Ch 1 - In the Beginning

Chariots and Jade

The Shang Dynasty's agrarian civilization institutionalized slavery and left a cultural legacy of artistic achievement in bronze, jade and ivory. The "oracle bones" of Shang priests mark a well developed system of writing using pictographs.

The myths and legends surrounding Huang Di, Yao, Shun and Yu formed China's earliest tradition of heroes and heroism. They preserved the memory of worshipping folk heroes and laid the groundwork for later myth-makers, especially those who finally put the oral legends in written form, on what a hero was supposed to be and could be. The most impressive characteristics of China's mythic heroes were their resistance to more powerful opponents, refusal to accept misfortune and defeat, and their spirit of revenge, essential traits later used to mold the ideal personality. Chinese mythology also paints a very different picture of life in ancient China. Not only was the Yellow River valley c. 2700 BC not a unified empire under the leadership of a single individual, but the idea of emperors ruling in "harmonious succession" flies in the face of reality. Warfare was a fact of life in ancient East Asia and changes in leadership often occurred with brutal swiftness.

According to legend, near the end of Xia You's reign as leader of the united clans, the committee of tribal chiefs unanimously elected a new successor. Their decision greatly angered Xia You's son, Qi. Almost immediately after his father's death, Qi had the chosen successor murdered, seized supreme power for himself, and brutally defeated rebellious tribes that opposed him. His rise to power as the first ruler of China's Xia Dynasty (2205 to 1766 BC) marked the end of royal succession by appointment. In a single murderous act, Qi replaced the primitive tribal alliance with a new, highly structured power institution that marked the earliest beginnings of true state power in East Asia. Thereafter, the throne became a family entitlement passed from father to son, an inheritance based on membership in the ruling clan.

South of the Yellow River on the Luoyang plains people built settlements near rivers, lakes and streams, mainly along the Dengfeng, Yi and Luo river valleys and along the Ying and Ru rivers. Early Xia villages were built on mounds and the people lived in houses built half-way below ground made of grass and mud brick. Farmers grew millet and raised oxen, pigs and sheep. Xia craftsmen smelted copper and bronze and created beautiful black and red ceramic pottery. A number of major archaeological digs in southern Shanxi and northwestern Henan Province have unearthed settlements that date from c. 2,100 to 1,800 BC, the very time frame atrributed to the existence of the Xia Dynasty.

The Xia Dynasty's first capital city at Yangcheng in the middle Yellow River basin near the Qin River in southern Shanxi Province became the seat of ruling power. The basic political unit was the walled-town, a single village enclosed by multi-layered packed earth walls. Groups of walled-towns were organized into small and large vassal states, each ruled by a senior clan member. The already well-defined hereditary system of the clan formed the basic social organization of the Xia Dynasty. At the head of each clan sat a chieftain. Beneath him were the aristocracy, the warriors, the commoners, and the slaves. The culutral origins of the Xia Dynasty were rooted in the Lungshan Culture of eastern China, a culture that produced a large number of weapons, including stone spearheads and arrows, wheel-made pottery, bronze working, ceramics, wheeled vehicles, rich grave goods and furnishings. Archaeological artifacts from the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin suggest a relationship between the Xia and the much earlier Yangshao Culture that once dominated the region.

Though often threatened with extinction, the Xia Dynasty remained strong through the reigns of seventeen kings. The last of the Xia Dynasty kings, a man who ranks among China's more notorious tyrants, took the throne in 1,766 BC. Stalwart and dignified in appearance, Zhieh (or Jie) possessed exceptional strength and power. It was said he could straighten crooked metal hooks and twist them like fibers into a string. Like many of history's powerful tyrants, Zhieh had a weakness for beautiful women, a weakness that would lead to his downfall. Shortly after ascending the throne, he launched a military expedition against a neighboring state in order to tighten his control. Unable to resist the onslaught, the defenders offerred the king a beautiful girl as a gift. The king was so taken by her beauty he withdrew his army. Zhieh began spending all his time with his new concubine and forced a large number of labourers to build her a new palace with chambers and terraces decorated with jade, pillars made of bronze, corridors ornamented with ivory, and beds carved out of marble. His subjects detested his extravagance and tyranny and many no longer felt bound to serve him.

Zhengdang, (Zi Lu or Wu-tang), a 14th generation descendant of Qi and the former Minister of Education under Emperor Shun, ruled the vassal state of Shang, a rising slave system state in the Huai River valley. His kind and generous rule and even-handed governance lured a number of small vassal states away from King Zhieh into Shang's domain. King Zhieh worried a great deal about Shang's growing power. Acting on the advice of a devious minister, Zhieh summoned Zhengdang to the capital city and imprisoned him immediately after his arrival. A respected Xia minister named Yi Yin bribed the king with vast treasures and two beautiful girls for his pleasure to have Zhengdang set free. Following his release, Zhengdang vowed revenge and began plotting to overthrow the Xia Dynasty. Yi Yin fled Zhieh's domain to become a senior official for the Shang.

Zhengdang and Yi Yin began planning for the downfall of the Xia Dynasty. In an attempt to gather inside information on King Zhieh's government, Yi Yin secretly contacted one of Zhieh's former concubines. The woman had lost favor with the imposing monarch and willingly divulged many secrets about Xia under Zhieh's rule. Instead of a head-long assault on the capital, Zhengdang attacked the king's ego. After Zhengdang refused to pay the annual tribute to King Zhieh, he became enraged and mobilized warriors from his vassal state of Jiuyi to move against the State of Shang. Before the attack could be launched, Zhengdang dutifully apologized and paid the tribute. Acting on a long-range plan, Zhengdang refused to pay tribute again the following year. This time however, Jiuyi declined to send its troops against Shang. Having already weakened Zhieh's vassal states through military raids, Jiuyi's refusal to mobilize against Shang was seen as further evidence of King Zhieh's diminished influence.

In c. 1700 BC, Zhengdang led a strong military expedition out of eastern Henan Province towards the Xia Dynasty capital. Riding a chariot carrying his battle flag, Zhengdang ran headlong into Zhieh's expedition army on the plain at Mingtiao near the Yellow River east of Fengqiu in northern Henan Province. After inciting his own troops to battle by openly declaring all Zhieh's crimes, Zhengdang claimed to be the one appointed by Heaven to punish him. His warriors utterly destroyed Zhieh's army in a single fierce and bloody battle. The disgraced monarch fled south to Anhui Province where he later died in exile. Zhengdang's revolution ended the Xia Dynasty and marked the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, which endured from c. 1700 to 1027 BC.

Stretched across the the present-day north-central Chinese provinces of Henan, Hubei, Shandong and the northern part of Anhui, the Shang dynasty ruled an agrarian civilization that maintained much of the state structure of its predecessor. The early capital of the Shang Dynasty at the modern city of Zhengzhou was a large walled-town surrounded by high, packed-earth ramparts centered on the emperor's residence. City buildings were rectangular structures built with pounded-earth walls and wooden beams. Some structures rose as high as nine meters. The emperor's ancestral temple,the most important building in the capital, was also the site of diplomatic banquets and the starting point for military expeditions, an indication that religion and state affairs were closely intertwined. Surrounding the military and religious centers in the capital were the mud-walled thatch-roofed homes of the nobility and thousands of smaller pit houses, cellars, shops, animal pens, and storage pits. Although a few peasants lived inside the city, most commonly lived in small villages beyond the city walls. Each of the palace-cities around Zhengzhou, identical in layout and construction to the capital itself, were ruled by a king or tribal leader.

Shang society made extensive use of slaves, most of whom were captured in battle and put to work in the fields or as personal servants for their masters. In one sense, this system was actually a progressive political institution. Instead of executing warriors of defeated tribes, Shang captives were converted from plunderers into productive laborers and their weapons were melted down to craft bronze vessels. Still, a slave is a slave and the greater tragedy was to end up as one of the rare sacrifices to the gods and the master's ancestors or to be buried alive along with the master to serve him in the afterlife.

Peasant farmers worked plots of land divided into nine squares. Using a "well-field" system of agriculture, they cultivated barley, millet, wheat and some rice for food and silkworms and hemp for clothing. They also raised cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and dogs for food. The farmer could keep the harvest from eight of the squares, but the output of the ninth square was reserved for the local ruling lord. Hunting provided both food and animal furs for winter coats and boots.

The noblemen of Shang's aristocracy, the core of its military force, spent most of their time either hunting or fighting frequent wars with neighboring rebel settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes. They recognized each of the hereditary Shang emperors as a "Son of Heaven," a religious and military leader whose powers were ordained by Heaven or God. The emperor appointed territorial rulers and compelled each to support him in military campaigns. Between the aristocracy and the commoners was a highly literate priest class that kept government records and directed worship rituals. Shang religion centered on the worship of ancestral spirits and the supreme ruler, the Shang Emperor. The Shang held their royal ancestors in high regard and had highly developed court rituals to earn the good will of the spirits and to honor sacred ancestors. The funeral tablets kept in the front of temples were thought to contain the souls of the ancestors and all rituals were carried out in their presence. Every royal event was loudly announced in the temples to inform the ancestors.

Shang rulers were superstitious men who frequently consulted with their court priests before making important decisions. A priest would take an ox bone or a tortoise shell, drill a hole in it, and suspend it over a fire until it fractured from the heat. After carefully studying the resulting cracks, he would "divine" whether the considered action would produce good or bad results. The priest's conclusion and the actual result of any action taken were then carved in a few words on the bone or shell. These Shang "oracle bones" provided a record of many important events of their time and dealt with various subjects relating to everyday life. The development of this writing system provided the basis for written history in East Asia. The pictographs on these "oracle bones," and the recorded inscriptions found on wood and bamboo tablets, are the earliest known examples of Chinese "characters." These pictographs have remained relatively intact with few changes over the centuries, making written Chinese one of the world's oldest writing systems still in continuous use.

The Shang Dynasty displayed a high level of artistic technology. Numerous examples of fine earthen pottery and exquisite carved ivory and jade jewelry and ornamentation attest to their skill and a high level of civilization. Shang craftsmen elevated the use of bronze to a fine art, considered by some to be superior to that of the Italian Renaissance. Beginning with fish hooks, bells, pins, and projectile points, they later developed an entire industry devoted to producing these items along with weapons for the elite who could afford them.

By the 14th century BC, the Shang Dynasty suffered the ravages of political chaos and decline, with brothers struggling against each other for the crown, kings bent on building palaces, and corrupt nobles living in unbridled luxury. Major course changes of the Yellow River repeatedly ravaged the favorable agricultural potential of the Huai River valley with major flooding, causing great suffering and droving thousands of people from their homes.

When Ban Geng, the ninth generation descendant of Zhengdang, ascended the Shang throne he decided to reign in the high-living aristocracy and relax the social contradictions of his declining kingdom. Although the Shang capital had already moved seven times, Ban Geng decided it was time to move again. He proposed to move the capital from the modern city of Qufu in Shandong Province, northwest to a site in Henan Province. After three separate entreaties to win the hearts and minds of the aristocracy, the people agreed to move. In c.1384 BC, the Shang established their new capital city of Yan on a narrow strip of land between the Taihang Mountain Range and the Yellow River at modern Xiaotun Village, Anyang. Moving away from the flood prone Huai River valley helped stabilize the social order, reduced the people's suffering at the hands of nature and paved the way for further development of the new Yin Shang Dynasty.

Asia's ancient dynasties bound people together through common culture, language, beliefs and traditions. The dynasties could not bind people through loyalty to the emperor. The ruling lords of individual states, far removed from the dynastic capital, were quite successful in their own right and always seeking to flex their muscle and exercise the perquisites of power. With no blood links to the royal family, their allegiance was more in tune with clan interests than those of the dynasty. In the last century of its existence, the Shang Dynasty came under the rule of a cruel and debauched tyrant whose continued battles with nomads in the north and rebellious tribes in the east drastically weakened his ruling power. Meanwhile, the small vassal state of Zhou was building its power in the Wei River basin in the northwestern fringes of the Shang domain. In the rise and fall of dynasties, it is important to remember that individuals, not dynasties, corrupted;  individuals, not dynasties achieved greatness;  individuals, not dynasties, went to war.