Download The Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty
1766 BCE – 1027 BCE
Writing
• The Shang Dynasty was
the first dynasty in China
to communicate with
writing.
• Some Chinese writing
evolved from
pictographs created
during the Shang
Dynasty period.
• About 4500 characters
have been found, and
1000 can be connected
to Chinese writing today.
Society
• The Shang people
were ruled by a
king who was
believed to be a
descendant of the
supreme god,
Shang Ti.
• As the son of god
he was thought to
have the divine
right to rule; this
was called the
“mandate of
heaven”.
Society
• The king made many
of his decisions by
casting oracle bones.
The question would be
written on a piece of ox
bone or tortoise shell
and cracked using high
temperatures. The
cracks would be read
as saying: yes, no,
lucky, or unlucky.
Society
• Shang society was
divided into classes:
the king (also
religious leader),
nobles (war leaders
and land owners),
crafts people and
merchants, and
farmers (the largest
amount of people),
and finally slaves.
Society
• Farmers provided food for the country,
helped by working on the great buildings
of the kingdom, and were soldiers during
times of war.
• Slaves were often prisoners of war, and
they worked under threat of death.
Society
• Crafts people worked with
bronze and jade. They
were skilled at making
weapons, tools, jewellery,
pottery, and fine silk cloth.
• Merchants used rice or
cowrie shells as money.
Metal coins were invented
in the 5th century BCE. At
first they were long and
thin, but later made round
with a hole in the middle to
string on belts.
Bronze
Jade
Bronze weapon from Shang Dynasty.
• The basic food of the
Shang people was
millet (a type of grain).
Barley and wheat
were also grown.
• Vegetables and beans
were grown in
gardens, fish were
caught from the rivers,
and animals such as
deer and bears were
hunted on the plains.
• By the Shang dynasty,
the Chinese had
domesticated pigs,
dogs, goats, sheep,
water buffalo, and
some fowl.
Food
Food
• With the
unpredictable river
flooding or causing
drought, the
Chinese often
experienced famine
and starvation.
Food
• People in Asia have been drinking tea for
centuries.
• According to Chinese mythology, tea was
invented in 2737 BCE, when the Chinese
emperor was sitting beneath a tea tree and
leaf fell into his boiling water.
• Tea became one of Chinas most valuable
trading product between English traders and
the Chinese.
Tea? Or tea?
Loose Leaf Tea
Food
Where do fortune cookies
come from???
• Shang people used
chopsticks for eating
and cooking; they
boiled, steamed, or
stir fried their food.