History
After Xia Dynasty was the main political force in the Central Plains, Shang Dynasty inherited a lot of culture, and the content became more and more rich. It created a brilliant bronze age and left the Neolithic culture in general. The detailed discussion of Shang Dynasty culture is beyond the scope of this book. Recently, Zhang Guangzhi's "Shang civilization" is the latest comprehensive work, which can be used for reference. This paper only discusses some characteristics of Shang Dynasty which surpasses the predecessors, in order to provide the background for the cultural development of Zhou Dynasty. The following is a discussion of material culture: bronzes, pottery, architecture; and cultural relics of organization and idea: state organization, agriculture, divination, writing.
In the past, there were many discussions about the origin of Chinese bronze. In recent years, new materials unearthed from archaeological excavations show that before the formation of bronze culture in China, it had its embryonic stage. Now the theory of bronze forming in China has more convincing evidence and logic than before. In Shaanxi, Gansu and Shandong, there are three thousand years old copper knives and chains unearthed respectively (Kwang Chih Chang, 1977:274-279; Wen Fong, 1980:1,36; Ping TiHo, 1975:177-221). There were only small copper knives and chains in the pre Shang culture. The early Shang Dynasty is represented by the Zhengzhou site, in which the vessels are rare in the early bronzes, and there are complete sets of bronze ritual vessels in the late period of the early Shang culture. After pan Geng moved to Yin, he could be called the late Shang Dynasty. Represented by the relics of Yin Ruins, bronze weapons, weapons and tools have been common, and thousands of them have been unearthed so far. Throughout the Shang Dynasty, many bronzes were cast locally. The method of smelting and casting was direct mold casting. In the early stage, the mold was made by one mold, and the mold was made by one tool, regardless of size. However, small utensils, such as chains, can be cast several pieces in one mold. The later casting method was still mold casting, but large utensils and complex shaped utensils have been assembled by multiple molds. The pattern is made by tracing the pattern on the pottery mold, carving it with a knife, and then back printing it on the copper mold. A remnant model with half engraved patterns was unearthed from the Yin Ruins. The pattern of the semi relief is made of clay strips, which are added to the mold, and there are also carved patterns on the clay. In short, the patterns and inscriptions are all cast on.
The pouring copper liquid is a crucible commonly known as "general helmet", which can only melt limited liquid copper at one time. For casting small utensils, the capacity of a few "general helmets" is enough. It weighs 875 kg, 133 cm high, 110 cm long and 78 cm wide. In terms of pouring copper liquid alone, there must be more than 250 people operating about 70 general helmets, which can be poured into the field in a very short time. Plus before and after the mold making, sanding, finishing, and other related work, in a moment, that requires more than 300 people to carry out. Naturally, such workshops could not be operated outside the royal family and aristocracy. As for the raw materials of bronze: copper, lead and tin, there are mineral deposits in the vicinity of Anyang. The copper smelting workshops of Shang Dynasty can be obtained from other countries (Department of archaeology, Department of history, Peking University, 1979:32-36, 44-47).
Although the ceramic industry of Shang Dynasty was far away from the tradition of Neolithic culture, many of which inherited the ancient pottery in shape, it made great progress in technology. It was able to make high-temperature baked hard pottery and glazed primitive porcelain. The two kinds of hard pottery and the original porcelain with Douqing glaze are made of kaolin. The original place is in the south, and the unearthed artifacts are more in the South than in the north. Undoubtedly, the South has a certain influence on the ceramic technology in the north.
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| Animal face pattern tripod in late Shang Dynasty |
The carved white pottery of the late Shang Dynasty was also made from kaolin and fired above 1000 ℃. The color is white and clean, and the pottery is hard. Even today, it should be a good product. So far, only the Yin Ruins in Anyang have unearthed this object. Around that time, only the royal family and their relatives could use it. No matter the sites of early Shang Dynasty or late Shang Dynasty, pottery workshops are large in area and have many remains. Moreover, dozens of kiln sites are concentrated in one place, and there are houses nearby, which seems to have a direct relationship with the Pottery Workshop. The scale of pottery industry shows that it is a professional production. There is a site in Zhengzhou, where most of the remains are of clay pottery, but there is no pottery with sand. This kind of biased phenomenon can only be explained by professional division of labor. In the Shang Dynasty, pottery was no longer made by users for their own use, but a large number of items were produced to supply users. It is not easy to judge whether the way of supply is distribution and the way of restraining unification is market behavior (Department of archaeology, Department of history, Peking University, 1979:48-50).
The architecture of Shang Dynasty can be represented by several ancient cities. The early Shang site unearthed in Zhengzhou is an ancient city 3500 years ago. After many excavations, it can be determined that there are four walls in the southeast, northwest and North. It is made of rammed earth, with a circumference of nearly seven kilometers. There are some gaps, which should be the gate of the Shang Dynasty. Rammed earth is built by "Banzhu" in sections, which is still in use in modern times. But because the ancient technology is not refined, can not build a vertical wall, must use slope to support the height of the wall. It is estimated that the amount of rammed earth used for the ancient city wall of Zhengzhou is about 870000 cubic meters, 40 times that of Erlitou palace, and 13 million manpower are needed. If tens of thousands of labor are mobilized, it will take about four years to complete. The corresponding logistics and organization are enough to show that the country's organizational strength has reached a considerable level. There are many residential sites in the city. There are several large rammed earth platforms and foundations in the northeast of the city. There are many jade pieces unearthed around, which should be the palace. There are also many sites outside the city. Judging by their nature, most of them are ordinary agricultural settlements. In the vicinity, however, there are a number of copper, bone and pottery workshops. Agriculture and industry surround the capital, which sets off the self-sufficiency of the capital, but also illustrates the division of labor in urbanization (Henan Museum, 1977).
Panlong city in Huangpi is another type of city. The remains of the ancient city are still on the ground. It is about 290 meters from north to South and 260 meters from east to west. The city wall, like the ancient city of Zhengzhou, was built by horizontal ramming and oblique ramming. In the Northeast highland of the city, there are large palace sites. Outside the city is a small housing base, Panlong city is only 25% of the area of Zhengzhou. However, all the regulations and the phenomena of the city walls and the palaces for environmental protection are the concrete features of the ancient city of Zhengzhou, which also shows the political and military nature of the city in the Shang Dynasty (Hubei Provincial Museum, 1976).
Anyang Yin Ruins is the earliest excavated city of Shang Dynasty. After decades of intermittent work, the general features of Yin Ruins have been roughly known. The area should be more than 24 square kilometers. The song of Huan River divides the Royal Palace in the South (Xiaotun) and the mausoleum in the North (xibeigang). There are many sites around Xiaotun, which should be the center, and the more distant from the center, the less dense the sites are. It seems that most residents are not buried in the mausoleum area of xibeigang. There are also many workshops near the residential sites, but there is no "industrial area" where the workshops are concentrated. It may be because the residents are workshop workers (Anyang excavation team, Institute of archaeology, 1961).
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| The beauty of white pottery in Shang Dynasty |
Within the District, Xiaotun can be divided into three districts. There are 15 parallel large rammed earth platforms in the northernmost part of group A, which are the bases of rectangular buildings. In the middle part of group B, there are 21 large houses distributed in three columns from north to south. There is a square rammed earth platform foundation between group A and group B, which is considered to be a kind of site of Tanyu. Group C is located in the southwest, with 17 rammed earth abutments arranged in order. There are many ditches in group B. It is speculated that group A is the Royal Palace, group B is the ancestral temple, and group C is the site of the ceremony. The royal palaces and ancestral temples are built on rammed earth platforms, while ordinary residents live in semi basement pits, but some of them live in buildings on the ground (Shi zhangru, 1959). There is no city wall around Xiaotun like Zhengzhou or Panlong city. It is inconceivable that such a large city lacks walls. However, there is also a huge trench at Xiaotun site, 7-21 meters wide and 5-10 meters deep, winding gently from southwest to northeast. This trench may be a fortification (Anyang excavation team, Institute of archaeology, 1961).
There are 11 large tombs and 1222 small tombs in the mausoleum area. However, there are still residential sites and workshop sites in the mausoleum area. Each tomb needs 7000 people to dig the earth. We can see the scale of the tomb. The tombs are well arranged, with long tunnels and tombs as deep as 10 meters. The bones buried in the cave are scattered in the tunnels and tombs. The mausoleum is made of rammed earth, and there are many human bones in the rammed earth layer. The mausoleum is surrounded by orderly arranged burial pits for the royal guards (Liang Siyong, Gao Quxun, 1962). The concentration and scale of the mausoleums of the Yin Ruins are so rare that some people think that the Yin Ruins are not actually the capital of the country, but a city like a "mausoleum" (Miyazaki shiding, 1970). This theory can be said, but it can not be used as a final conclusion. In a word, the form and construction of cities in Shang Dynasty, represented by Zhengzhou and Panlong City, opened the precedent of later Chinese cities.
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| Shang white pottery vase with geometric pattern |
On the significance of palace architecture in Shang Dynasty. The palace in Erlitou has halls, verandahs and courtyards, which are generally symmetrical, as mentioned above. The large buildings in the whole Xiaotun area also have their neat layout, which are distributed in group A, B and C. A large building in Yin Ruins, according to the imaginary plan of its foundation reconstruction, should be built on a rammed earth platform, supported by columns on the top of the thatched roof, with a layer of steps on the hall with double eaves (shizhangru, 1954, 1970, 1976). At the early Shang Dynasty site in Zhengzhou, there were rammed earth platforms and rows of stone column holes on the foundation of the palace, which was basically the same as that of Xiaotun. The palace of Panlong city is a double eaves corridor with four bedrooms (Fig. 5). Although the area is only one tenth of the total area of Zhengzhou Fu Dian, it almost occupies the Northeast high point of the city. The three base sites are parallel in front and back, and the direction is consistent with the city wall, which seems to be a unified planning. From the synthesis of these situations, the construction technology of large palaces in Shang Dynasty can be quite clear. Generally, the foundation was laid first, and then the column foundation was set. The stone foundation and the copper foundation all appeared. The column is used as eaves column, and the big column in the middle is used to cover the house with double eaves. These technical procedures seem to be no different from the architectural law of the Western Zhou Dynasty. However, the relationship between several large buildings in one site is different from that in Erlitou. There are more East-West houses and less north-south houses. Erlitou, which is symmetrical in left and right and parallel in North and south, is similar to that of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is difficult to reconstruct such a pattern in several city sites of Shang Dynasty.
