Social Life in the Shang Dynasty

The Shang rulers moved the administrative centre to Yin (existing Anyang of Henan Province) in late Shang dynasty (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.), and the annals and social life of the Shang dynasty were proven to the public generally through the cultural relics unearthed from Yin Ruins, including identities on the oracle bones, bronze wares, potteries, bone wares and stone wares. What attracted the historians most were the inscriptions on the oracle bones (over 100,000 items), which were used by the ancient imperial soothsayers for divining the future of an individual or a country.The imperial soothsayers made a small pit on one side of a (not penetrating) and toasted it near the burning hearth, and they divined the future of a man, a country and the universe when the other side of the bone broke. Eventually, the oracle inscriptions were carved by them on the turtle shells or animal bones. What was interesting, the oracle inscriptions were mainly concerned to the ancestral worshipping rites and the amount of animals used in a sacrificial rite in the Shang dynasty, and some were related to atmospheric conditions (such as water, wind and snow), some were related with the harvest of agriculture, some were with respect to conflict, and some were according to the dreams and conditions of humans, from which we might understand much information about the Shang dynasty.The Shang people heavily depended on agriculture sector and fed on rice, rice, glutinous millets and soybeans, and the farming work was primarily done by effort and the ploughs were used as the major farming resources. Hunting and fishing also were employed as a by the people, whose preys ranged from wild boars, deer, foxes, rabbits to pheasants. What was more, the Shang people tamed the wildlife into livestock as well, including lamb, cows, chickens, dogs, pigs and elephants, and it was recorded that the elephants were sent by the old Shang people to war. The Shang people were excellent at making bronze wares, which was demonstrated by way of a number of swords, spearheads, armors, knives, arrows and axes well-preserved in Yin (Anyang) Ruins, and many bronze wares for the imperial and noble households were decorated with florid designs.Besides various bronze wares, a series of dog designs and geometric drawings were decorated on the potteries as well, which were somewhat rough but dazzling. The Shang individuals were also expert at tooth carvings, bone carvings, jade carvings and stone carvings, which were in the kinds of human numbers, tigers, rabbits, fishes, chickens, dragons, turtles, dinosaurs and phoenixes.