HIS 265 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Shang Dynasty, Oracle Bone, Great Learning
15 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
In china, keeping/writing history is more developed compared to everywhere else in the world during this period. Overtook by the zhou dynasty in 1046 bce. Inscriptions found on tortoise shells and oracle bones. Yin royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites. Rituals (li) worship ancestors, ritual practices are outlined in. Tens of thousnads of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts. Characterized as drunken princes, have no regard for common people, famine, hardships of population. King wu overthrew the shang dynasty - king committed suicide after his defeat. Men have wives and concubines; successions are complicated bc they have many sons. Fiefs operate with a fair amount of autonomy. Considered a period of prosperity and peace. Credibility of the zhou dynasty is shaky, shang loyalists make trouble. Duke of zhou (follower of wu) formulates the mandate of heaven. The capital was moved which is why it"s two different periods. Right to rule china is granted by heaven.
