SHANG DYNASTY TOP TEN

1. Technological Development: paper was invented.

2. Oracle bones are found to have been a huge part of this dynasty.

3. Writing system originally pictographic

4. Believed and worshiped a higher god who was superior to lesser gods such as the sun, moon and rain.

5. The Shang dynasty pad an aristocracy with a king ruling over military dignity.

6. First ruler, Tang, learned a lot about the downfall of prior dynasty and was the most influential of all the king's to come.

7. Ancestor worship also became a big deal. People offered up their ancestor's souls to God.

8. Peasants lived outside the city and worked in a "nine square system", where they farmed in nine squares and kept the profit of eight. The ninth square's profit was given to the king and every village outside of the city walls were ordered to do this.

9. The people within the city walls lived a more contemporary lifestyle that mostly involved hunting and warfare with local Barbarians.

10. Last king was overthrown because he was cruel, similar to Xia Dynasty

QUOTES

1. "It is the man that can make the Way great, not the Way that can make a man great." -Analects

2. "Like weather, one's fortune may change by the evening." -Luu Mengzheng

3. "To learn without thinking is fruitless; to think without learning is dangerous." -Confucius

SUMMARY

The Shang dynasty consisted of a trial and error. The first king learned from the previous dynasty and the final king of the Shang didn't learn anything. Confucianism began to take part in people's lives and so did their spiritual beliefs and ways of connecting with God. Some inventions took place and there placing them on the map, or rather the timeline of important cultures.