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Asked by Sammy from USA | Apr. 16, 2013 19:04
About:Shang Dynasty

What are some facts on the Shang Dynasty for government

I am doing a social studies project and i need facts on the the dynasty for it i need government, art, writing, religion, technology, and the social structure

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Answers (4)
Answered by Adele from China | Apr. 16, 2013 20:31
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Art: Pottery should come first. At that time, various colors were presented on the pottery. Besides, the music then also has great progress.

Religion: According to the history materials, they worshipped everything in nature, including God of Mountain, God of Water, God of Earth, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. They believed the existence of "God" just as that there was emperor in real life.

Technology: It should be attribusted in these areas: astronomy, characters and math.

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Answered by Vimala from USA | Apr. 20, 2013 23:47
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As art, religion, and technolgy had already been answered, I am answering the other questions posted.

Government: Even though it's an agrarian society, Shang was a military power and established the feudal system over its terriroty and neighboring tribes. The rules passed sometimes from father to son but sometimes from brother to brother. The king was the head of government, military, rituals, and religion.

Writing: Shang already had a well developed script indicating an earlier history of writing. The same script later bacame the main Chinese writing system.

Social Structure: It's based on the feudal system with the king atop the royal family and the aristocrates as the small ruling class. The majority of the people were farmers or herders or traders and slaves. The rule were sometimes kind and sometimes brutal depending on the rulers and masters. There are many surviving sculptures showing people and slaves without limbs or being fed to animals.
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Answered by Vimala from USA | Apr. 21, 2013 00:21
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Supplemental to the answer to religion above -

Religion: Shang worshppied a chief god with subordinate natural gods. They also worshipped ancestors. Thanks to Shang's practiced divination and their inscriptionf on the oracle bones that we have a written record of their activities. Their belief became the foundation of Daoism which was later expanded by several philosophers during the Zhou Dynasty and formally organized and popularized during the Han Dynasty.
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Answered by Vimala from USA | Apr. 21, 2013 00:27
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No. When it comes to art during the Shang Dynasty, bronze has to come first as it's the major venue of artistic expression that survived the time. Many of the styles and designs seem to be reminiscent of the Pre-Columbian American artifacts. It may be explained that there are Daoism legends that some "Blue Sky" and "Summer Moon" tribes left China during the earlier Xia Dynast because they didn't want to be civilized.
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