Shang State Research Paper

In ancient China, many different rulers tried to unify and rule the country using a variety of methods – Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism to name a few. Each philosophy had its own set of rules of how people should act both in public and privately. The overall goal of each philosophy was to set a standard of acceptable living that would ensure harmony and success for the society. However, each was different and thus had different results. The best way for the people of China to succeed in a harmonious, respectable society occurred when both Confucianism and Legalism were combined.

In China during 406-221 BCE, the battling states between the Zhou and the Han Dynasties? were in a state of governmental disorder. Although the era was in a disruptive state, it ushered in a cultural opening that left a long lasting imprint on the Chinese history. As a result, three major belief systems surfaced Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism in an attempt to achieve a sense of political order in a disorder period. There are distinctions in the way each of the belief systems approached the many problems that plagued the Chinese society. First, all of the founders were contemporaries in China. As well as considered philosophies, who studied the future, and sat out to focus on the present rather than the past. In contrast, Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism established various paths in search of an optimistic future for the success of China. Second, both Legalism and Confucianism developed a social belief system, but are considered a religion. However, both Legalism and Confucianism purpose was to create an orderly society in the hopes of prosperity. In contrast, Daoism does

• Reveal the degree to which ancestral worship pervaded Shang state religion and political culture

From 600 BCE to 600 CE, China experienced changes in its political system in terms of the dissimilar ruling styles of different leaders, the rule under Legalism, and the influence of philosophical thinking like Daoism. These changes, influenced by aspects of the world and its own region, shaped China into its Classical state. In contrast, the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, the civil service system, and the significance of unity through a strong central government remained constant throughout China’s Classical period. These continuities followed through, staying essentially the same as an important part of China’s identity.

The Egyptian politics and economy was directed by the pharaoh’s government, and this may have been because of the irregularity and complexity of the Nile’s overflow. Thanks to its early unity along the river of Nile, the Ancient Egyptian civilisation didn’t have as much political issues such as the Zhou Dynasty. Meanwhile, the Zhou ruled through alliances, which means that the emperor would have not had direct control of all of Zhou’s territory. This is known as China’s feudal period, where supporters of the emperor were asked to provide troopers and tax revenues. The central government would then provide them with land in return. This weakened the emperor’s strength in government and in order to strengthen their power throughout Zhou, the emperors introduced a few methods. For example, they claimed a ‘mandate of heaven’, a concept that states there can be only one ruler at a time. Emperors of Zhou also tried to unite Zhou in cultural aspects, by means such as supporting and promoting the use of the Mandarin language. The Ancient Egyptian civilisation and the Zhou had their similarities in the fact that they both had a single ruler, but while Egyptian pharaohs had a firm hold of their society, the emperors of Zhou failed to do

Each consisted of two sections—an elevated citadel, or fortress, and a lower residential area.The Shang may simply be one of several early Chinese civilizations. But it is China’s first historical state. That is, the Shang were the first to record their dynasty’s history using a formal writing

The Shang period was preceded by the Xia, but scholars cannot verify the reality of

Nonetheless, the Zhou justified their leadership by establishing the Mandate of Heaven (to show that they were virtuous to rule by the gods). The Zhou primarily began the unification of China by building the massive capital city of Xi’an (which was twice the size of any Shang capitol) and establishing a new form of government (with Feudalism being the governing principle). Nevertheless, despite the drive of unification aimed by the Zhou, there were fragmented states with their own currency, laws, and so on. They had a population of roughly 20 million people that was recorded in the “The Book of Documents.” In addition, the Zhou established a class system: education at the top, the farmers being the second most important, the artisans being the third, the merchants and the military being non-important because they either produced nothing for society or destroyed what was

Ancient China’s rich history has a direct influence on the China of the 21st century. First, the immense importance of the cultivation of rice, which became a staple source of food in China for centuries. Next, the primary source of accounts of ancient china comes from the Shujing, which spanned the Xia, Shang, and Zhou empires. Furthermore, The power women could hold reached its heights during the Shang empire, and underwent a downward trajectory during the Zhou empire. Moreover, regime changes have had a unique outcomes in China due to the “Mandate of Heaven” which gave new regimes the control over the civilians of the conquered empires. Lastly, the decline of the Zhou came about from the power of local rulers who began to seek their own interests. Ultimately, the mandate of heaven bears responsibility for keeping China intact for centuries regardless of conflicts and shifts in power.

Subsequent to the unification, the laws and punishments were harsh due to the different ruling in each of the 7 warring states. Qin Shi Huangdi the first emperor of the Qin dynasty was a dictator, thus, people were discontent. As a result, there were assassination attempts that attributed in his phobia of death and foreigners were banned from the area. To reduce the chances of a rebellion amongst the people, books were burnt restricting their knowledge on other philosophies and “to silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars” (HELLO). Since they did not have free will, the citizens were constantly in fear, this held the empire together, instead of breaking apart into different ruling systems. The Han dynasty also resembles this trait of isolation as expansion did not start immediately.The dynasty had to establish rules and a proper government to rule the people. At the start it was quite successful but there were a few disputes and an attempt to change the royal bloodline. Only when emperor Wudi took throne did expansion move forward. Due to his persistence, he built up their army and defeated the Huns in spite of previous attempts to avoid battles with people outside of China. However, militarism was expensive, causing the taxes to rise and the contentedness of the people to

Another thing that the Shang people believed in was that there was an afterlife. For this reason, they put servants and emperors in tombs, so that the servants could still serve in the afterlife, and the emperors could still rule. The Shang people made sacrifices to the gods so that the gods would treat them with good things, such as a good season with an even amount of sun and rain, and so that the water God will prevent floods. In the Shang civilization, the religious leaders played a key role in their religion. The religious leaders were the kings and nobles.

Shang-Ti also regulated human affairs as well as ruling over the material universe. This dual function would, in the Chou dynasty, be attributed to a more abstract figure, "t'ien," or "Heaven." The Shang also believed that their ancestors dwelled in heaven after their death and continued to show an interest in their familiy and descendants. The obligations within the family included, therefore, the ancestors. Failing in one's duties to the ancestors could bring all sorts of disaster on a family. All of these divine and semi-divine figures, from Shang-Ti to a family's ancestors, were sacrificed to. However, we know little of the nature or the frequency of these sacrifices. We do know, however, that in the Chou dynasty only the king could sacrifice to Shang-Ti; it is highly likely that Shang-Ti was the "local god" of the Shang kings who was subsequently elevated in order to elevate the Shang themselves. The one disturbing fact of Shang sacrifice is that it certainly involved humans; slaves and prisoners of war were often sacrificed by the hundreds when a king died. Lesser numbers were sacrificed at the founding of a palace or temple. F. Major reasons for decline and fall: 2. Chou: dynasty (1122-221 B.C.) that ruled ancient china from almost a thousand years establishing a distinctive political and cultural characteristics which would be identified with China for the next 2,000 years. A. Reason's for Rise: B. Territorial Location & size

The mandate of heaven is the approval of one person by heaven to become the ruler of China. The Mandate of Heaven’s transition from the Shang Period to the Zhou Period is important because the leader of which dynasty it was the period of was chosen to become the leader of China. The Zhou Dynasty taking power put a start to the Zhou Period and an end to the Shang Period. The government type went from being one strong, centralized government to a spread out government that had different governments for different feudal states. A tribal leader was chosen to rule each state government during the Zhou Period. The Shang Period was also filled with a lot of art, but this changed once the Zhou Period kicked in, and the civilization started becoming

The first, early civilizations in world history separated themselves among six empires, establishing the first known forms of settlements and politics. Two of these empires, Ancient Egypt and the Yellow (Huang He) River Valley (Shang and Zhou) civilizations, formed methods of power and diplomacy that differed, as well as related to one another. Both Egypt and Huang He’s civilizations were set up on geography and environment that promoted settlement as well as create certain difficulties that led to technological development. Within these settlements, each civilization depended on a system of divine/semi-divine leadership in which the kingdom was split by dynasties.

The Zhou were able to utilize the mandate of heaven to allow them to justify their conquering of the Shang, which enabled the defeated Shang commoners to live within the Zhou empire (Sivers, Desnoyers and Stow 105). The growth of the Zhou was facilitated by the consolidation of power within the Shang during their decline, which enacted the Zhou state to conduct a military campaign against the Shang (Sivers, Desnoyers and Stow 105). The decline of the Zhou empire commenced once the various Zhou states began promoting their own interests at the expense of the empire (Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 106). As a result of the power held by local rulers under feudalism the Zhou central government began to quickly lose power (Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 107). The Zhou’s decision to relocate their capital isolated itself from various states undergoing economic success (Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 107). Furthermore, states began deferring power to larger states in what came to be known as hegemony (Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 107). Ultimately, the leading state's fight for influence along with a civil war in Jin led to the Warring states period and dissolved what remained of the Zhou empire (Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow