The Xia and The Shang Dynasty
2 min readThe Xia Dynasty（2070B.C.-1600B.C.）
Xia is the first prehistoric dynasty in Chinese history.It is said that when the legendary ruler Yu died，his son was chosen to be the leader，thus created the Xia Dynasty and established the system of hereditary dynastic rule.There were 14 generations with 17 rulers in Xia Dynasty before it was taken place of by the Shang Dynasty.Scientific excavations by archaeologists uncovered urban sites，bronze implements，and tombs that provided the evidence of the existence of Xia civilization.
The Xia were agrarian people，and by the time of Yao，Shun and Yu，farming and stockbreeding were considerably developed.People were familiar with the phenomena of seasonal changes and arranged their farm activities according to the alterations of the seasons.
The Shang Dynasty（1600B.C.-1046 B.C.）
The Shang Dynasty consisted of 17 generations and 3 1 kings，and it controlled the central part of China，extending over much of modern Henan，Hubei，Shandong，Anhui，Shanxi，and Hebeiprovinces.Its civilization was based on agriculture，hunting and animal husbandry.The Shang was often at war with neighboring peoples and they had to move their capital for seven times.
The Shang enjoyed the most advanced bronze civilization in the world.The excavated bronze weapons，bronze fittings for chariots and harnesses and ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions dating back to the Shang period show the highly skillful technique in bronze making.
The development of a writing system can be witnessed on the oracles like tortoise shells or animal bones, and these writings were the beginning of the written Chinese language, which writings on tortoise shell
The Shang king’s rule was based on both religious and military power. The king made animal sacrifices and communicated with his ancestors by interpreting the cracks on heatedcattle bones or tortoise shells that had been prepared by professional diviners. Kings were buried with ritual vessels, weapons, jades, and human sacrifice. Sometimes, when a ruler died, more than one hundred slaves were forced to join him in the grave. Some of them would be decapitated first, and some of them were just cruelly thrown into the tomb alive.
