1. SS.6.W.4.8

2.  Ancient China was not one country, but a number of clans, or extended families, led by warrior kings.  Rival clans often fought each other, and occasionally, one clan became powerful enough to control all of ancient China and start a dynasty.  The Shang (pronounced Shung) was one such clan who ruled the area around the Huang He from 1700 to 1122 B.C.E.

3.  Shang society was divided into 6 classes: 1. The King and his Relatives 2. Nobles- wealthy landowners who fought in the king’s army 3. Craftspeople- skilled labor such as bronze workers, potters, and stonemasons 4. Traders- those who made money by trading with neighboring regions 5. Farmers- the largest class in Shang society; did not own the land they farmed or control the goods they produced 6. Slaves- mostly captured in wars; spent their lives building tombs and palaces

4.  Anyang was a Shang royal city.  While excavating it, archeologists found at least 9 tombs.  Each tomb was a large pit with ramps leading down from the north and south.  When a king was buried, slaves, servants, and animals were led down the ramps into the pit.  They were sacrificed so that they could serve the needs of the king in the afterlife.  Kings were also buried with food, weapons, and jewelry.

5.  The religion of the Shang centered on ancestor worship.  They believed that dead ancestors had the power to help or harm the living.  For this reason, they believed it was important to honor their ancestors.  They did this through offerings of wine, food, and sometimes even human sacrifices!  In Shang belief, kings had the power to rule because they were descended from powerful ancestors, but kings also had the responsibility of following the wishes of their ancestors.

6.  Kings used oracle bones to ask their ancestors’ advice on such important matters as when to hunt, where to build new cities, and whether to go to war.  The oracle bones were made from turtle shells or the shoulder blade of a cow.  To ask a question, a holy man made a statement and then pressed a hot needle against the back of the bone.  The heat would make the bone crack, and the pattern it left was believed to be a message which the holy man or king translated.

7.  Shang kings depended on strong armies to maintain their rule since they were in almost constant war with their enemies.  The king’s armies were especially powerful because they had weapons made of bronze.  The Shang were among the 1 st people in the world to discover how to make bronze from a mixture of copper and tin.  Craftspeople used bronze to make many tools of war such as arrowheads, spearheads, ax heads, and helmets.  Their skill was one of the reasons why the Shang remained in power for over 500 years!

8.  Fighting so many wars eventually weakened the military power of the Shang.  The Shang kings and nobles also spent enormous sums of money which may have bankrupted the dynasty.  One legacy they left behind was their writing which helped to unify the Chinese people.  Although spoken language varied from place to place, people of the upper-classes used the same written language.  Shang writing, like modern Chinese, used characters which stood for words, not sounds.  For this reason, it takes much longer to learn Chinese than English!