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Military Advantage and Religious Ritual
The Shang Dynasty was a period of great beginnings in Chinese civilization. Towns, collective agriculture and organized military activity appeared for the first time. In addition, the Chinese written language emerged in the Shang and provides an important historical context to the many artifacts unearthed from Shang tombs and other archaeological sites.
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As is true of Bronze Age cultures around the world, bronze was first exploited for the making of weapons. Bronze spears, swords, daggers and halberds gave the Shang superiority over neighboring kingdoms. Not surprisingly, the mining of metals and the casting of molten bronze were industries tightly controlled by the Shang rulers.
Yet religious
rituals, not war, inspired the further development of bronze casting in
Shang China. During religious ceremonies, bronze vessels were filled with
grains, stewed meats, and wine and presented to gods as well as deceased
ancestors. It was important to keep ancestors happy as it was believed
that they could influence events of the living world.
The most
popular animal-like image of the Shang is the taotie monster mask.
The taotie’s piercing eyes stare out from a prominent position
on a Shang ritual vessel, expressing both ferocity and strength. Also
seen are beast-like claws, a tail, and an animal jaw. The taotie might represent a kind of transformative power, as it symbolically consumed
the offering and transported it into the spirit realm.
In later
ages, the taotie was utilized as an artistic and cultural motif
symbolizing the power and mystique of Bronze Age China.
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Oracle Bones Tell Many Stories
The pieces of bone found in fields outside Anyang were, in fact, oracle bones. Oracle bones are tortoise shells and ox shoulder blades used by Shang diviners during sacred ceremonies of communication with the dead.
Questions on oracle bones were often posed in yes or no form: "Will it be so?" "Is it not going to happen?" The cracks that resulted from heating the shell or bone gave the Shaman a "yes" or "no" answer, depending on where the lines crossed the written question.
Topics for oracle bone inscriptions included finding auspicious dates for holding sacrifices, harvests, military campaigns, hunting expeditions, and the building of new homes. Ancestors were also told of important events, such as family births and deaths, marriages, and the founding of new settlements.
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Piece-mold Casting
Chinese used ceramic molds to cast bronze. Decorative images and patterns
were carved, in reverse, on the inside of mold forms. The ceramic pieces
were then joined together and molten bronze was poured in. If you look
closely, you can see the seams where the mold pieces came together. The
bronze casters found ingenious ways of integrating the seams into the
design of a vessel. Sometimes these seams were covered with decorative
flanges. In other cases, they were left alone, providing evidence of the
bronze casting process.
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Flange-style Carved Jade
As early as 4000 B.C.E., Neolithic Chinese buried their dead with carved
jade pieces, many of them animal-shaped amulets likely worn to ward off
evil. Jade is an extremely hard mineral (7 on a scale of 10). It cannot
be cut with metal tools, but is ground and polished with the grains of
even harder mineral crystals, such as topaz, garnet or even diamond.
In many Shang and Zhou dynasty tombs, carved jades were found alongside
bronzes, indicating that jade held a similar status. Yet historians believe
many of the stylistic features of Shang and Zhou jades were first popularized
by the bronze industry.
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