Home: Old Bronze Tribal Art

The Shang, rather than the Xia, is considered by most to be the first true dynasty of China. 
Like the Xia, the Shang were originally considered to be a myth. They were discovered 
because Chinese phamacists were selling oracle bones the Shang had created; the parmacists 
sold the bones as dragon bones. The bones were first noticed in 1899 and by the 1920's were 
traced to Anyang, where the last Shang capital was found and excavated. The Shang dynasty is 
believed to have been founded by a rebel leader who overthrew the last Xia ruler. Its 
civilization was based on agriculture, augmented by hunting and animal husbandry. 

A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought 
frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian 
steppes. The capitals, particularly that in Yin, were centers of glittering court life. 
Court rituals to propitiate spirits developed. In addition to his secular position, the king 
was the head of the ancestor- and spirit-worship cult. 

The Shang dynasty had a fully developed system of writing; its complexity and state of 
development indicates an earlier period of development, which is still unattested. Bronze 
casting and pottery also advanced in Shang culture. The bronze was commonly used for art 
rather than weapons. In astronomy, the Shang astronomers discovered Mars and various comets. 
Many musical instruments were also invented at that time.

As far back as c. 1500 BC, the early Shang Dynasty engaged in large-scale production of 
bronze-ware vessels and weapons. The Shang Dynasty royal court and aristocrats required a 
vast amount of different bronze vessels for various ceremonial purposes and events of 
religious divination.