Chinese: The Bronze Age
The Xia/Shang/Zhou Dynasties

(much that is once thought mythical is then found to have 
 reality in history. Or as Joseph Campbell used to sey:

   "Almost every mythical person has at its base some
    either real or idealised person. Often we find 
    the names of ancient kings swept up into mythical
    stories." (not by any means an exact quote -- Pizoi)

CHINESE: [General] [Neo-Lith] [Bronze]  [Han] [The Six]  [Sui/Tang]   [Song]
                   8000?yago   ?-1700   200bce 220-579  589/617-907  960-1279
                              -1100bce -200ce
See also:  [Art Periods]
           [Flying Gallop] (prance image)

              [Art Periods]
              [Art Movements]
              [(art) concepts]
              [Time Line] - space/time conveyor

Chinese Art

                 [General]  (6000bce - 1279ce)
                 [Neo-Lithic] (8000 years ago)  
You are here -->  [Bronze Age] Xia/Shang/Zhou (?-1700-1100bce)  
                 [Han]  (200bce-220ce) (easy #'s)
                 [The 6 dynasties (220-579)
                 [Sui/Tang] (589/617-907)
                 [Song] (960-1279)

On this page:  {Intro}
               {Xia}
               {Shang}
               {An-Yang/Zhou}
 
  

Intro

As Marilyn S. puts it (Stockstadt, P. 405)),
   "Tradtional Chinese histories tell of three Bronze
    Age dyansties: The Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou.
    Modern scholars had tended to dismiss the Xia 
    and Shang as legendary, but recent archaelogical
    discoveries have now fully established the existAnce
    of the Shang (c. 1700-100 bce) and point strongly
    to the historical existEnce of the Xia as well."

(beauty; beauty, squared. What squaared?  Beauty to the tenth power!)
   (ah, Lou Jacobi!)

NOTE: The new-speek "zhou" is AKA the "An-yang",

In this section:  {General Notes}
                  {Chrono}
                  {Religion}


  

Chrono
 

  src: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/03/eac/ht03eac.htm

  • ca. 2000bce       Metals begin to be used throughout China 
                      to make knives, awls, bells, and jewelry.

  • ca. 1700–1500bce  Erlitou near present-day Yanshi in Henan 
                      Province is an urban center with large 
                      temples and tombs. It may represent a 
                      center of the Xia dynasty; ca2100–1600bce, 
                      cited in early histories as the first power 
                      to emerge in China. Erlitou is noted for 
                      its use of bronze, making this site an 
                      important precursor to the metalworking 
                      traditions of the later Shang dynasty.

 From here and above; roughly designated as the Xia/Kia Dynasty.

  • ca. 1600bce       The Shang dynasty controls a large area in 
                      northeast and north central China. Major 
                      sites include Zhengzhou, thought to be a  
                      cult center, and Anyang, the capital from 
                      ca1300–1050bce. This period is noted for 
                      its extraordinary bronze vessels used to 
                      hold wine and food in rituals linking rulers 
                      and their ancestors. They are cast using 
                      multiple ceramic molds, a technology that 
                      has no parallels elsewhere in the ancient world.

  • ca. 1200–1000bce  Bronzes in the shape of humanoid figures 
                      (some lifesize) and heads, fragments of 
                      gold and jade, and elephant trunks discovered 
                      in 1986 at Sanxingdui in Sichuan Province 
                      illustrate an undocumented metalworking 
                      culture in the western part of China 
                      contemporaneous with the Shang in northeast 
                      and north central China.

 From here and below; roughly designated as the An-Yang Dynasty.

  • ca. 1046bce       The Zhou, a people living in the northwest, 
                      wrest control from the Shang, establishing 
                      the Zhou dynasty. The first part of the 
                      dynasty is known as the Western Zhou; ca1046–771bce
                      after the location of the capital in the vicinity 
                      of present-day Xi'an. The Shujing (Book of Documents), 
                      one of the earliest histories, is written in part to 
                      legitimize the Zhou takeover of the Shang realm. 
                      Another classic, the Shijing (Book of Songs), 
                      contains poems and folk songs.




 

Religion



  

Xia Dynasty

(still no direct evidence that there ever *was* a Xia
 Dynasty -- just legend; just legend. See note under {Chnrono} above.
)





Shang Dynasty



         


some v. nice an-yang era....
  http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/images.html#Archeology


http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/architecture/shangarchitecture.htm


SHANG

cool link site met, map
    http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/03/eac/ht03eac.htm
    (see time line from same site; below)


the "bi" style chang dyn...

NB:  "bi" aka "pi" (natch)...

  britannica:  http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-458984/bi

   Wade-Giles romanization pi (bi) in art, 
   Chinese jade carved in the form of a
   flat disk with a hole in the centre. The 
   earliest examples, which are unornamented, 
   date from the Neolithic Period (c. 5000–2000 BC). 
   Later examples, from the Shang (18th–12th 
   century BC) and Zhou dynasties (1111–256/255 BC), 
   have increasingly elaborate surface embellishment, 
   especially in the late Zhou (c. 600–256/255...



 


Pizo's Around China in 80 seconds! 

(portupori of the "pop classics"

On this page:  {Religion}

The Usual Suspects




Religion


Chrono
 

  src: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/03/eac/ht03eac.htm

  • ca. 2000bce       Metals begin to be used throughout China 
                      to make knives, awls, bells, and jewelry.

  • ca. 1700–1500bce  Erlitou near present-day Yanshi in Henan 
                      Province is an urban center with large 
                      temples and tombs. It may represent a 
                      center of the Xia dynasty; ca2100–1600bce, 
                      cited in early histories as the first power 
                      to emerge in China. Erlitou is noted for 
                      its use of bronze, making this site an 
                      important precursor to the metalworking 
                      traditions of the later Shang dynasty.

  • ca. 1600bce       The Shang dynasty controls a large area in 
                      northeast and north central China. Major 
                      sites include Zhengzhou, thought to be a  
                      cult center, and Anyang, the capital from 
                      ca. 1300–1050bce This period is noted for 
                      its extraordinary bronze vessels used to 
                      hold wine and food in rituals linking rulers 
                      and their ancestors. They are cast using 
                      multiple ceramic molds, a technology that 
                      has no parallels elsewhere in the ancient world.

  • ca. 1200–1000bce  Bronzes in the shape of humanoid figures 
                      (some lifesize) and heads, fragments of 
                      gold and jade, and elephant trunks discovered 
                      in 1986 at Sanxingdui in Sichuan Province 
                      illustrate an undocumented metalworking 
                      culture in the western part of China 
                      contemporaneous with the Shang in northeast 
                      and north central China.

  • ca. 1046bce       The Zhou, a people living in the northwest, 
                      wrest control from the Shang, establishing 
                      the Zhou dynasty. The first part of the 
                      dynasty is known as the Western Zhou; ca1046–771bce
                      after the location of the capital in the vicinity 
                      of present-day Xi'an. The Shujing (Book of Documents), 
                      one of the earliest histories, is written in part to 
                      legitimize the Zhou takeover of the Shang realm. 
                      Another classic, the Shijing (Book of Songs), 
                      contains poems and folk songs.



An-Yang / Jhou Dynasty
AKA: Jhou - Late Chinese Bronze Age...
         
Diadacts, Ducks and Pedagogy

  http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/teachingmaterials/chineseart/chinese_art.php