ding	庚丁	26	21	1220 BC-1199 BC	Son of Zu Jia			Also known as Kang Ding (康丁). Other sources claim that he ruled for either 6, 8, 11, 23, or 31 years.
Wu Yi	武乙	27	4	1199 BC-1195 BC	Son of Geng Ding			The Xia-Shang-Zhou chronology projects claims 35 years, from 1147 BC to 1112 BC.
Wen Wu Ding	文武丁	28	10	1195 BC-1185 BC	Son of Wu Yi			Also known as Wen Ding (文丁) or Tai Ding (太丁).
Di Yi	帝乙	29	30	1185 BC-1155 BC	Son of Wen Wu Ding
Di Xin	帝辛	30	33	1155 BC-1122 BC	Son of Di Yi			Also known as Zhou (紂). Not to be confused with the Zhou Dynasty (周).

Possible/Uncertain Rulers of the Shang dynasty

Name	Chinese Name	Number	Years of Reign	Years (BC)	Family	Capital	Personal Name	Notes
Da Ding	大丁	2?	-	17?? BC-1??? BC	Son of Tang	Bo?	?	Also known as Tai Ding (太丁). Sima Qian said he died before succeeding his father, plus many other sources do not list him. It is unclear if the Oracle Bones record him as having ascended the throne. Some scholars interpret that Da Ding has indeed ruled.

Shang in the Modern Eyes

There is a saying that in a three-child family, the second child is always neglected. This saying also applies to the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In front of the Shang Dynasty, there was Great Yu who set up the nine provinces; behind him, there was the Zhou Dynasty with his martial arts and rites and music, which made the Shang Dynasty seem to be relatively insignificant in comparison.

The discovery of the oracle bones and the excavation of Yin ruins brought out the face of this dynasty. Nowadays, Shang is called the first dynasty of China by scholars who take archaeological evidence as a guideline.

For the so-called “era of credible history”, there is also a “era of doubt” with it, is the product of the modern westernization of the east. Before the discovery of the Yin ruins, the Shang Dynasty was also categorized in the “era of doubt”, and unfortunately, the dynasties before the Shang Dynasty are still in the “doubt”.

This is a very interesting phenomenon, the Zhou Dynasty people do not doubt the existence of the Shang Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty people do not doubt the existence of the Xia Dynasty, the subsequent dynasties are also convinced, but in recent times people are suspicious. Let's make an analogy, the father knows that the grandfather exists, the son also knows that the grandfather existed, the son of the son also knows, so generation after generation. But, after time, some of the grandfather's children and grandchildren say: “I have not seen this person, nor have I seen his relics, he is not necessarily my ancestors. As for the genealogical records, that may have been made up by my forefathers.”

For some scholars, the dynasties prior to the Shang Dynasty are still in “doubt”. This is one of the after-effects of the Party culture (黨文化) and the modern mutated concepts that destroys our fine tradition of “Virtue and Faith in the Ancients” and forces us to forget our ancestors. Fortunately, the Heavens has the virtue of good life, and did not let us make the mistake is too big, and the Shang Dynasty's relics have been showed to the world. Now people are more and more sober and rational, the dust of history is also gradually and orderly open, and the ancient history of the Shang archaeological artifacts provides us with more and more information.

Trivia

• Many people say that the historian Sima Qian’s records of all the Shang kings are completely made up, but once the oracle bone scripts from the Shang dynasty were discovered, people found out that the Shang kings carved into the script matches up almost exactly with Sima Qian’s records.
• The Shang kings are known for their lavish tombs and royal burials. They were buried with many treasures, including bronzeware, jade objects, and sometimes even human sacrifices. This reflects the importance of the afterlife in Shang religious beliefs.

Relationships

Enemies

• Xia Dynasty - You're Mandate of Heaven is now lost, scram.
• Guifang - Demon territory!
• Qiang - My main source of human sacrifices. I also have a much stronger army so I always win.

How to draw

The character “商” (Shang) in oracle bone script.

Shang Dynasty has a drawing rating of hard.

1. Draw a ball.
2. Fill it with white.
3. Add a light grey circular border in the ball.
4. Add a grey "Shang" character in oracle bone script, in grey, in the middle.
5. Add Asian eyes and you are done.
6. Add some bronze tools (optional)

Color Name		HEX
	White	#FFFFFF
	Light Grey	#C7C7C7
	Grey	#AEAEAE

Gallery

Informational

• 

  Taotie pattern from the Shang Dynasty, commonly carved on to bronze pots and cups.

See Also

• Oracle Bone Script
• Predynastic Shang
• Shang State Religion