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139-416: Wu Ding's reign is characterized by a prosperous period of the late Shang state, with a wide network of allies and subordinates. The first inscriptions unequivocally recognized as Chinese appeared during his reign, together with new technological innovations. More than half of Shang inscriptions date to his reign, concerning a wide variety of deities. In classical Chinese historiography , he is often depicted as

278-551: A bourgeois revolution . In the 1920s, the Nationalist Party issued a theory of three political stages based on Sun Yatsen 's writings: The most obvious criticism is the near-identical nature of "political tutelage" and of a "constitutional democracy" consisting only of the one-party rule until the 1990s. Against this, Chen Shui-bian proposed his own four-stage theory . Postmodern interpretations of Chinese history tend to reject narrative history and instead focus on

417-405: A cyclical pattern . In this view, a new dynasty is founded by a morally upright founder, but his successors cannot help but become increasingly corrupt and dissolute. This immorality removes the dynasty's divine favor and is manifested by natural disasters (particularly floods ), rebellions, and foreign invasions. Eventually, the dynasty becomes weak enough to be replaced by a new one, whose founder

556-659: A "two-tracked or multi-tracked world history". Tanigawa reviewed the applications of these theories in Japanese writings about Chinese history and then tested them by analyzing the Six Dynasties 220–589 CE period, which Marxist historians saw as feudal. His conclusion was that China did not have feudalism in the sense that Marxists use, that Chinese military governments did not lead to a European-style military aristocracy. The period established social and political patterns which shaped China's history from that point on. There

695-491: A chiefdom northwest of Yin that was sometimes interpreted as "unfriendly" to the central region. According to the Bamboo Annals , the thirty-second year of Wu's reign, he sent troops to counter Guifang , stationing the army at Jing (荊). After three years of fighting, he conquered it and annexed it into the kingdom, turning Guifang into his supporters in expeditions against other foes. In the eastern neighboring regions,

834-399: A great effort was made by official historians to establish a legitimate precursor whose fall allowed a new dynasty to acquire its mandate. Similarly, regardless of the particular merits of individual emperors, founders would be portrayed in more laudatory terms, and the last ruler of a dynasty would always be castigated as depraved and unworthy – even when that was not the case. Such a narrative

973-503: A historical norm for this region, and of dynasties successively reigning on the Son of Heaven's throne allowed Chinese elites describing historical process in China in simplified categories providing the basis for the concept of modern "unitary China" within the borders of the former Qing Empire, which was also ruled by Chinese emperors. However, deeper analysis reveals that, in fact, there was not

1112-536: A list of ten court officials at the time of Wu Ding's reign: Gan Pan, Hou Que, Wangcheng, Jun He, Jichen, Jian, Qin Dian, Xi Li Zhi, Cang Hou Hu, Hou Gao. It is thought that Fu Yue was likely to be identical to Hou Que: in fact, several oracle bones describing Hou Que handling affairs that were very similar to those of Fu Yue mentioned in the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips as well as other texts. Hou Que, similar to

1251-428: A meritorious king who appears with worthy officials. Because Wu Ding is the earliest Chinese ruler whose reign is confirmed by contemporary material, dating his reign is a matter of significant historical interest. According to the traditional chronology, he reigned from 1324–1266 BC. This has been shown to be an artifact of incorrect backdating due to misunderstanding of King Wen of Zhou 's Mandate calendar . In

1390-404: A new dynasty would employ scholars to compile a final history from the records of the previous one, using a broad variety of sources. Around the turn of the millennium, father–son imperial librarians Liu Xiang and Liu Xin edited and catalogued a large number of early texts, including each individual text listed by name above. Much transmitted literature surviving today is known to be ultimately

1529-479: A new type of historiography that Liang regarded as more scientific. Liu Yizheng published several specialized history works including History of Chinese Culture . This next generation became professional historians, training and teaching in universities. They included Chang Chi-yun , Gu Jiegang , Fu Sinian , and Tsiang Tingfu , who were PhDs from Columbia University ; and Chen Yinke , who conducted his investigations into medieval Chinese history in both Europe and

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1668-573: A noble, and she acted as a local lord of her fief, paying tributes to the central government regularly. She was additionally promoted to the rank of a minister, xiao chen (小臣) ("humble servant"; hence her alternative name "Xiao Chen Tao"), which in turn allowed her to participate in court discussions and political actions. Her enfranchisement is not detailed but has been proof of the Shang's reverence of women. Uncles: Consorts: Children: A large store of well-preserved turtle plastrons with inscriptions

1807-404: A palace fire in the preceding centuries narrowed the sources available for this work. Because of this highly praised and frequently copied work, Sima Qian is often regarded as the father of Chinese historiography . The Twenty-Four Histories , the official histories of the dynasties considered legitimate by imperial Chinese historians, all copied Sima Qian's format. Typically, rulers initiating

1946-489: A practice that began in the Han dynasty . Discrepancies between the text and quotations of the earlier text in older books led scholars such as Qian Daxin and Shinzō Shinjō to dismiss the "current" version as a forgery, a view still widely held. Other scholars, notably David Nivison and Edward Shaughnessy , argue that substantial parts of it are faithful copies of the original text. The "ancient text" ( 古本 gǔběn )

2085-600: A priestess, she was one of very few women in Shang China who had full literacy. Many paragraphs on oracle bones happen to feature her as the diviner. When Fu Hao died ( c. 1200 BC), Wu Ding had a famous tomb built for her, the Tomb of Fu Hao , located at Yin . Inside the tomb archaeologists found numerous Shang vessels, mirrors, bronze artifacts, weapons (probably to honour her contributions to warfare), as well as sacrificial remains of sixteen humans and six dogs. The size of

2224-451: A small subset of Chinese history, particularly the daily lives of ordinary people in particular locations or settings. Zooming out from the dynastic cycle but maintaining focus on power dynamics, the following general periodization, based on the most powerful groups and the ways that power is used, has been proposed for Chinese history: From the beginning of CCP rule in 1949 until the 1980s, Chinese historical scholarship focused largely on

2363-483: A southern polity that was hostile to Wu Ding. He expanded his rule further south than his predecessors had done. Several tribes submitted themselves under Shang rule and acted as supportive forces in its northwestern wars. Roughly seventy-five percent of human sacrifices of Shang dynasty excavated at Yinxu date back to his reign. This shows his great military successes, since Shang human sacrifices consisted mostly of prisoners of war. Since Shang dynasty practiced slavery,

2502-609: A strong orientalist bent, regarding all Asian states as generally the same while finding reasons for European polities not fitting the pattern. While Wittfogel's theories were not popular among Marxist historians in China, the economist Chi Ch'ao-ting used them in his influential 1936 book, Key Economic Areas in Chinese History, as Revealed in the Development of Public Works for Water-Control . The book identified key areas of grain production which, when controlled by

2641-436: A strong political power, permitted that power to dominate the rest of the country and enforce periods of stability. Convergence theory, including Hu Shih and Ray Huang 's involution theory, holds that the past 150 years have been a period in which Chinese and Western civilization have been in the process of converging into a world civilization. Such a view is heavily influenced by modernization theory but, in China's case, it

2780-573: A succession of dynasties ruled the same unitary China, but there were different states in certain regions of East Asia, some of which have been termed by later historiographers as the Empire ruled by the Son of the Heaven. As early as the 1930s, the American scholar Owen Lattimore argued that China was the product of the interaction of farming and pastoral societies, rather than simply the expansion of

2919-451: A thought that they were capable of indirectly supporting his army in battles. Moreover, Pan Geng was specifically perceived to be involved in his nephew's health. One example based on contemporary records is a reconstructed ceremony by Keightley , which aimed to seek improvement for Wu's dental problems. In the ritual, Wu Ding offered one dog and one sheep to Pan Geng and tried to convince him to treat his toothache. Oracle bones often include

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3058-473: A virtuous monarch who showed great care to his country. Chapter XXI of the Book of Documents describes him remaining silent in the beginning of his reign as to cultivate his virtue. According to the text, Wu Ding restrained himself from speaking even after his three-year mourning for his father's death (during which all the state affairs were discussed and managed by his court ministers) had ended: The king passed

3197-428: Is a partial version assembled through painstaking examination of quotations of the lost original in pre-Song works by Zhu Youzeng (late 19th century), Wang Guowei (1917) and Fan Xiangyong (1956). Fang Shiming and Wang Xiuling (1981) have systematically collated all the available quotations, instead of following earlier scholars in trying to merge variant forms of a passage into a single text. The two works that provide

3336-413: Is able to rectify many of society's problems and begin the cycle anew. Over time, many people felt a full correction was not possible, and that the golden age of Yao and Shun could not be attained. This teleological theory implies that there can be only one rightful sovereign under heaven at a time. Thus, despite the fact that Chinese history has had many lengthy and contentious periods of disunity,

3475-520: Is also strongly influenced by indigenous sources such as the notion of Shijie Datong or "Great Unity". It has tended to be less popular among more recent historians, as postmodern Western historians discount overarching narratives, and nationalist Chinese historians feel similar about narratives failing to account for some special or unique characteristics of Chinese culture. Closely related are colonial and anti-imperialist narratives. These often merge or are part of Marxist critiques from within China or

3614-400: Is known that the queen also played a religious role as a priestess. She was allowed to take part in ceremonies, sacrifices, and divination with Wu Ding's diviners. She featured herself in human sacrifices, as the humans killed were often prisoners taken from her post-war opponents. Some oracle bones contain graphics depicting her organizing executions of captured enemy for ancestor sacrifices. As

3753-759: Is less confining than it may first appear in that the Marxist historical framework is surprisingly flexible, and it is a rather simple matter to modify an alternative historical theory to use language that at least does not challenge the Marxist interpretation of history. Partly because of the interest of Mao Zedong , historians in the 1950s took a special interest in the role of peasant rebellions in Chinese history and compiled documentary histories to examine them. There are several problems associated with imposing Marx's European-based framework on Chinese history. First, slavery existed throughout China's history but never as

3892-456: Is mainly due to the fact that the Shang was not influenced by Confucian ideologies which only appeared 700 years after Wu Ding (although its succession traditions preferred masculine children to feminine ones similar to Confucianism). The most prominent females in Shang dynasty were verified to have lived during his period. Most of them acquired power through marriage to the king. Wu Ding's spouses participated in warfare and divination, worshipping

4031-565: Is published in the People's Republic of China is based on a Marxist interpretation of history . These theories were first applied in the 1920s by Chinese scholars such as Guo Moruo , and became orthodoxy in academic study after 1949. The Marxist view of history is that history is governed by universal laws and that according to these laws, a society moves through a series of stages, with the transition between stages being driven by class struggle. These stages are: The official historical view within

4170-1009: Is rapidly evolving, with much new scholarship, often based on the realization that there is much about Chinese history that is unknown or controversial. For example, an active topic concerns whether the typical Chinese peasant in 1900 was seeing his life improve. In addition to the realization that there are major gaps in our knowledge of Chinese history is the equal realization that there are tremendous quantities of primary source material that have not yet been analyzed. Scholars are using previously overlooked documentary evidence, such as masses of government and family archives, and economic records such as census tax rolls, price records, and land surveys. In addition, artifacts such as vernacular novels, how-to manuals, and children's books are analyzed for clues about day-to-day life. Recent Western scholarship of China has been heavily influenced by postmodernism , and has questioned modernist narratives of China's backwardness and lack of development. The desire to challenge

4309-590: The Book of Documents , in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, he conducted rituals in honour of his ancestor Da Yi ( 大乙 ), the first king of the Shang dynasty, at the Royal Temple. When he saw a crowing pheasant on one of the ceremonial bronze vessels, he became frightened and considered it an ominous omen. Zu Ji, who was accompanying his father during the rituals, is said to have wanted to advocate religious modifications. Following this thought, Zu decided to discuss

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4448-455: The Shangshu contain paragraphs mentioning the story of Wu Ding encountering Fu Yue. According to the source, Wu Ding was informed by Heaven that he would receive a man named "Yue" who would assist him in governing the country. After waking up, he consulted his court but no one recognized the man. Therefore, he produced a painting of the man from his memory and dispatched his troops to seek for

4587-656: The Goguryeo tombs in Chinese territory. The absolute independence of Goguryeo is a central aspect of Korean identity, because, according to Korean legend, Goguryeo was independent of China and Japan, compared to subordinate states such as the Joseon dynasty and the Korean Empire . The legacy of Genghis Khan has been contested between China, Mongolia, and Russia, all three states having significant numbers of ethnic Mongols within their borders and holding territory that

4726-511: The Han people . Lattimore did not accept the more extreme Sino-Babylonian theories that the essential elements of early Chinese technology and religion had come from Western Asia , but he was among the scholars to argue against the assumption they had all been indigenous. Both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China hold the view that Chinese history should include all

4865-699: The Jizhong discovery . For this reason, the chronicle survived the burning of the books by Emperor Qin Shi Huang . Other texts recovered from the same tomb included Guoyu , I Ching , and the Tale of King Mu . They were written on bamboo slips , the usual writing material of the Warring States period, and it is from this that the name of the text derives. The strips were arranged in order and transcribed by court scholars. According to Du Yu , who saw

5004-609: The Nationalist period . A significant amount of new writing includes texts written for a general (as opposed to only academic) audience. There has been an increasingly nuanced portrayal of Chiang Kai-shek , particularly in more favorably evaluating his leadership during the Second Sino-Japanese War and highlighting his position as one of the Big Four allied leaders. Recently released archival sources on

5143-519: The Records of the Grand Historian , Han dynasty scholar Sima Qian wrote of his reign as beginning in the year dingwei (丁未), which can be either 1333 BC or 1273 BC according to the ganzhi calendar 's 60-year repetition. The Guben Zhushu Jinian ("ancient version" of Bamboo Annals) gives Wu Ding's regnal dates as 1273–1213 BC. The Cambridge History of Ancient China gives 1189 BC as

5282-660: The State of Wei in the Warring States period . It thus covers a similar period to Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian (91 BC). The original may have been lost during the Song dynasty, and the text is known today in two versions, a "current text" (or "modern text") of disputed authenticity and an incomplete "ancient text". The original text was buried with King Xiang of Wei (died 296 BC) and re-discovered nearly six centuries later in 281 AD ( Western Jin dynasty ) in

5421-406: The T'ung-chih [ Tongzhi ] Restoration demonstrated with a rare clarity that even in the most favorable circumstances there is no way in which an effective modern state can be grafted onto a Confucian society. Yet in the decades that followed, the political ideas that had been tested and, for all their grandeur, found wanting, were never given a decent burial." In a different view of modernization,

5560-550: The Warring States period between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. The first systematic Chinese historical text, the Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ), was written by Sima Qian ( c.   145 or 135–86   BC) based on work by his father, Sima Tan , during the Han dynasty . It covers the period from the time of the Yellow Emperor until the author's own lifetime. Two instances of systematic book-burning and

5699-650: The ethnic groups of the lands held by the Qing dynasty during its territorial peak , with these ethnicities forming part of the Zhonghua minzu (Chinese nation). This view is in contrast with Han chauvinism promoted by the Qing-era Tongmenghui . This expanded view encompasses internal and external tributary lands, as well as conquest dynasties in the history of a China seen as a coherent multi-ethnic nation since time immemorial, incorporating and accepting

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5838-563: The imperial examination . Some world-systems analysts , such as Janet Abu-Lughod , claim that analysis of Kondratiev waves shows that capitalism first arose in Song dynasty China, although widespread trade was subsequently disrupted and then curtailed. The Japanese scholar Tanigawa Michio , writing in the 1970s and 1980s, set out to revise the generally Marxist views of China prevalent in post-war Japan . Tanigawa writes that historians in Japan fell into two schools. One held that China followed

5977-616: The three ages of the Greek poet Hesiod , the oldest Chinese historiography viewed mankind as living in a fallen age of depravity, cut off from the virtues of the past, as Confucius and his disciples revered the sage kings Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun . Unlike Hesiod's system, however, the Duke of Zhou 's idea of the Mandate of Heaven as a rationale for dethroning the supposedly divine Zi clan led subsequent historians to see man's fall as

6116-450: The Bīn (賓) group of diviners serving Wu Ding. On the piece of bone, four separated divinations were carved (either by the king or Zheng himself): Wu Ding's royal family, predictably, also played a part in religious practice. They appeared to have been granted their own authorization of exercising power as priests, and some oracle texts carved by the assistants might have been made in the service of

6255-519: The East zone. It is known that the two zones were separated by Wu Ding, who was the first king and the head of the "late Shang". He founded the West zone for his future successors' burial, apart from the section for his predecessors. Ancestor rituals that honored kings before Wu Ding were conducted in the East zone. Investigating tombs in both sections, archaeologists have identified specific tombs that contained

6394-448: The Japanese historian Naito Torajiro argued that China reached modernity during its mid-Imperial period , centuries before Europe. He believed that the reform of the civil service into a meritocratic system and the disappearance of the ancient Chinese nobility from the bureaucracy constituted a modern society. The problem associated with this approach is the subjective meaning of modernity. The Chinese nobility had been in decline since

6533-632: The Nationalist era, including the Chiang Kai-shek diaries at Stanford University 's Hoover Institution , have contributed to a surge in academic publishing on the period. In China, historical scholarship remains largely nationalist and modernist or even traditionalist. The legacies of the modernist school (such as Lo Hsiang-lin ) and the traditionalist school (such as Qian Mu (Chien Mu) ) remain strong in Chinese circles. The more modernist works focus on imperial systems in China and employ

6672-524: The Northern Steppe (probably a branch of the then-Proto-Indo-European peoples), and used for royal hunts and military command. Contemporary oracle bone inscriptions of the character 車 depict a chariot-like two wheeled vehicle with a single pole for the attachment of horses. Many Shang chariots were eventually interred with royal family members in tombs. The Shang chariots, despite their limited utilization in tactical combats, remain prevalent throughout

6811-523: The Opium wars and continues through the May Fourth period. In the 1950s, several of Fairbank's students argued that Confucianism was incompatible with modernity . Joseph Levenson and Mary C. Wright , and Albert Feuerwerker argued in effect that traditional Chinese values were a barrier to modernity and would have to be abandoned before China could make progress. Wright concluded, "The failure of

6950-510: The People's Republic of China associates each of these stages with a particular era in Chinese history. Because of the strength of the CCP and the importance of the Marxist interpretation of history in legitimizing its rule, it was for many years difficult for historians within the PRC to actively argue in favor of non-Marxist and anti-Marxist interpretations of history. However, this political restriction

7089-628: The Qin dynasty, and while the exams were largely meritocratic, performance required time and resources that meant examinees were still typically from the gentry . Moreover, expertise in the Confucian classics did not guarantee competent bureaucrats when it came to managing public works or preparing a budget. Confucian hostility to commerce placed merchants at the bottom of the four occupations , itself an archaism maintained by devotion to classic texts. The social goal continued to be to invest in land and enter

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7228-403: The Shang celestial ancestor Shangdi ( 上帝 ), along with participation in managing the kingdom's agricultural-based economy. Fu Hao , the queen consort, was recorded in oracle bones as a renowned military commander. Being skilled in warfare, she was trusted by her husband and was appointed a general. She held various campaigns against several groups in the west of Shang territory. At its peak,

7367-430: The Shang dynasty had been experiencing sharp declines; therefore, they have been perceived as attempts to revitalize power using connecting the ruler with his most exemplary ancestors. Widely regarded in later tradition as one of the greatest kings of the Shang dynasty, he was given the name Wu Ding ( 武丁 ) in accordance with the sexagenary cycle . As to comply with the religious tradition of worshipping royal ancestors in

7506-445: The Shang king's destiny: in fact, during the eclipse series, Wu Ding was recorded in oracle bones as having already declined in health. David Keightley studied four oracle bones that record eclipses, and suggested various death years. David Nivison, using Keightley's results, ruled out the possibility of a 1180 BC death, claiming that that year actually refers to an eclipse in 1201 BC. He concluded that Wu Ding died in 1189 BC, during which

7645-511: The Shang period and early Zhou era. Astronomy in China traces its origin back to Wu Ding's time. Since the 13th century BC, numerous stars (that were later categorized) have been recorded on oracle bones at Anyang. The system of "xiu" (宿, lit."mansion") that played an important role in ancient astronomy also appeared during his reign. It is commonly thought that the earliest examples of calendrical use also appeared along with astronomy. The Shang calendar, which served to organize days, appeared from

7784-478: The Successful had received the appointment (to the throne), he had with him Yi Yin , making his virtue like that of great Heaven; that Tai Jia had (the same Yi Yin)" [...] "through whom his virtue was made to affect God, and Wuxian who regulated the royal House" [...] "and that Wu-Ting had Kan Pan (Gan Pan). These ministers carried out their principles, and displayed their merits, preserving and regulating

7923-559: The United States. Other historians, such as Qian Mu , who was trained largely through independent study, were more conservative but remained innovative in their response to world trends. In the 1920s, wide-ranging scholars, such as Guo Moruo , adapted Marxism in order to portray China as a nation among nations, rather than having an exotic and isolated history. The ensuing years saw historians such as Wu Han master both Western theories, including Marxism, and Chinese learning. Like

8062-567: The Xia dynasty and the Shang dynasty . The narrative is interspersed with longer passages on portents, which are identical to passages in the late 5th century Book of Song . The second scroll contains a more detailed account of the history of the Western Zhou , the state of Jin and its successor state Wei, and has no portent passages. This version gave years according to the sexagenary cycle ,

8201-415: The afterlife. (He is believed to have married her three more times to his ancestors, since he believed they would act as her guardians after death). He also asked divinatory questions on human sacrifice as well as warfare. He also seemed to be in awe of his ancestors, especially his second uncle Pan Geng . He regularly wrote questions on weathers, agricultural issues for his deceased predecessors, and he held

8340-429: The anecdote, classical historians have emphasized on his righteousness, filial piety and the desire to be an upright ruler like his predecessors.) According to the Bamboo Annals , in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, his son Zu Ji ( 祖己 ) died at a remote area after being exiled. Later Chinese historians when referring to him tended to stress on him attending ceremonies through romanticized anecdotes. According to

8479-417: The bronze products, the writing that was inscribed on them provides insights into the "artisan" class who made the bronze. Bronze scripts indicate that they enjoyed certain privileges, and had a defined occupation that was separated from the common people. At the time of Wu Ding's accession to the throne, women had a greater role to play in the exercise of official power than in subsequent Chinese culture. This

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8618-472: The building and maintenance of large-scale systems of irrigation, the need for such systems made bureaucratic despotism inevitable in Oriental lands. When Wittfogel published his Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power , critics pointed out that water management was given the high status China accorded to officials concerned with taxes, rituals, or fighting off bandits. The theory also has

8757-516: The capital. However, such conscriptions were still rare during the Shang dynasty , and records of them are few. The royal force numbered at thousands and were militaristically trained during royal hunts. The royal servants were able to be promoted to official positions by taking part in battles. The Shang armed forces employ a wide range of weapons and supporting equipment. Troops had both bone and bronze weapons, including máo (矛) spears, yuè (鉞) pole-axes, gē (戈) pole-based dagger-axes, composite bows. At

8896-470: The captured peoples that were not executed for sacrificial ceremonies were shown little mercy and forced to work for the king. For example, the Qiang slaves were expected to prepare oracle bones for diviners in coming ceremonies. The Shang dynasty was contemporary to civilization in parts of Sichuan , located considerably distant from major Shang cities like Yin and Zhengzhou . Traditional histories say that

9035-452: The central governing body which only included a certain number of people who controlled court affairs and central military, regional administration was performed by numerous local lords of varied backgrounds. They were given personal lands and expected to give tributes, portions of harvest, and military support to the Shang monarch, a practice similar to the system used by later dynastic regimes. Obedient lords were accepted as trustable allies of

9174-420: The central government and were given nobility titles. A notable chief is Guo of Zhi, mentioned several times in contemporary texts; he was apparently an ally and a chief of Wu Ding's distant lands. In two inscriptions, Guo of Zhi is recorded to have merged his local troops into the central army, which-at that time commanded by Wu-was mobilizing to battle. Although little is known about military arrangements during

9313-512: The central governments' decisions: in the day xinwei , the Prince asked whether Wu Ding would send Fu Hao to launch offensive campaigns or not. All the members in Wu Ding's family, except Fu Hao, were buried in the royal cemetery at Xibeigang. Half of his relatives, including his father and sons, were buried in the West zone of Xibeigang. Meanwhile, his uncles and wives's tombs were constructed in

9452-609: The commands of Fu Hao. One of the battles with Ba was a large-scale ambush schemed by the Shang, the first one ever recorded in Chinese history. However, Ba seemed to be unaffected by Wu Ding's influence, and it continued to be independent after his wars (the presence of Ba as an independent state during the Zhou dynasty proves that the state did not belong to the Shang). The earliest version of Chinese writing, Oracle bone script ( 甲骨文 ; jiaguwen ), found on tortoise plastrons and ox scapulae,

9591-464: The construction was that of a room, indicating the importance of the queen and showing Wu Ding's favor towards her. Fu Hao's body remains itself was believed to have been buried in a lacquered coffin that has long been rotten away. There also seems to have once been a structure built over the tomb for holding memorial ceremonies. Posthumously, she was given the temple name Mu Xin ( 母辛 ) by the subsequent generation of kings and Bi Xin ( 妣辛 ) thereafter. She

9730-481: The contributions and cultures of non-Han ethnicities. The acceptance of this view by ethnic minorities sometimes depends on their views on present-day issues. The 14th Dalai Lama , long insistent on Tibet's history being separate from that of China, conceded in 2005 that Tibet "is a part of" China's " 5,000-year history " as part of a new proposal for Tibetan autonomy. Korean nationalists have virulently reacted against China's application to UNESCO for recognition of

9869-478: The corrected period's last eclipse happened. This conclusion is reached by counting Wu Ding's 3 years of filial mourning as separated from his 59-year reign. The factor is not considered in the 1192 BC approximation. The king's place of burial is uncertain. However, there is one site that is very likely to be his grave, Tomb 1400 (located in Xibeigang's East zone). The most obvious evidence lies in its location: it

10008-592: The court (oracle bones dating back to Wu Ding do not show any signs of military conflicts between the chiefdom and his court). Only after 1200 BC, the Ji leaders began to involve themselves more in their relationship with the last Shang kings. Wu Ding's campaigns in the southern areas include his conflict with the Hufang (虎方), a Jingman tribe located between the Han River Basin and Huai River Basin. During his reign,

10147-579: The creation of the New History of the Five Dynasties , which covered five dynasties in over 70 chapters. Toward the end of the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century, scholars looked to Japan and the West for models. In the late 1890s, although deeply learned in the traditional forms, Liang Qichao began to publish extensive and influential studies and polemics that converted young readers to

10286-425: The day which the ancestors were named after, he was honoured by subsequent kings on the ding day. He additionally received the temple name "Gaozong" and later posthumously titled "Xiangwang". Following his passing away, he was given a royal funeral and buried in the Shang cemetery. Having become a deified being in Shang pantheon, he was addressed as "Grandfather Ding" and "Ancestor Ding" by subsequent generations and

10425-558: The driving force behind its recent history are still common. Such studies may consider the First Opium War as the starting point for China's modern period. Examples include the works of H.B. Morse , who wrote chronicles of China's international relations such as Trade and Relations of the Chinese Empire . The Chinese convention is to use the word jindai ("modern") to refer to a timeframe for modernity which begins with

10564-406: The dual challenges of interactions with the outside world and modernization in the post-1700 era. Long abandoned as a research focus among most Western scholars due to postmodernism's influence, this remains the primary interest for most historians inside China. The late 20th century and early 21st century have seen numerous studies of Chinese history that challenge traditional paradigms. The field

10703-399: The dynasty of Yin, so that, while its ceremonies lasted, (those sovereigns), when deceased, were assessors to Heaven, and its duration extended over many years. According to Kong Anguo's source, Gan Pan died shortly after Wu Ding inherited the throne. After his death, the chancellor position was replaced by Fu Yue (傅說) (alternatively called Fu Shuo). The Records of the Grand Historian and

10842-410: The end date of his reign based on records of lunar eclipses. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project draft release (2000), sponsored by the Chinese government and disbanded without producing a final report, gives his reign as 1250–1192 BC. Inscriptions from twenty-six oracle bone divinations of his reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197 BC ±10 years. It is important to note that the methodology of

10981-544: The floods of the Yellow River . The hydraulic empire produces wealth from its stability; while dynasties may change, the structure remains intact until destroyed by modern powers. In Europe abundant rainfall meant less dependence on irrigation. In the Orient natural conditions were such that the bulk of the land could not be cultivated without large-scale irrigation works. As only a centralized administration could organize

11120-437: The forces an advantage over other chiefdoms and tribes. According to literary sources, a chariot was drawn by more than one horse, and accompany 3 people with swords, halberds, and bows. Oracle bone inscriptions dating back to Wu Ding mention a wide range of unstable connections with tribes and chiefdoms, generally addressed as fang (方). Oracle bone scripts record that the Shang dynasty maintained contact with Guifang ( 鬼方 ),

11259-412: The forces of Fu Hao reached over 13,000 troops, headed by herself and subordinate generals. The force helped Shang dynasty conquer many opposing tribes and further expand their territory. Although Fu Hao raised and commanded troops on behalf of Wu Ding, she did not have her own army or independent base of power like a vassal chieftain might. Nevertheless, she was Wu Ding's favorite consort, being mentioned

11398-431: The former Soviet Union, or are postmodern critiques such as Edward Said 's Orientalism , which fault traditional scholarship for trying to fit West, South, and East Asia's histories into European categories unsuited to them. With regard to China particularly, T.F. Tsiang and John Fairbank used newly opened archives in the 1930s to write modern history from a Chinese point of view. Fairbank and Teng Ssu-yu then edited

11537-517: The general and official Wangcheng (望乘) was ordered to command a force to engage with Hufang. The army arrived at the Yangtze River 's bank, in what is now between Suizhou and Jingshan ( Hubei ), and launched an offense via Gui (now Zigui County ). The Hu Fang tribe, upon being attacked, surrendered to Wangcheng without much resistance. Subsequently, their land was merged into Shang's southern territory. Oracle bone inscriptions rarely mention

11676-467: The gentry, ideas more like those of the physiocrats than those of Adam Smith . With ideas derived from Marx and Max Weber , Karl August Wittfogel argued that bureaucracy arose to manage irrigation systems . Despotism was needed to force the people into building canals , dikes , and waterways to increase agriculture . Yu the Great , one of China's legendary founders, is known for his control of

11815-546: The history of China from 403 BC to the beginning of the Song dynasty in 959. This style broke the nearly thousand-year tradition of Sima Qian, which employed annals for imperial reigns but biographies or treatises for other topics. The more consistent style of the Zizhi Tongjian was not followed by later official histories. In the mid 13th century, Ouyang Xiu was heavily influenced by the work of Xue Juzheng . This led to

11954-422: The indigenous underdogs of frontier history". Scholarly interest in writing about Chinese minorities from non-Chinese perspectives is growing. So too is the rejection of a unified cultural narrative in early China. Historians engaging with archaeological progress find increasingly demonstrated a rich amalgam of diverse cultures in regions the received literature positions as homogeneous. Most Chinese history that

12093-457: The influential volume China's Response to the West (1953). This approach was attacked for ascribing the change in China to outside forces. In the 1980s, Paul Cohen , a student of Fairbank's, issued a call for a more "China-Centered history of China". The schools of thought on the 1911 Revolution have evolved from the early years of the Republic. The Marxist view saw the events of 1911 as

12232-456: The inscription on the Zhou dynasty bronze Shi Qiang pan . This and thousands of other Chinese bronze inscriptions form our primary sources for the period in which they were interred in elite burials. The oldest surviving history texts of China were compiled in the Book of Documents (Shujing) . The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu) , the official chronicle of the State of Lu , cover

12371-464: The internet. Bamboo Annals The Bamboo Annals ( Chinese : 竹書紀年 ; pinyin : Zhúshū Jìnián ), also known as the Ji Tomb Annals ( Chinese : 汲冢紀年 ; pinyin : Jí Zhǒng Jìnián ), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor ) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history of

12510-592: The king's reign, their armies contributed significantly to the kingdom's warfare and defense. The central government disposed of 3 regiments: zhongshi (中師), zuoshi (左師), youshi (右師). These were used to defend the royal domain as well as secure the new territories gained. In order to defend border regions, the royal troops (wangshi 王師, woshi 我師) were sent and garrisoned in remote regions. Wu Ding's court also had military conscriptions reserved for dangers. They were called "deng" (登) or "zheng" (征) (conscripts), and were trained to react to urgent situations such as enemies' attack of

12649-412: The king's words which form the commands (for them). If he do not speak, the ministers have no way to receive their orders.' On this the king made a writing, for their information, to the following effect: "As it is mine to serve as the director for the four quarters (of the kingdom), I have been afraid that my virtue is not equal to (that of my predecessors), and therefore have not spoken." (By referring to

12788-440: The late imperial system and its failures. However, in the 21st century, a highly favorable revisionism has emerged in the popular culture , in both the media and social media . Florian Schneider argues that nationalism in China in the early twenty-first century is largely a product of the digital revolution and that a large fraction of the population participates as readers and commentators who relate ideas to their friends over

12927-431: The latter reflects a parallel between advancement in bronze weaponry and the sociopolitical development seen from Wu Ding's reign onward. Large numbers of bronze weapons were excavated in tombs, suggesting the affluency and wealthy lives of the nobility. In terms of warfare, qualified bronzemaking settled differences between Wu Ding's armies and their rivals, which enabled him to extend both influence and land area. Along with

13066-411: The model. Such a view was common amongst European and American historians during the 19th and early 20th centuries, but is now criticized for being a Eurocentric viewpoint, since such a view permits an implicit justification for breaking the society from its static past and bringing it into the modern world under European direction. By the mid-20th century, it was increasingly clear to historians that

13205-475: The most among the large number of his wives. Fu Hao's militaristic operations was dictated by divinatory inquiries, which decides her army's mobilization. For example, a divination says: Cheng divined: "Fu Hao shall follow Guo of Zhi to attack the enemy. The King shall attack Zhonglu from the East to where Fu Hao shall be." Another text reads: "The King should not order Fu Hao to follow Guo, [because] we will not perhaps receive enough support." Along with warfare, it

13344-426: The names of diviners. Wu Ding particularly divined exceptionally many times; numerous bone texts feature the king himself as the chief diviner. He interpreted the cracks on oracle bones to predict future events, of which four notable examples are: The divinations of the scribes often included the prediction of fortune in a certain period (usually a Shang week). An ox scapula records the divinations by Zhēng (爭), one of

13483-650: The new ruler. In the work "Shangshu Zhengyi", Kong Anguo mentioned Gan Pan as an exemplary minister that could be compared with Yi Yin . The Book of Documents makes the same analogy in its chapter on the Duke of Shao , who would act as one of the Three Regents under King Cheng of Zhou approximately 250 years after Gan Pan. In the text, the Duke of Zhou is quoted as delivering a lesson about Shang meritorious officials that ought to be viewed as models of loyal and capable ministers: The duke said, 'Prince Shih (i.e. Duke of Shao), I have heard that aforetime, when Tang

13622-564: The notion of "changeless China" was untenable. A new concept, popularized by John Fairbank , was the notion of "change within tradition", which argued that China did change in the pre-modern period but that this change existed within certain cultural traditions. This notion has also been subject to the criticism that to say "China has not changed fundamentally" is tautological , since it requires that one look for things that have not changed and then arbitrarily define those as fundamental. Nonetheless, studies seeing China's interaction with Europe as

13761-534: The official Chinese-language histories of the Han-ruled Song and Ming dynasties, respectively. Recent Western scholars have reacted against the ethnically inclusive narrative in traditional and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-sponsored history, by writing revisionist histories of China such as the New Qing History that feature, according to James A. Millward, "a degree of 'partisanship' for

13900-448: The officially sanctioned Marxist theory of class struggle . From the time of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1992) on, there has been a drift towards a Marxist-inspired Chinese nationalist perspective, and consideration of China's contemporary international status has become of paramount importance in historical studies. The current focus tends to be on specifics of civilization in ancient China, and the general paradigm of how China has responded to

14039-455: The omen with his father. He was quoted as saying: "In its inspection of men below, Heaven's first consideration is of their righteousness, and it bestows on them (accordingly) length of years or the contrary [...] our Majesty's business is to care reverently for the people. And all (your ancestors) were the heirs of the kingdom by the gift of Heaven;−−in attending to the sacrifices (to them), be not so excessive in those to your father." Wu Ding

14178-540: The original strips, the text began with the Xia dynasty . He also stated that it used the Zhou royal calendar until 784 BC, when it switched to the calendar of the state of Jin and then that of its successor, the state of Wei . Du noted that this implied that the book was the state chronicle of Wei. Pei Yin ( 裴駰 , 5th century) states that the book began with the Yellow Emperor. This version, consisting of 13 scrolls,

14317-475: The period from 722 to 481 BC and are among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts to be arranged as annals . The compilations of both of these works are traditionally ascribed to Confucius . The Zuo zhuan , attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BC, is the earliest Chinese work of narrative history and covers the period from 722 to 468 BC. The anonymous Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical work composed of sporadic materials on

14456-402: The person. Yue was found as a worker at a defense construction; his appearance was said to perfectly match the description of the desired person. Seeing that Yue was intelligent and learned, Wu Ding appointed him as his chancellor and gave him the surname "Fu". It is indicated that Fu Yue was potentially a historical character. Based on information on the oracle bones, historians have constructed

14595-430: The preconception that 19th-century China was weak, for instance, has led to a scholarly interest in Qing expansion into Central Asia . Postmodern scholarship largely rejects grand narratives altogether, preferring to publish empirical studies on the socioeconomics, and political or cultural dynamics, of smaller communities within China. As of at least 2023, there has been a surge of historical writing about key leaders of

14734-470: The primary form of labor. While the Zhou and earlier dynasties may be labeled as feudal , later dynasties were much more centralized than how Marx analyzed their European counterparts as being. To account for the discrepancy, Chinese Marxists invented the term "bureaucratic feudalism". The placement of the Tang as the beginning of the bureaucratic phase rests largely on the replacement of patronage networks with

14873-445: The princes. The majority (70%) of oracle characters date back to Wu Ding's reign, which indicates his emphasis on the religion. It is believed that two individuals were chosen as administrative chancellors by this king. Several texts state that after becoming king, Wu Ding appointed his former tutor, Gan Pan (甘盘), as the chief minister at his court. Gan began to arrange military formations of the country while also acting as an adviser to

15012-454: The radiocarbon investigators involved accepting uncritically the purported reign length of 59 years attributed to Wu Ding in the transmitted record. The Shang dynasty practiced royal succession using a form of agnatic seniority , at times distributed across multiple lines of descent. In the generations preceding Wu Ding, succession had been split between the descendants of Zu Yi (祖乙) through his two sons Zu Xin (祖辛) and Qiang Jia (沃甲). This

15151-456: The region was home to two states, Ba and Shu . Ba was an ancient confederation of tribes, and its history extended back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The state had recorded relations with Wu Ding's kingdom around the 13th century BC, although the relation was mostly conflicts. The oracle bones documented on the division of Shang army attacking Ba. The Shang forces, numbered up to thirteen thousand, were led by Xi Li Zhi and Hou Gao, under

15290-405: The romanticized Fu Yue, had an important part in Wu Ding's assistants. (The list, however, remains controversial because necessary information about many of the ten individuals included are yet to be found.) As Wu Ding achieved greatly in his expansion schemes, his rule was established on a much larger area than that of his ancestors. However, the king's control of regions that were farther from Yin

15429-445: The royal family's corpses. Three tombs, numbered 1550, 1400 and 1004, belong to the late Wu Ding era and are the most convincingly identified graves (that archaeologists are certain about the persons who were buried in). The study of the tombs' relative locations to each other suggests that the construction planners designed them so that respect was paid to several individuals. He died in the fifty-ninth year of his reign according to all

15568-418: The ruling method of the future king. In Sima Qian 's Shiji he was listed as the twenty-second Shang king. Oracle bone script inscriptions unearthed at Yinxu alternatively record that he was the twenty-first Shang king. The Shiji says that he was enthroned with Yin ( 殷 ) as his capital. Although his ruling period was characterized with wars, traditional Chinese historiography still portrayed him as

15707-540: The same time as their bone counterpart. Shang bronze script was used in a smaller extent than oracle scripts, especially in Wu Ding's reign when only a few characters were cast on cerremonial vessels. They often contain information about family names and personal names of the individual being honored. Wu Ding's reign is the latest point at which chariots entered China . They were acquired as a mature technology through interactions with nomadic tribes in Central Asia and

15846-591: The scientific method to analyze epochs of Chinese dynasties from geographical, genealogical, and cultural artifacts. For example, using Carbon-14 dating and geographical records to correlate climates with cycles of calm and calamity in Chinese history. The traditionalist school of scholarship resorts to official imperial records and colloquial historical works, and analyzes the rise and fall of dynasties using Confucian philosophy, albeit modified by an institutional administration perspective. After 1911, writers, historians and scholars in China and abroad generally deprecated

15985-423: The season of sorrow in the mourning shed for three years, and when the period of mourning was over, he (still) did not speak (to give any commands). All the ministers remonstrated with him, saying, 'Oh! him who is (the first) to apprehend we pronounce intelligent, and the intelligent man is the model for others. The Son of Heaven rules over the myriad regions, and all the officers look up to and reverence him. They are

16124-477: The set European pattern which Marxists thought to be universal; that is, from ancient slavery to medieval feudalism to modern capitalism; while another group argued that " Chinese society was extraordinarily saturated with stagnancy, as compared to the West" and assumed that China existed in a "qualitatively different historical world from Western society ". That is, there is an argument between those who see "unilinear, monistic world history" and those who conceive of

16263-571: The sources available, none of which are contemporary. His year of death is unknown. Opinions vary from 1197 BC to 1180 BC, with the commonly accepted year being 1192 BC (the year proposed by the defunct Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project ). Many attempts to find his exact death year have used varied methods. One of the prevalent ones is to use astronomical records in dating. Oracle bone inscriptions from Wu Ding's reign mention lunar eclipses, of which those from 1199 BC to 1180 BC are usually associated with his death. The celestial phenomena were often linked to

16402-452: The start of literacy. It arranges ten days into a week, a feature that was used by the royal house to schedule sacrifices. Calendrical use later attracted a religious or magical focus. Bronze technology underwent a significant change starting from the late Shang era, whose beginning is taken from the reign of Wu. Quantity and quality of the products increased drastically. The most notable utilizations of them are war uses and tomb furnishings;

16541-512: The state of Dapeng ( 大彭 ) had been a vassal of the Shang dynasty since the early 14th century BC. This was a notable autonomous region of the kingdom that lay in the eastern direction relative to Yin. According to traditional texts, the first ruler of Dapeng was given the title hou by Wu Ding's ancestors. During the previous kings' reign, the region is recorded to have maintained a relationship with Shang through rare tributes. However, during Wu Ding's period, Dapeng began to show hostilities towards

16680-460: The structure, method, arrangement, sequence, caption, and commentary, dating back to the Warring States period . The Zizhi Tongjian was a pioneering reference work of Chinese historiography. Emperor Yingzong of Song ordered Sima Guang and other scholars to begin compiling this universal history of China in 1065, and they presented it to his successor Shenzong in 1084. It contains 294 volumes and about three million characters, and it narrates

16819-568: The suzerainty held by the Shang king. In the forty-third year of his reign ( c. 1200 BC), Wu Ding waged war on Dapeng and annexed the territory into the kingdom. Seven years later, his army went on to conquer Tunwei ( 豕韋 ). During Wu Ding's reign, the western regions (west of the western "fang" tribes) were inhabited by the Ji clan, predecessor of the Zhou dynasty . The center of the chiefdom had been Bin (modern Xunyi County ) for thousands of years, located very far from Wu Ding's seat in Yin. It

16958-478: The time of Wu Ding, bronze weapons became widely distributed in the kingdom, both in the capital and provincial regions; in the preceding periods, they appeared in smaller numbers. Weapons found in Shang royal tombs reveal an advanced bronze metallurgy that makes the instruments more useful in utilization than in the reign of previous rulers. Soldiers also possessed defensive instruments such as bronze and leather helmets. The presence of chariots in Wu Ding's period gave

17097-422: The version they edited down from a larger volume of material available at the time. In 190, the imperial capital was again destroyed by arson, causing the loss of significant amounts of historical material. The Shitong was the first Chinese work about historiography. It was compiled by Liu Zhiji between 708 and 710 AD. The book describes the general pattern of the official dynastic histories with regard to

17236-478: Was a gradual relaxation of Marxist interpretation after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, which was accelerated after the Tian'anmen Square protest and other revolutions in 1989, which damaged Marxism's ideological legitimacy in the eyes of Chinese academics. This view of Chinese history sees Chinese society as a traditional society needing to become modern, usually with the implicit assumption of Western society as

17375-441: Was able to place his son on the throne despite the claims of a rival lineage may explain why Wu Ding built a new capital for the second time in living memory, as well as the transmitted tradition that he was sent away from the capital during his father's reign. He happened to be Xiao Yi's only son, and therefore was created crown prince. The Bamboo Annals carry an entry stating that in the sixth year of his father's reign, Wu Ding

17514-497: Was actively involved in divination and sacrifice. The king, with the assistance of his priests, was responsible for a large proportion of oracle bone divinations found at Yin. Wu Ding specifically divined about his queen, both when she was alive and after her departure. In particular, one inscription on Fu Hao's being pregnant said that the conception was "inauspicious" (that the child was a girl). Aside from pregnancy, he also divined on her health, prosperity, as well as praying for her in

17653-435: Was built to be near his consort Fu Jing's grave. Wu Ding's tomb's construction layout later became a symbol of glory and the height of power. In the last years of the 12th century BC, his descendants tended to commission their graves identical to his. The notable example is Wen Wu Ding , Wu Ding's 5th-generation descendant (and one of his admirer, who took his regnal name to be a component of his own). His actions took place when

17792-532: Was conquered by the Khan. The Jin dynasty tradition of a new dynasty composing the official history for its preceding dynasty/dynasties has been seen to foster an ethnically inclusive interpretation of Chinese history. The compilation of official histories usually involved monumental intellectual labor. The Yuan and Qing dynasties, ruled by the Mongols and Manchus , faithfully carried out this practice, composing

17931-467: Was discovered in 1991 at a place called Huayuanzhuang (outside the palaces at Yin). The initial "owner" of the plastrons appeared to be a male relative of Wu Ding. The oracle texts mention Wu Ding and Fu Hao visiting the prince frequently, which suggests his close relations with the king himself. The person was similarly licensed to carry out divinations: several texts in the found plastrons contain future foretellings. One divination records his inquiries about

18070-541: Was employed after the fall of the empire by those compiling the history of the Qing , and by those who justified the attempted restorations of the imperial system by Yuan Shikai and Zhang Xun . Traditional Chinese historiography includes states ruled by other peoples (Mongols, Manchus, Tibetans etc.) in the dynastic history of China proper, ignoring their own historical traditions and considering them parts of China. Two historiographic traditions: of unity in East Asia as

18209-465: Was found to have been looted by grave robbers. Evidence from oracle bones indicates at least 60 female individuals (Wu Ding's spouses) who contributed to the court, mainly through military achievements. Nevertheless, their marriages seemed to be only for political purposes; Fu Jing and Fu Hao were the most active females among them and were recorded the most. Wu Ding's daughter, Princess Zi Tao (子妥) also received similar privileges. Her father enfeoffed her as

18348-438: Was interpreted by later historians as a weakening of an incorrectly reconstructed system of primogeniture . The Shang kings immediately preceding Wu Ding were three of his uncles (including the famous Pan Geng , who moved the capital to Huanbei ) and finally his father, Xiao Yi. By the custom of the time, Xiao Yi could potentially have been succeeded by one of his second cousins from the alternate royal line. The fact that Xiao Yi

18487-572: Was lost during the Song dynasty . A 3-scroll version of the Annals is mentioned in the History of Song (1345), but its relationship to the other versions is not known. The "current text" ( 今本 jīnběn ) is a 2-scroll version of the text printed in the late 16th century. The first scroll contains a sparse narrative of the pre-dynastic emperors (beginning with the Yellow Emperor),

18626-698: Was not fully brought under Shang suzerainty, but instead maintained a loose connection with the Shang kings. Wu Ding's reign had considerably more inscriptions about Predynastic Zhou than later periods, concerning Zhou soldiers' welfare, inquiries on Zhou hunts. On the other hand, Wu Ding never visit Zhou territory to tour or hunt. He also did not order Zhou manpower to aid Shang's public construction works and wars. Furthermore, despite his concerns about Zhou people's prosperity, he made no questions and divinations about whether their harvests were successful. Predynastic Zhou did not actually participate in any expansion schemes of Wu Ding, and they also did not show discontent with

18765-673: Was offered numerous sacrifices. Chinese historiography Chinese historiography is the study of the techniques and sources used by historians to develop the recorded history of China . The recording of events in Chinese history dates back to the Shang dynasty ( c. 1600–1046 BC). Many written examples survive of ceremonial inscriptions, divinations and records of family names, which were carved or painted onto tortoise shell or bones . The uniformly religious context of Shang written records makes avoidance of preservation bias important when interpreting Shang history. The first conscious attempt to record history in China may have been

18904-498: Was one of three of Wu Ding's wives to receive sacrifices in the later Shang ritual cycle. Another of Wu Ding's wives, Fu Jing (referred to in oracle bones as "Biwu" 妣戊 ), was probably responsible for overseeing agricultural production, as this was the subject she divined about most frequently. She also received a royal burial in Yin and was interred in Tomb 260. Unfortunately, the tomb

19043-454: Was ordered to live at He ( 河 ) (ancient name for the Yellow River ). Gan Pan ( 甘盤 ), a prominent minister in Xiao Yi's court, was chosen to be Zi Zhao's tutor. A late chapter in the Shangshu asserts that during these early years, he worked together with the local peasants. The times spent among the common people allowed Wu Ding to become familiar with their daily problems, which affected

19182-445: Was practically nominal. Ruling from modern-day Anyang, the monarch was unable to protect the most vulnerable lands of his state. The primitive conditions of transportation also proved an obstacle to his ability to immediately respond to urgent situations in remote lands. That led to the fact that he had to resort to the strategy of sharing power with other people. He divided the country into portions which served as autonomous lands. Unlike

19321-457: Was unearthed at the royal tombs in Yinxu . Wu Ding was the earliest monarch at that Shang capital. The contents are divinatory questions on war, human sacrifice, and national economy. The scripts are found to have almost all principles of modern Chinese writing, which suggests a previous period of development. Another major type of Shang writing, bronze inscriptions ("jinwen" 金文), also came into use

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