Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty (about 1600 bc-1046 BC) is the second Dynasty in Chinese history and the first dynasty with direct written records of the same period. The Shang Dynasty experienced three stages. The first stage is "pre Shang"; the second stage is "early Shang"; the third stage is "late Shang". It is said that there are 31 kings in 17 generations, lasting for more than 500 years.
The ancestors of Shang are a tribe rising in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Shang Tang, the monarch of Fang state and Shang state in Xia Dynasty, led Fang state to defeat Xia in mingtiao war, and established Shang Dynasty in Bo with "Shang" as the national name. After that, the capital of the Shang Dynasty moved frequently. It was not until pan Geng, his descendant, moved to Yin that the capital of the Shang Dynasty became stable. The capital was established in Yin for 273 years. Therefore, the Shang Dynasty was called "Yin" or "Yin Shang" by later generations. After pan Geng died, the throne was established by his younger brother, Xiao Xin. After Xiao Xin died, he passed on to his younger brother Xiao Yi. After the death of Xiaoyi, the successor is his son Wuding. During the fifty years of Wuding's rule, the Shang Dynasty was the most powerful. Xinyu, the last monarch of Shang Dynasty, was defeated by King Wu of Zhou Dynasty in the battle of Muye and then burned himself to death.
In the early Shang Dynasty, the system of succession to the throne was that the elder brother died and the younger brother died, while in the late Shang Dynasty, the father died and the son succeeded. The Shang Dynasty was in the heyday of slavery. The state power in the Tang Dynasty had been initially established, and the social order of slavery was stable. Slave owners and nobles are the ruling class, forming a huge bureaucracy and army. Oracle bone inscriptions and inscriptions on gold are the earliest systematic Chinese characters.
Within and outside the sphere of influence of the Shang Dynasty, there were many countries far behind the Shang nationality. Among them, the most powerful are Tongfang, Guifang, Tutu and Qiang in Northwest and North China. In the Shang Dynasty, the Yangtze River basin also had developed non Central Plains Civilization.
(source: Atlas of Chinese History)
National name
In the period of five emperors Shun, the ancestor of the merchant Qi helped Yu to control the flood and was granted the title of Shang Yi (now Shangqiu in Henan Province), so he called his tribe (or tribe) Shang. "The book of songs, ode to Shang, Xuanniao" says: "Heaven ordered Xuanniao to come down and give birth to Shang". During the reign of emperor Zhongding, the capital of Shang Dynasty began to move frequently. When Pangeng was in power, the capital of the state was moved to northern Mongolia and renamed "Yin". Only then did the capital of the state stabilize. The capital was established here for 273 years. Therefore, the Shang Dynasty was called "Yin" or "Yin Shang" by later generations. "Dayi Shang" or "Tianyi Shang" is the honorific name given by the merchants to the old capital of Shang state (now Shangqiu), where the ancestral temple of the former king of Shang was located. In the war, they called their own army "Shangfang". It is not clear whether businessmen have a general term for the whole country or ethnic group.
Oracle bone inscriptions, Ancient Bamboo Annals and other early documents all call this dynasty "Shang", while Shangshu, Shiji and other documents call Shang Dynasty "Yin". In the yuan and Ming Dynasties, the current edition of Bamboo Annals and other documents called it "Yin Shang". In the pre Qin literature, Shang Shu Zhao Gao used "Da Bang Yin" to call Shang state. However, no oracle bone inscriptions that can be interpreted as "Yin" have been found in the unearthed oracle bone inscriptions.
history
Pre Shang period
According to records of the historian, Yin Ben Ji: "there is a woman named Jiandi who swallowed the eggs of Xuanniao and gave birth to the contract.". According to legend, the contract was born by Jane Di swallowing Xuanniao's eggs, so the merchants took Xuanniao as their totem. When Yao became emperor, he was granted the title of situ, the son of emperor he, and later was granted the title of xuanwang. In the period of Emperor Shun, Qi helped Yu to control the flood, and was granted the title of Shangyi (now Shangqiu in Henan Province) to establish the Shang state. Zhaoming, the son of Qi, moved from Shangyi to Dishi. In the 15th year of emperor Xiang, Qi's grandson Xiang Tu moved back to Shangqiu when Si Xiang moved his capital from Shangqiu to chongguan (emperor Qiu). After that, Xiangtu tamed the horse, invented the carriage, and began to develop near Mount Tai in the East.
In the middle of Xia Dynasty, Sun Ming, the fifth generation of Qi, died in the water because of water control, and was worshipped by the merchants. King Hai, the sixth grandson of Qi, tamed cattle. He not only cultivated land with cattle, but also invented ox carts and used cattle to pull goods. He began to develop trade in exchange for goods, which made the Shang country gradually strong.
At the end of the Xia Dynasty, when the fourteenth generation of sun Tang was born, Shang had become a relatively powerful country in the East.
The rise of power
Kong Jia was handed down to the fourth generation, and Lu GUI (Jie), the last king of the Xia Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. It is said that Xia Jie was very cruel and the people could not bear it. "Jie didn't care about morality, but he hurt the common people with martial arts. The common people could not bear it." In order to get rid of the declining situation since Kongjia, Jie strengthened his internal rule and resolutely suppressed the alien forces. It is said that he killed the people like cutting down vegetation. However, the high-pressure means did not achieve its purpose, but intensified the people's hatred of him, and the people even vowed to die with him. By the time of Xia Jie, the rule of Xia Dynasty had been in serious internal and external difficulties.
At the same time, the Shang nationality, which rose in the East, developed greatly and gradually became strong. In the middle of Xia Dynasty, King Hai, the sixth grandson of Qi, made the power of Shang gradually strong through commercial trade. At the end of the Xia Dynasty, Shang's power developed from the lower reaches of the Yellow River to the middle reaches of the Yellow River and penetrated into the Xia's ruling areas. After Shang Tang, the fourteenth generation of Qi, defeated Xia, he returned to bodu and established the Shang Dynasty with Shang as the national name. Under the leadership of Shang Tang, he has accumulated the strength to destroy Xia. Tang is Tianyi. His surname is "Zi". Oracle bone inscriptions call him Dayi. Later generations used to call him Chengtang. He was a well-trained leader of the Shang clan. After becoming the leader of the Shang clan, he saw that the Xia Dynasty was becoming increasingly decadent and that the tyranny of Xia had caused many people to rebel and leave, so he began to establish a new dynasty. In order to destroy Xia, Shang Tang moved the capital of Shang state from Shangqiu (now near the ancient city of Shangqiu in Henan Province) to Bo in the 15th year of Xia Jie. Volume 28 of the book of Han: Yanshi, Shixiang, and kong'an, the capital of Yin Tang, said: "Qifu Emperor Kuo was in Bo, and Tang moved from Shangqiu, so it's called" Congxian Wang Ju. " Historical records justice press: Bo, Yanshi City also. Shangqiu, Songzhou also. After Tang ascended the throne, he moved back to the West. "Shang Shu Shu Xu" notes: "Bo, now there is Tang ting in Yanshi County, Henan Province."
Tang built a new capital here, accumulated food and grass, recruited troops and trained troops, creating favorable conditions for the war against Xia.
Destroy Xia and build a new country
Tang Yide established power and made the neighboring tribes attach themselves to each other. The Shang clan was still at the end of the clan society before the end of Xia Dynasty. At this time, the inequality, slavery and exploitation within the Shang nationality had already occurred, but compared with the rule of the Xia Dynasty, it was much more relaxed. Tang also paid attention to gaining support and support in China. "Tang treats the people with leniency, but dispels evil spirits", "he always sleeps at night, so that he works in Ming Dynasty. Light taxes and light levies, and lenient to the people. Bood helped the poor. To raise a widow by hanging the dead. The government decrees are popular. Cheng Tang's hard-working, modest and compassionate measures played a very significant role in winning the hearts of the people, consolidating the rule and accumulating the power to destroy the summer. His behavior not only won the support of his own people, but also made the people of Xia and other countries yearn for it. Therefore, there was a situation of "Tang Xiude, all princes returned to business". The activities of Shang Tang naturally attracted Xia Jie's attention. At this time, although the power of Shang had developed greatly, it was still weak compared with Xia and had to submit to Xia temporarily. Xia Jie summoned Shang Tang out of suspicion and imprisoned him in xiatai.
At the oath meeting, Tang counted the evil of Xia Jie and the people's hatred of Jie. He pointed out the justice and necessity of the war of exterminating Xia by heaven's will, and pointed out that exterminating Xia was heaven's order and could not be violated. Those who had made contributions would be rewarded, and those who did not follow would be severely punished. This is the preserved Shangshu Tang Shi pian. Shang Tang started from Bo and pointed his spear at Xiadu.
Before the decisive battle with Xia Jie, some Fangguo tribes who were still under the command of Xia King were destroyed. In the book of songs, Shang song and Changfa: "Wei and Gu were felled, Kunwu and xiajie were conquered." Zheng xuanru commented: "Wei, Peng's surname is also. Gu and Kun all have their own surnames. Three Kingdoms party in Jie evil, Tang first cut Wei, Gu, Ke. Kunwu and xiajie were killed at the same time. " It shows that the reason why Tang felled Wei, Gu and Kunwu was that they were still helping Jie and Shang to be enemies, that is, "the Party of the Three Kingdoms was evil to Jie.". Among the Three Kingdoms, Kunwu was the last to perish. "When it was, Xia Jie was tyrannical, while Kunwu was in chaos. Tang Xingshi led the princes, Yi Yin followed Tang, Tang himself replaced Kun Wu with Yue, so he defeated Jie. So far, Xia Jie's wings have been completely cut off. However, Xia Jie didn't take serious precautions against Shang Tang's attack at this time. Therefore, when Shangtang's army arrived, "jiezou left without cutting edge".
Xia Jun fled to mingtiao (West of Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province), and was defeated by Shang Jun in the first World War. Xia Jie fled to Nanchao and died. After the end of Xia Dynasty, Tang returned to the capital of Bo, and formally established the Shang Dynasty. "Tang Naijian was the eldest son of the Xia Dynasty.". So far, Shang Tang completed the task of exterminating Xia and established the second slavery Dynasty in Chinese history Shang.
The establishment of Shang Dynasty greatly promoted the development of productive forces and made the progress of ancient civilization get a turn for the better. After the establishment of Shang Dynasty, in order to resist natural disasters, the capital was moved repeatedly, and the economic level was very low. However, Shang Tang drew lessons from the fall of the Xia Dynasty, widely implemented benevolent government, won the hearts of the people, and the Shang regime was initially consolidated. Agriculture and handicraft industry developed rapidly in Shang Dynasty. With the emergence of grain crops such as millet, millet, rice and wheat, and economic crops such as mulberry, hemp, melon and fruit, the economic development was accelerated, the private ownership system was further completed, and the Shang Dynasty entered an era in which the slavery system dominated. In history, this period is called "Shang Tang revolution". When the Shang Dynasty established its rule, its capital was established in Bo.
Civil strife continues
The greedy nature of the ruling class determines that the struggle for power and interests within the royal family is inevitable. It is recorded in the records of the historian, Yin Benji: "since Zhongding, he abandoned Shi and established his disciples,
Chinese PinYin : Shang Chao
