By Gina Cecchi Sam Bowser Period CD The Shang Dynasty By Gina Cecchi Sam Bowser Period CD

Date and Background of Dynasty The Shang Dynasty is thought to have run from 1600 - 1100 B.C. It is also called the Yin Dynasty (or Shang-Yin). Tang the Great founded the dynasty. King Zhou was its final ruler.

Leaders Da Yi (Tang the Great)- First ruler of the Shang Dynasty. Yong Ji- 9th ruler of the Shang Dynasty. The dynasty flourished through the reign of the ninth emperor Tai Wu: 10th ruler of the Shang Dynasty. During the rule of the tenth emperor however, conditions began to deteriorate and there were multiple attempts by the emperor's own family to overthrow him and take command of the kingdom. Social problems began to emerge and the emperor's power gradually declined. Di Xin (Zhou)-Emperor Zhou (Shang's last emperor) led a luxurious life and tortured both his ministers and his people. This intensified conflicts across the kingdom and the empire was finally overthrown by Wu (chief of Zhou tribe), ending the long reign of the Shang Dynasty in Chinese history. ***Some leaders have been omitted.

Achievements Earliest glazed pottery, evidence of a potter's wheel, industrialized bronze casting used for rituals, wine, and food, as well as weapons and tools, advanced jade carving, determined the year was 365 1/4 days, made reports on diseases, first appearance of Chinese script, oracle bones, Steppe-like war chariots. Remains have been found of palace foundations, burials, and rammed earth fortifications.

Notable Events It was during the Shang dynasty that bronze working became common.  Fuhao, the first woman to appear in Chinese written history, commanded an army of 10,000 soldiers during the Shang dynasty.

Contact With Other Cultures The hieroglyphic writing system later evolved into the ideographic and partly-phonetic Chinese characters that are used today. Enemies of the Shang state were called fang 方 "regions", like the Tufang 土方 that roamed the northern region of Shanxi, Guifang 鬼方 and Gongfang {工/口}方 in the northwest, Qiangfang 羌方 and Quanrong 犬戎 in the west, and Yifang 夷方 and Renfang 人方 in the southeast. Although the culture of the Shang kingdom differed form the cultures in the wet and semitropical area of the Yangtse River 長江 valley and Sichuan (Sanxingdui culture 三星堆) and the steppe nomad cultures in the north, economic activities and exchanges of goods lead to the spread of common features of all cultures of Shang period China, like the casting of ritual bronze vessels. 

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