Changes

*''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]]. 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>

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.

 

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/>

Some sources suggest that it was the use of war chariots - the technology itself, and the tactics for their use coming from the Near East - which allowed the Shang to subdue and unite the lands they did, in order to establish the dynasty.<ref>Walter McNeill, "The Changing Shape of World History," in Ross Dunn (ed.), ''The New World History'', Bedford/St. Martin's (2000), 152.</ref>

Some sources suggest that it was the use of war chariots - the technology itself, and the tactics for their use coming from the Near East - which allowed the Shang to subdue and unite the lands they did, in order to establish the dynasty.<ref>Walter McNeill, "The Changing Shape of World History," in Ross Dunn (ed.), ''The New World History'', Bedford/St. Martin's (2000), 152.</ref>