SocialClasses
The Shang Dynasty had 5 social classes: Kings, Military Nobles, Priests, Merchants and lastly farmers. The upper class lived in the capital Anyang. Also, two types pf military nobles were, foot soldiers and chariot warriors. They were respected for their skill. Religion Shang people believed in many Gods, and that their prosperity was dependent on the happiness of their ancestors. That is why every king had a fortune teller to advise him on sacrifices and outcomes of military wars. Priests also determined the future, by etching a question in a bone or tortoise shell, after they would apply intense heat, with this in mind splinters and cracks would be created and the priests would determine the future, by reading them. Furthermore, to keep the Gods happy the people did prayers, rituals, offerings and even human sacrifices.One of the Gods was named Shang Ti, the people believed that he was the connection between humans and heavenly beings. Likewise, the Shang people believed that their dead ancestors came to him for instructions. Culture The Shang people had a very melodious culture, with music being very prominent around that dynasty. The main types of music were folk and palace music. Most of their instruments were made from bronze. Some instruments that were not made of bronze, were the copper cymbals and Xun ( clay backed, shell shaped flute). Art was also very popular, sculptures were made by carving patterns on jade, bronze and pottery wares. As stated before, the Gods were very important, and as a result fortune telling was very popular. Priests and fortune tellers used tortoise shells and cattle bones to predict the future using the cracks in them. Values and Education Education is valued in China. Having an education guaranteed a prosperous future. With this in mind, many children thought that reading books made them smarter. Following after their great master Confucius. Contributions Science: Solar and lunar calendars, created to know when to plant crops. In the Lunar calendar there were two different cycles, Ten Celestial Stems and Twelve Terrestrial Branches, if combined it would equal 60 days, also known as 6 ten-day weeks. As Shang astronomers examined the lunar cycle, they altered their calendars. there were 12 months and the longer months had 30 days, however the shorter months had 29 days. the Shang Dynasty rulers also used these calendars to count their ancestors. Mathematics: They contributed hexagrams, advanced algebra, arithmetic and a decimal system. Mathematics was known as Suan Chu in ancient China. The Shang etched numeration symbols into tortoise shells and flat cattle bones. The symbols were tally and code symbols. With this evidence it can be proven, that the chinese were the first to use a numeration decimal system. Medicine: Contributed shamanistic medicine which is medicine that helps control the state of mind. It is still used today in Vietnam and Tibet. The Shang developed shamanistic medicine, on the basis of their shamanistic religion. Shamanistic religion is based on ancestor devotion and respect. Furthermore, shamanistic medicine was created because they believed that illness came with the wind and was a sign from angry ancestors. They also created the word " Bing" which means disease. Literature: Developed Chinese writing. Chinese characters were called hieroglyphics ( where the symbols are recognizable pictures) , phonograms ( unit where symbols stand for a sound),phonetic loan characters ( characters borrowed to make a homophone or a homophone of a morpheme of a word), self explanatory characters (pictograms that explain themselves). The Shang were credited for creating the first chinese writing system, because they needed to diagnose sicknesses and dieseases. Arts: Contributed, ceramics and porcelain. The people in the Shang Dynasty also contributed sculptures called Taotie. Taoties are creative and distinct bronze vessels. The most popular type was an animal mask, that have a pair of eyes, and a nose in between. Additionally, some details can be added, for example, a jaw and fangs, horns, ears, and eyebrows. Other Taoties can be, dragons and birds with geometric patterns. Another contribution is jade, it came around the same time as bronze and was a great innovation. although it is still unsure, there is evidence that the Shang were the first ones to create Jade, 200,000 years ago. Bronze casting and Bronze tools were also developed. |