Shang (1550 – 1050 BCE)

There are three possible years for the fall of the Shang in massive defeat by the Zhou: 1045, 1046, and 1050.

We have a list of kings dating back to 1550 on Shang oracle bones. After 1550 the kings become mythical gods. This information corroborates the transmitted text. The Shang lived in the North China plain along the Huang. Over the first 500 years, the Shang capital moved farther down the yellow river, and their bronze working became increasingly elaborate. A common design on their bronzes is the Tao Tie beast, a mask split down the middle and splayed across the face of the bronze, with clear eyes, nose, and mouth.

To create a bronze, you create a hardened clay model with the details of your sculpture. Then you put another clay layer around the model and cut it open while still wet. Putting the pieces together, you have a mold in relief into which iron can be poured to cast it in that shape. Shang bronzes were sufficiently advanced that they cast inscriptions, such as “May my descendents use this vessel for a long time,” into the surface of the bronze.

Zheng Zhou (Capital from 1350 BCE)

Typically, the Shang bronzes do not include realistic depictions of humans, animals, or other objects. As you continue looking to the south, their bronzes are more realistic and do not shy away from depicting natural elements by themselves. In the North, bronzes were found in tombs as status items for the next world.

Hubei Province (Modern day Wuhan), Panlong (Coiled dragon) Cheng

There was a Shang outpost much farther south, however, which has the same material culture as Zheng Zhou, even though it was much farther south. It was a small walled compound about the size of our lecture hall, made from rammed earth. A larger outer wall has since then been found. Their bronzes are identical to those from Zheng Zhou and the surrounding area. Why did they found a city so far south? For resources! Just slightly farther south there was a mountain that was full of mine shafts for metals, with rich deposits visible from the surface, or from the flowers that grow only when certain metals are present in the soil.

Hunan Province, Ning Xiang County

The southerners learned their bronze working from the Shang outpost. These people were not Chinese, and put their bronzes high on the hills, far from any sensible place to use them, buried in pits in the sides of mountains. Also found buried bronze bells buried on the top side of a mountain. Why are they in good condition? THICK!!! There are no bells in North china except tiny ones, whereas in the South they are numerous and large.

Jiang Xi Province, Xin gan

Features distinctly human bronzes with accentuated features.

Si Chuan Province

Enormous cast bronze masks, gilded masks.

The origin of Chinese history is unclear, and what role the southern non-Shang tribes played in early China is also unclear. However, distinct features eventually all contribute to what ultimately becomes “Chinese Culture.” There is no such thing as pure Chinese culture, language, or art. It has always been a hodgepodge of diverse elements.