The Investiture of the Gods

The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1046 BCE), also known as Yin Shang, was the second dynasty in Chinese history and the first Chinese dynasty with direct, contemporary written records. It went through three major stages: the Pre-Shang, the Early Shang, and the Late Shang. It lasted for more than 500 years, passing through 17 generations and 31 kings.

The Shang people, ancestors of the dynasty, were a tribe that arose in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Legend says their ancestor Xie lived at the same time as Yu. Tang, ruler of the Shang state, a vassal state of the Xia, defeated the Xia in the Battle of Mingtiao and established the Shang dynasty, naming it after his state. The capital was established at Bo. The Shang capital was moved frequently until Pan Geng, a descendant of Tang, moved it to Yin, where it remained stable. The dynasty was based at Yin for 273 years, which is why later generations also called it Yin or Yin Shang. After Pan Geng died, the throne passed to his younger brother Xiao Xin. When Xiao Xin died, his younger brother Xiao Yi succeeded him. After Xiao Yi died, his son Wu Ding took the throne. The Shang dynasty reached its height during Wu Ding's fifty-odd years of rule. Its last ruler, Di Xin, was defeated by King Wu of Zhou at the Battle of Muye and died by setting himself on fire.

In the early Shang dynasty, the throne typically passed from an elder brother to a younger brother; later, the usual succession became from father to son. The Shang dynasty was at the height of the slave system. By the time of Tang, state authority had begun to take shape, and the social order based on slavery had become firmly established. Slave-owning nobles formed the ruling class, supported by a vast bureaucracy and military. The records found on oracle bones and bronze vessels are the earliest systematic writing discovered in China to date.