Changes

[[File:Taotie.JPG|right|thumb|400px|A bronze ''[[ding]]'' from the Shang Dynasty (11th c. BCE). Santa Barbara Museum of Art]]

[[File:Taotie.JPG|right|thumb|400px|A bronze ''[[ding]]'' from the Shang Dynasty (11th c. BCE). Santa Barbara Museum of Art]]

*''Dates: c. 1750-1100 BCE?''

*''Dates: c. 1750-1045 BCE?''

*''Chinese/Japanese'': 商 ''(Shang / Shou)''

*''Chinese/Japanese'': 商 ''(Shang / Shou)''

The Shang Dynasty was the second of China's semi-legendary Three Dynasties, and the earliest period from which written evidence is extant - mainly in the form of [[oracle bones]]. Writing is believed to have emerged as an indigenous development in China towards the end of this period, likely little earlier than 1200 BCE.<ref name=brief>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 7-8.</ref> The period is also known for its bronzes. Evidence of Shang era walled cities have been discovered at Anyang (a short distance northeast of [[Luoyang]], along the [[Wei River]]), and elsewhere.<ref>Albert Craig, ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 4-5.</ref> Though long believed merely legendary, most scholars today agree there is enough evidence to believe that the Shang actually existed.

The Shang Dynasty was the second of China's semi-legendary Three Dynasties, and the earliest period from which written evidence is extant - mainly in the form of [[oracle bones]]. Writing is believed to have emerged as an indigenous development in China towards the end of this period, likely little earlier than 1200 BCE.<ref name=brief>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 7-8.</ref> The period is also known for its bronzes. Evidence of Shang era walled cities have been discovered at Anyang (a short distance northeast of [[Luoyang]], along the [[Wei River]]), and elsewhere.<ref>Albert Craig, ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 4-5.</ref> Yinxu, near present-day Anyang, served as the capital or center of the Shang Dynasty from around 1300 BCE to 1045 BCE. Though long believed merely legendary, finds of oracle bones at Anyang in [[1900]]<ref>Gallery labels, Royal Ontario Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/48532558337/sizes/l/]</ref> and other finds since then have led most scholars to today agree there is enough evidence to believe that the Shang actually existed.

Excavations at Erligang in northwestern China have revealed a complex society, which produced intricate bronze works, and which traded or otherwise disseminated its bronzes across a rather wide area. The Shang overlapped in time with a culture indicated by finds at Erlitou, near Luoyang; whether Erlitou was a city of the [[Xia Dynasty]] - the dominant dynasty which according to legend preceded the Shang - or of simply some other, separate, culture which the Shang then conquered or subsumed, is unclear.<ref name=brief/>

Excavations at Erligang in northwestern China have revealed a complex society, which produced intricate bronze works, and which traded or otherwise disseminated its bronzes across a rather wide area. The Shang overlapped in time with a culture indicated by finds at Erlitou, near Luoyang; whether Erlitou was a city of the [[Xia Dynasty]] - the dominant dynasty which according to legend preceded the Shang - or of simply some other, separate, culture which the Shang then conquered or subsumed, is unclear.<ref name=brief/>

Other archaeological finds, at sites such as Xingan in [[Jiangxi province]] and at Sanxingdui in southwestern China, have uncovered examples of bronzes which scholars say were clearly not made by Shang artisans, nor are mere copies of Shang creations. Whether these other cultures learned the technology of bronze-smelting and casting from the Shang or developed it independently is unclear, but these finds do seem to be good evidence that the Shang were not the only bronze-making cultures in the region (or, at least, not for long).<ref>Schirokauer, et al, 15.</ref>

Other archaeological finds, at sites such as Xingan in [[Jiangxi province]] and at Sanxingdui in southwestern China, have uncovered examples of bronzes which scholars say were clearly not made by Shang artisans, nor are mere copies of Shang creations. Whether these other cultures learned the technology of bronze-smelting and casting from the Shang or developed it independently is unclear, but these finds do seem to be good evidence that the Shang were not the only bronze-making cultures in the region (or, at least, not for long).<ref>Schirokauer, et al, 15.</ref>

{{stub}}

{{stub}}