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What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal?
How was Shang government organized?
What achievements did the Shang create that made a difference in the world either at that time or now?
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The Shang Dynasty was ruled by 29 to 30 kings. They were ruled from capital city. The ancestral are coming from a Lineage of ancestor. They made Temples,Tablets,and Finest clothing.
Religion
They had a lot of slaves that they would put into war to fight for china. To make peace with god and the remains bonens, teeth,hair or anything that is dead.
Dear Spence,
You’ve got an interesting start to your post….I think you’re right that the Shang people spent quite a bit of time trying to sacrifice things to the gods to keep them happy. What else do you know about their religion….please add more information to this post. and then could you finish the assignment by describing the Shang government and their achievements? Thanks.
If you want the answer to any and ALL of these questions, fix your eyes to MY blog!
http://lmsblogs.org/hanna/2011/02/25/shang-dynasty/
Hope you enjoy!!
Everything in Shang is called Shang. The capital of the Shang dynasty is called Shang and the supreme god was called Shang Di. There god Shang Di also ruled over lesser gods like the sun god the moon god the wind god and also the rain god. The Shang dynasty also liked to make sacrifices to appease the god. The Shang dynasty was very religious and also believed in afterlife. In the tombs of the kings and other important people, they put little houses, other relative and some of their laborers in with the dead person (dead or alive). These are called sacrifices.
Dear Charlie,
I think you gave us some good information about the Shang religion. I’m wondering what you know about their government and achievements. I’ll be looking for the other parts of this writing assignment. I’m sure you have lots to tell us about these things.
Mrs. R are you intrested in the Shang dynasty? That’s SO cool!
Take care Mrs. R.
Who, what, when, where? Well the religion that believed and practiced the Shang tombs reveal is the Shang religion. The Shang dynasty had elaborate tombs for the king.
How was the Shang government organized?
Those who served the king in various official functions were aristocrats and were usually relatives. the king lived in and ruled from the capital city of shang.as others kings came to the power, they sometimes moved the capital to other cities in the kingdom. It is speculated that the capital was moved when a king encountered power struggled within the dynasty.
One thing that atchievment the the shang created that made a difference form them is there writing. there writing is different than normal hand writting. its very unique. instead of letters its stymbols. the only reason is because thats the way they speek and understand thing, because thats the way they communicate.! so get out of this time of the 1600 and go back to the real world, the new time.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Tyler,
You’ve mentioned the Shang tombs, but I’m still a little unclear about what the beliefs and rituals of their religion. Can you give more information? Thanks.
I agree that writing was important. What were the other achievements that we discussed in class or that were mentioned in the textbooks. Can you please add more information? Thanks.
Want to know more about China’s most important dyansty, the Shang dynasty? Check out my blog at http://lmsblogs.org/carterw!
Carter
The Shang government is a lot different from our governments today. Like Topeka the capital of Kansas doesn’t move every time it loses power unlike in ancient Chinas when they lost their power they moved to a new location. I’d get pretty annoyed if I worked as a government person because you’d probably have to move alto.
For their beliefs they worshipped their ancestors and gods. They would carve a question into a bone and if it cracked that was good luck but if it didn’t crack it’s bad luck. Like say you’re having a big celebration and you carved into the bone and asked if you would have a happy and successful party if it cracked you would have a good happy party but if it didn’t crack unsuccessful and unhappy party. They also believed in the afterlife with their ancestors.
Dear Nick,
I think your comparison to moving Topeka helps the reader understand the difference between how the Shang moved their capital and how it occurs in Kansas. Did you know that the capitol of the US hasn’t always been in Washington DC? Do you know it’s other locations? I think you’re right to connect the worship of the ancestors and the gods. I think the only thing you need to add is the information about the Shang achievements.
What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal?
They revealed that the Shang believed in the or an afterlife, because in the tombs the put mini houses, clothing, food, and other supplies. And sometimes the king even brought a slave with them into the afterlife.
How was Shang government organized?
China usually had a dynasty in power and in this case it was the Shang. A dynasty is a family of rulers when the king dies/emperor his son or oldest nephew would take over in a never ending cycle unless the kingdom was over thrown by a different family. The Shang used a monarchy which is a ruler of a kingdom or empire so it’s pretty much a king or emperor.
What achievements did the Shang create that made a difference in the world either at that time or now?
The Shang invented the first Chinese official form of writing. In which they kept records with. They also invented a way to contact their ancestors by writing on ox bones then they had a diviner burn the bones and then read the cracks left in the bone from the fire. These bones were called oracle bones.
Parker,
What do you mean that they brought a slave into the afterlife? How did they do that? Can you tell me more? I really liked the way you explained what a dynasty was…I think you’re one of the only students who has done that so far. It helps understand exactly how the word applies to a set of rulers from the same family that governed for almost 600 years. That’s amazing. How did they stratified society help with that? Do you know what the other three achievements were?
Dear Mrs. Ratzle
Question 1: Sometimes they killed multiple slaves servents and solders with the king and put them in wood cafins in the same tomb.
Question 2: They used a social hyarcy with the king at the top than, the nobles, than the merchants and crafts people, than the slaves and servents.
Question 3: The other 3 acivements were the bronze wepondry making chariots, axes, ect. The stratified goverment with the social hyarcy and the bronze tecnoligy like pottery.
What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal?
The Shang belief in the afterlife and the royal people would bring slaves down into the afterlife and there valuables such as food, clothing, china, etc…
How was Shang government organized?
A government that is nothings like the USA government is the Shang’s government. It is organized into a monarchy which means that there is one ruler of the empire, or a kingdom which is the king. Things you need to about the king are that he lives and rules from the capital city, and that they move from the capital city when power of ruling struggles. 29-30 kings where in power through 600 years in the Shang dynasty.
What achievements did the Shang create that made a difference in the world either at that time or now?
The Shang invented the first ever Chinese writing system. They would in grave something into an oracle bone, and then they burn the bone and have a diviner read it to the king. It was a way for them to pass down the writing, and history. SO THAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION BECAUSE NOW WE CAN WRITE CAUSE IT WAS PASSED DOWN!!!!
Dear Danny, What does it mean to bring someone down into the afterlife? Can you tell me more about their religion…who were their gods and how did they speak with them? I think your comparison to the US government was good…it helps me to imagine what it is like. What other achievements did they make? You mentioned one, but how about the other ones?
Dear Mrs. R,
What does it mean to bring someone down into the afterlife?
Bringing someone down into the afterlife means that they believe in living after their life so they bring down a slave with them so they can continue life.
Tell me more about their religion?
More about the Shang’s religion they have one major god named Shang Di, and they have lesser gods. Gods of moon, sun, wind, rain, etc…
Give me three other achievements?
The other achievements other than writing were bronze weaponry and armor chariots and you needed horses to use chariots, stratified government, and they also had a social hierarchy.
Religion
The Shang tombs reveal that the Shang people buried people and that they believed in an afterlife. They worshiped a supreme god called “Shang Di” who ruled over the minor gods (the sun, the moon, nature, etc.) The Shang people also worship their ancestors, and made sacrifices to them, the sacrifices where mostly prisoners of war or slaves.
Government
The Shang government was one of the reasons Ancient China was so successful. They founded a greatly successful monarchy and had they had many technology advancement in bronze. The capitol would move if the Shang king felt he was losing power, so the ancestral capital would still be able to rule anywhere the capital was.
Achievements
Many of Shang’s achievements had to do with bronze. Bronze was a symbol of luxury and power and only rich people in Shang could afford it. Bronze also help the Shang people win wars; they were able to forge it into swords and halberds which were stronger than the recent stone weapons. They used bronze for almost everything from pots and pans to weapons and armor.
Dear Grant,
I think you’ve done a thorough job explaining these three areas of the Shang dynasty. I really liked the way you emphasized the development of a monarchy. We know that it existed in Sumeria and here we find it again in ancient China. I also like the way you included information from the Nelson Art Gallery slides about bronze and how it’s made.
Have you ever wondered diffrent things about
the Shang dynasty? Well if you have then you need to read this comment! What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal?
They revealed that they believed in the afterlife and that they took burials very seriously. They know that they believed in the afterlife because they found bodies of people in the same tomb as the kings so that meant that the people would serve them in the afterlife. The people who were buried with the king would also have to worship him in the afterlife. They know that they took burials very seriously because the tombs for the kings would be so fancy and huge. The workers would spend years building them for the king.
How was Shang government organized?
It was organized in a social hierarchy where the king was first and them most powerful and had the most freedom. The second in it was the nobles and the aristocrats who were very rich and had a lot of freedom. The middle class was the craftsmen and the merchants/traders. They had pretty good lives and had an ok amount of freedom. After that were the farmers and the soldiers. They had hard lives full of hard work and labor for a small amount of money; they had only a little freedom. The very bottom class is the slaves and the prisoners of war. They had a very hard life with a ton of work with no pay at all; this class also had no freedom or control of what they did.
What achievements did the Shang create that made a difference in the world either at that time or now?
The Shang had many achievements that had a big effect on the world. They are the invention of a writing development of a stratified government and society, advancement of bronze technology, and the use of bronze weapons and chariots in warfare. They also had bronze documents and used them to write only important things on them. They also used oracle bones to communicate with their ancestors and they would ask them questions about different things. They also used a social hierarchy and had different social classes.
Dear Will,
You’ve done an excellent job explaining these three areas of the Shang dynasty. It was an amazing time in history and the ancient peoples of China were quite remarkable…weren’t they?
Welcome to the Shang Dynasty! Here is everything you need to know. The King lived in, and ruler from the capital city. They moved the capital when losing power. The Dynasty created a monarchy. The capital of Shang had temples, tablets, and the finest clothing. Even the seat of power moved. The Shang ancestral capital helped create the monarchy with the King on top and slaves, laborers, etc. on the bottom.
The main god was Shang Di and the lesser gods were the sun, moon, rain, wind, and nature. They believed in afterlife and taking good care of their dead ancestors. They took burials extremely seriously and they buried all people the same no matter how rich or poor you were.
There were four major contributions. These contributions were government and society, bronze technology, writing, and bronze weapons for warfare. Bronze was power, wealth and luxury. Only the most powerful people had access to bronze. Bronze was used in funerals. They used a certain technique called Piece Mold Casting. If you want to make piece mold casting….
1st. Make a mold out of clay.
2nd. Carve in designs
3d. Pour molten bronze into the mold and let it cool.
Last, you break off the clay and add a bronze handle.
Bronze was also a huge advantage in war. The Shang dynasty ended in about 1050 B.C.E and the Zhou claimed that King Shang was evil and “heaven didn’t want Shang to rule any longer.”
WOW Grace,
You have so much information about the Shang. I think you covered the main ideas in all these three areas. Where did you learn about Piece Mold Casting….is that what they used to make the cricket cage we saw?
Hi Mrs. Ratzel,
The piece mold casting was in the packet of information. I am SO happy Mrs. Kelly made the packet shorter! That helped so much! I don’t know if the cricket cage was piece mold casting… i will try to find out!
What do you know about the Shang Dynasty? Well you may know a lot, but when you finish reading this post you’re going to know a lot more! Let’s start with the religious beliefs and practices. We can tell that the people from the Shang dynasty believe in afterlife because they kept model houses in their tombs after they died because they believed that that’s where they were going to live in the afterlife. The Shang dynasty would worship many gods, but the main god that they worshipped was Shang Di. They believed that he was the most powerful important god; he was the god of all gods! Although he is the most powerful there are still very many other powerful gods other than Shang Di. The Shang dynasty also worshipped their ancestors because they believed that their ancestor would watch over them in afterlife, and they felt that they needed to thank them in some way. Thanks for listening to my post today!
~Lily♥
Dear Lily,
You’ve done a terrific job describing the Shang religion. Now you just need to add your thought about the Shang government and their achievements. I’ll be looking forward to the rest of this assignment…if it’s as good as what you posted about religion, it will be wonderful to read.
If you’re wondering what the Shang dynasty was like keep reading. If you’re not and you are looking for the story about little red riding hood please flip to page 55. Now if you want to know what it was like living in the Shang dynasty then you first have to figure out where you are on the social hierarchy. On the top of the hierarchy there is the king and right under him is the nobles or aristocrats. Next on the social hierarchy are traders and crafts men. Now if you want to be farmer then you should know that you’re second to last on the social hierarchy. And now last but not least are the slaves or also known as prisoners of war. Ok next thing you should know is that you have to pray to their god, Shang Di. There were also some minor gods based off of nature like the sun and moon not to forget wind and rain. Now one thing about the Shang is that they were able to advance bronze technology. They created the halberd witch is a stick toppled with a bronze axe head. They also invented chariots. With all those new weapons they had a huge advantage over the other clans. One other thing that they invented was the monarchy. Thank you for reading this and not little red riding hood.
I really like the way you described the social hierarchy. It was clearly written and explained in precise terms. I think you should go back and add in more information about the religion of the Shang. You didn’t have enough information in this post…use your notes and the textbook to find more. And you only mentioned one of the four major achievements we talked about in class. Please go back and add all of them…explaining how these were important.
If you’re wondering what the Shang dynasty was like keep reading. If you’re not and you are looking for the story about little red riding hood please flip to page 55. Now if you want to know what it was like living in the Shang dynasty then you first have to figure out where you are on the social hierarchy. On the top of the hierarchy there is the king and right under him is the nobles or aristocrats. Next on the social hierarchy are traders and crafts men. Now if you want to be farmer then you should know that you’re second to last on the social hierarchy. And now last but not least are the slaves or also known as prisoners of war.
Ok next thing you should know is that you have to pray to their god, Shang Di. There were also some minor gods based off of nature like the sun and moon not to forget wind and rain. They also invented writing and oracle and let’s not forget about stratified government. Now another thing about the Shang is that they were able to advance bronze technology. They created the halberd witch is a stick toppled with a bronze axe head. They also invented chariots. With all those new weapons they had a huge advantage over the other clans. One other thing that they invented was the monarchy. Thank you for reading this and not little red riding hood.
P.S. hope thats better
If you’re wondering what the Shang dynasty was like keep reading. If you’re not and you are looking for the story about little red riding hood please flip to page 55. Now if you want to know what it was like living in the Shang dynasty then you first have to figure out where you are on the social hierarchy. On the top of the hierarchy there is the king and right under him is the nobles or aristocrats. Next on the social hierarchy are traders and crafts men. Now if you want to be farmer then you should know that you’re second to last on the social hierarchy. And now last but not least are the slaves or also known as prisoners of war.
Ok next thing you should know is that you have to pray to their god, Shang Di. There were also some minor gods based off of nature like the sun and moon not to forget wind and rain. Oracle bones allowed the kings to talk to their ancestors for help about what decisions to make.
They also invented writing. This allowed them to write on bones creating oracle bones. Oracle bones let them talk to their ancestors. Let’s not forget about stratified government. Which is a government based on layers of authority. One other thing that they invented was the monarchy. Now the thing about the Shang is that they were able to advance bronze technology. They created the halberd witch is a stick toppled with a bronze axe head. They also invented chariots. With all those new weapons they had a huge advantage over the other clans. They also used bronze to make ritual vessels. Thank you for reading this and not little red riding hood.
What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal? The Shang tombs revealed to us that they definitely believed in the afterlife, and gave them what they needed to survive in the afterlife. These were not dull tombs with a couple pots and pans lying around. Even some of the lowest ranked people in the social class. Yes the farmers had the most that their families could give. But none of them could compare with the kings elaborate tomb. Then because of the fact that the king’s servants and staff were so loyal, you would not want your king to die. Yep that’s right if you are part of the kings staff and he dies you die too. If you admire the kings tomb you get to be in it to because you’re going in it with him.
How was Shang government organized? The whole world should greatly appreciate what all the Shang has done for us especially the stratified government. Yes, yes we all think that the wheel and the chariot were amazing to but just think about the government would be now. We might have 17 presidents all trying to work to together and we all know that would be extremely hard. With that going on we might not even have a use for the wheel or any other amazing achievement by the Shang. So we thank you for that Shang and your organized government.
What achievements did the Shang create that made a difference in the world either at that time or now? What do I think of when I hear the word Shang I think achievements. Then when I think of Shang achievements I think oracle bones. I am still amazed how the Shang thought of the oracle bone! Not only was the oracle bone religious to them it was also key to us understanding their history. If we had not found the oracle bones we would be set back in our Shang research. They kept history on them and communicated with their ancestors with them. I also think about warfare, the Shang had improved our outlook on warfare that it made their enemy’s look prehistoric with their tactics.
Dear Will,
You’ve done a wonderful job explaining the first two paragraphs. But I think you missed the four achievements that were mentioned in the Shang handout and in the textbook. Go back and re-read those and you’ll have more information to fix up your third paragraph. Well done and it’s going to be even better.
Check out my post about Shang Dynasty at:
http://lmsblogs.org/hayden
Shang Dynasty is awesome!!! (: <3
Beliefs and practices, who needs them? I guess the Shang’s did. One of Shang’s big beliefs is that they believe in the afterlife. When a more royal person dies they have a big ceremony and get buried in a nice tomb with guards, animals, food, and furniture for the afterlife. What the tombs reveal is the Shang’s religion. They cared a lot about their religion and beliefs.
The Shang government was organized by the lower people in the hierarchy serving the King. The King lived in and ruled the Capital City. When the kingdom lost their power, they would sometimes move their capital. There have been 29-30 kings in the past 600 years.
The biggest achievement that I think impacted the past and now is the invention of writing. Back then they used pictures that looked like the thing they were describing. Now they have symbols, each symbol stands for a letter in the alphabet. If you look at them now there would be a huge difference.
Amanda,
What did you mean by a more royal person? Who is that? The king, the noblemen, merchants….who had tombs? What did you mean that the government was organized by the lower people. I don’t think this is true. Can you go back and check your sources on that. Do you know who invented their writing system first…. the Chinese or the Sumerians?
The Royal person/people I was referring to were the king and noblemen. The King had its own tomb and his servants were buried in the same tomb but on the other side to show there royalty. The servants weren’t buried with anything bronze or jade. But the Kings were. I meant by the Government hierarchy was organized by all the lower people (slaves+ peasants) serving the king. I’m pretty sure that the Chinese were the ones who invented the writing, in fact the Shang Dynasty was the ones who invented it.
Hi Marsha, I lost my comment on your techie teacher blog. I wanted you and your students to know how impressed and inspired I am by their work, their ideas, and their writing. I wrote a blog post about some of their work to share with my students and to remind me what we can do when we start blogging.
Can You Hear Me Now?
You are an inspiring mentor to your students and others.
This may seem boring at first like “UGH I already know all about the Shang Dynasty. “But how much do you really know? Read through these fast facts about the religion, the government, and the contributions of the Shang Dynasty!
Religion-
Shang Di was the MAJOR god, he ruled over the lesser gods like the sun god, the moon god, the wind god, and finally the rain god. People worshipped their ancestors and believe strongly in the afterlife. Sacrifices were made to appease (appease- to make peace with) gods and ancestors. They had VERY elaborate tombs, always things were put in these elaborate tombs. Like houses, humans were put in tombs even if they weren’t dead so they’d be buried alive! ! Don’t fear though this only was an occasional decision. It only occurred for royals and normally prisoners were put in there. Occasionally though if someone important in the family was buried family members would be buried alive to! !
Government-
The monarch (monarch- ruler of a kingdom or empire) ruled from their capital city (which occasionally was changed from time to time) Shang. Shang was the real capital. 29-30 kings would rule over a period of 600 years. Kings had temples, tablets, their finest clothing, and possessions. Armies could be as big as 13,000 men ! Those men could bring back as many as 30,000 prisoners ! These prisoners either became slave’s sacrifices to the gods or ancestors. We know all of this info by Oracle bones. THANK YOU ORACLE BONES!
Contributions-
I. Writing- was a HUGE part of the contributions in the Shang Dynasty. They allowed others throughout the land to be able to communicate with their kingdom.
II. Stratified government (stratified government- layered government)- this was helpful to the kings because now they were considered the top of the WORLD! I think they probably enjoyed that. The underclassmen I think didn’t enjoy it so much cause they were treated horribly because they were either slaves or very poor people. So when that type of government was made that made them feel worse about themselves.
III. Bronze- helped Chinese build materials; swords, pottery, and many other useful objects.
IV. Warfare- chariots were a helpful warfare object to the men battling. So they would get as tired in the middle of the battle from running. Chariots also provided a small for a short person in the chariot vs a tall person on the ground elevation advantage. And a huge for a tall person in the chariot taking on a short person on the ground elevation advantage.
Connor,
This is an excellent article and thanks for submitting it to the main class page. Can you also copy and paste it into a post on your own blog. It will give you some fantastic content and something for your readers to enjoy.
What religious beliefs and practices did the Shang tombs reveal?
The Shang tombs revealed that the Sang believed in after life. They also worshiped their ancestors. The Shang tombs were big and very fancy. Most people who were buried were buried with all their treasures. Royal people were buried with slaves and prisoners because the Shang thought that the sacrificed people would serve the royal in the afterlife. They thought this because they found lower ranking people in the tombs with the royal people.
The Shang worshiped “Shang Di” who was there main god. They also worshiped the lesser gods, which were: sun, moon, wind, rain, and other natural forces. They believed that their ancestors were in heaven and they looked after the people on earth. The kings would make sacrifices to their ancestors and would communicate with them through oracle bones. The Shang thought that the sacrifices that they made to the gods and the ancestors would keep them strong, healthy, and would please them. The Shang thought that if they didn’t please their ancestors and the gods that the Shang people would suffer with huge disasters!
Dear Olivia,
I really think you did a great job describing the Shang’s religion. Please post the rest of the information about the government and the achievements and you’ll be done!!! The way you told how the ancestors were important to the people and the religion helped me to understand these ancient peoples.
I bet you didn’t know that Shang dynasty had 29-30 kings, but did know that there were thirteen thousand men sent to fight during that period. The Shang religon gods were the sun, moon, rain, wind, and nature. And the Shang contribution they made paper. Also they used bronze, chariots, and weapons. The capital of shang became known a the ancestral capital. Finaly did you know that Shang created the halberd which was a long stick topped with a bronze axe-head.
Dear Alex,
The Shang are an amazing people and I’ve enjoyed learning all about them, have you? Over those 600 years, they had all these kings and the people must have felt very secure in the dynasty. Their ability to communicate with the gods thru the oracle bones documents their ability to write. I think I need you to check about the invention of paper. I’m not sure you’ve got this exactly right. Can you find out the dates and then compare those to the Shang time period. Let us know.
Scoop goes the shovels and rumble the chariot goes down the road side made of dirt. If you have learned a little about the Shang dynasty in china then you are in the right place go to http://lmsblogs.org/samd/2011/02/28/what-happened-during-the-shang-dynasty/
Dear Mrs. Ratzel,
What does it mean to bring someone down into the afterlife?
Bringing someone down into the afterlife means that they believe in living after their life so they bring down a slave with them so they can continue life.
Tell me more about their religion?
More about the Shang’s religion they have one major god named Shang Di, and they have lesser gods. Gods of moon, sun, wind, rain, etc…
Give me three other achievements?
The other achievements other than writing were bronze weaponry and armor chariots and you needed horses to use chariots, stratified government, and they also had a social hierarchy.
Long ago the Shang Dynasty was ruled by 29-30 kings over the time 600 years. It was ruled from the capital city Shang.How they faught thier wars was they had 13,000 men and also captuerd 30,000 prisinors. In war they heard the rumbels of the charriots, with thier eyes they saw talking brothers and nephews. In thier haert they felt pain and loyalty to their clan also thier hand felt shiney warm armour and wepons of bronze.
The Shang Religion worshiped the Shang Di. Shang Di looks over the lesser gods The Sun,Moon,Rain,Wind,and Nature. Also when the kings dies his relitives and his slaves would pass on with him.But the Shang Religon also belived in the afterlife,when they died people were buried with houses and stuff they would need in the afterlife.They made Temples,Tablets,and Finest clothing. I have really enjoyed learning about the shang.
What would it look like to discover an ancient royal tomb in China? Well you are now going to find out! The Shang took burials very seriously. Royal tombs were very vast and elegant. In some tombs, they had the lower ranking humans who may have served the royalty contained in the tombs. They also believed in afterlife and ancestor worship. They believed that if they didn’t worship their ancestors properly, the people and their kingdom would experience many disasters. That is another religious belief they had to take seriously. The Shang people worshipped “Shang Di” who was their supreme god. The minor gods of natural forces and places were ruled by Shang Di. The Shang also believed in ancestor worship because they thought that once their ancestors were in heaven, they would watch over those still on Earth. Kings in the Shang Dynasty would communicate to their ancestors with oracle bones. They would also have sacrifices for the ancestors to appease the gods and ancestors. The Shang believed that sacrificing would keep the gods and ancestors strong also as feeding them.
The king lived in and rules the capitol city, which he could change whenever the power struggles. There would be about thirty kings in the Shang over six hundred years. The capitol of Shang had temples, tablets, and fine clothing. The capitol city would usually change when there were powerful struggles or when an enemy found the city the king was in. When the king would call war, the armies could be up to thirteen thousand people! When the Shang would win, they would bring up to thirty thousand prisoners. When the king brought back prisoners, he would either have them sacrificed for Shang Di and the ancestors, or they became laborers. The king had an organization for people in his dynasty. He had a social hierarchy with the king on top and the slaves, laborers, etc. on the bottom.
The Shang civilization was very religious. They were Monotheistic and that one god is Shang Di. He ruled over the lesser gods of the sun, moon, rain, wind and nature. The Shang also believed in Afterlife. They took the burial very serious. They would put in valuables, clothes and furniture in there tombs, just like the Egyptians.
The Shang’s social hierarchy went like this. On top was the king. Second were Aristocrats and nobles. Next were Artisans, craftsmen, merchants, and traders. On the bottom were farmers, slaves, and prisoners of the war. There military was about 13,000 people strong and they kept about 30,000.
Shang’s contributions were very useful. They had 4 main achievements. They were the invention of writing, levels of government, advanced bronze tools, and bronze weapons and chariots. The Shang kept many of their documents on bamboo and silk. The bronze usually went to the rich because bronze represents power, wealth, and luxury.
GO TO MY BLOG TO LEARN ABOUT CHINA!!!!!!! OR ELSE!!!
http://lmsblogs.org/levi/2011/03/03/the-shang/
Come visit my blog if you want to read some of the answers to these questions!!!! http://lmsblogs.org/carson/2011/03/03/clang-clang-is-the-sound-of-the-shang/
Need more about Shang? Then come to my blog
Margaret
A very long time ago the Shang Dynasty was ruled by 29-30 kings over the period of 600 years. It was ruled from the capital city Shang.this is how they faught thier wars, they had 13,000 men and also captured 30,000 prisoners.during the war they heard the noise of the charriots, with their eyes they saw talking to . In thier hearts they felt pain and loyalty to their clan also their hand felt shiny
warm armour and weapons of bronze.
The Shang Religion worshiped the Shang Di(the king). Shang Di looks over the lesser gods The Sun, Moon, Rain, Wind,and Nature. Also when the kings dies his realitives and his slaves would die with him. But the Shang Religon also belived in the afterlife, when they died people were buried with houses and stuff they would need in the afterlife.They made Temples,Tablets,and Finest clothing. The Shang is the most interesting thing that i have learned all year and I have really enjoyed it!
Here is the link to my Shang post on
Sean’s blog
Close your eyes and relax… imagine you are back in the Shang dynasty. Were there Kingdome and religion was very deferent than ours.
The Shang dynasty was full of war. They took some of the best army’s. The army could hold 13000 people and they brought 30,000 prisoners back. The word around the block was they had a huge advantage! Ok we have interred Shang’s war and the gun shots are fading away. The worships were getting louder and louder. The scraps on the oracle bones were in the proses of coming to a question for the ancestors. Now imagine you watched it crack and saw the ancestors responding. The ancestors talked to you from the afterlife.
Now we can fly over to Shang di. He was the ruler of Shang. Shang di ruled all the lesser gods, Sun, Moon, wind, and rain. If you were hungry and needed water well good luck unless you would be willing to make a sacrifice.
Religion was a bid part on Shang. Worshipers of the gods and rulers were barred with their leader along with anything the leader would need in the afterlife. Shang di founded a monarchy which was ruled by 29-30 kings in a 600 period of time. The king lived and ruled in the capital Shang. They organized the government by having a king. The king had servants witch ended up being mostly relatives or close ones. The capital was not planted in one spot it moved around a lot. When a new king came in power the capital was moved!
The Shang had a lot more achievements than having a strong government. They invented the Chinese form of writing and don’t you dare try to take credit for that because they have records on it! Don’t think I am done yet… they accomplished something witched symbolized power and wealth. Can you guess what I’m thinking? BRONZE… if you were wealthy and looking for something fabulous you could get bronze. If you did not want just a blob of it you could spent your money on a hand crafted bronze weapon. It was sharp, steady and a powerful. They accomplished having a good convergent and society. Stratified was the last of the main accomplishments. I don’t know about you but I think china was a very interesting place.
http://lmsblogs.org/katew/2011/03/04/omg-its-the-shang-dynasty/
Here is the hyperlink to my Shang post…enjoy
Shang Dynasty was ruled by 20-30 kings throughout 600 years. The Shang believed in the afterlife, when they were buried, they were buried with things that they would need in the afterlife. Such as houses, food, jewelry, weapons, and they were even born with relatives and some of their laborers, dead or alive. The wealthier you are the more expensive things you are buried with. They believed in the lesser gods sun, moon, rain, wind, and nature. The Shang took burials very seriously the royal tombs were fancy and elegant. The people that were ranked lower did not have fancy tombs and they were buried far away from the people that had fancy tombs.
The tombs of an ancient civilization sound important, don’t they? Well, what if I said they had lots of information about that civilizations religion and beliefs? Now they’re really important! The tombs of the ancient Shang people tell us a lot about them. They believed in one main god, named Shang Di, and a lot of lesser gods, like the gods of the rain, wind, sun and moon. They also believed in an afterlife, so when you died, you became one of the ancestors, who worked with the gods.
The Shang government was set up like this, there was-
-the king, who ruled over the land.
-then the aristocrats and nobles, who were usually related to the king.
-next were the artisans, merchants, traders and craftsmen, who traded, sold, or made things,
-and last the farmers and slaves, who worked for the king.
They also had a strong army, with a good 13000 men and could bring back up to 30000 prisoners of war, whom would become slaves or, worse, sacrifices to the gods to please them.
They had some pretty important achievements, the main 4 being-
-writing
-government
-bronze wielding
-and bronze weapons
The writing was usually done on silk or bamboo, so we don’t have much of it. And bronze went to the rich, like the king. Did you know that bronze represents wealth and power?
Answer to question #1
The Shang believed in the afterlife as much as the Egyptians and possibly in the same way by burying the deceased valuables and other necessities that were important to them when they were alive. They would also place jade on the king and his subjects this symbolizes how wealthy they were.
Answer to question #2
The Chinese government was in the format of dynasties which is a government that is ruled by a king of a family, if that king dies his son takes place and continues the chain. The government power layout is sort of like a pyramid with the king at the top nobles in the middle and farmers and sort at the bottom, this layout is sort of like who has more power over each other. The Shang government had the king as the lawmaker and judge and any one who disagreed with him was killed. The king would rule over many clans and the nobles also watched of some regions.
Answer to question #3 the possible most important thing the Shang accomplished is that they developed a writing system that inspired katakana hiragana kanji and manyogana.
If you want to see some great pictures and a different explanation of the Shang come visit my blog and read about the Shang.
Here is my post at Sean’s blog.