*Xia (?)
*Shang (1600?-1045? BCE)
*Zhou (1045?-256 BCE)
1) Derived from Near East
2) Single indigenous center
Yangshao
Longshan
Xia
Shang
3) Multiple indigenous centers
Hongshan (ca. 4700-2920 BCE), NE
Yangshao (ca. 4500-3000 BCE), Central Plain
Dawenkou (ca. 4300-2500 BCE), Shandong
1) Urban civilization
2) Horse-drawn chariots
3) High level bronze technology
4) A mature writing system
*Oracle bones
Common formula: "Date, The diviner X asks on behalf of the king..."
5) Chamber burials with humans sacrifices
taotie face
1) Why do most archeologists believe that Chinese civilization arose independently?
2) What are the characteristics of Shang "complex society"? Compare the early Chinese writing system to those of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
1. What particular elements of the economy, society and culture of ancient Egypt demonstrate that is was a complex society? What elements distinguished China from Egypt and Mesopotamia?
2. What was the veneration of ancestors? How did it reinforce the importance of family in ancient China?
1. How does this article contradict the discussion of the Xia Dynasty in Traditions & Encounters (p. 52)?
2. What can this article teach us about how governments and people use history to glorify their past? Compare the attitude of the Chinese government toward history with John Fleischman's in “In Classical Athens, A Market Trading in the Currency of Ideas”.