With a sweeping perspective and literary prose, this book seeks to recreate the five centuries of rise and fall of the Shang dynasty. Beginning with the myth of “The Dark Bird Gave Birth to Shang” and ending with the tragic song of “The Burning of the Deer Terrace,” its forty finely crafted chapters unfold the vicissitudes of the Yin and Shang dynasties.
It focuses not only on the founding epic of Cheng Tang, whose benevolence in “leaving three sides of the net open” won the people’s trust, and who, with the aid of the worthy minister Yi Yin, overthrew the tyrant Xia Jie and laid the foundation of Shang. It also vividly portrays the glory of Wuding’s revival, the valor of Fu Hao’s campaigns, and the brilliance of oracle-bone civilization and bronze culture. Yet Heaven’s mandate is fickle, and it favors only virtue. As peace lasts and the dynasty grows complacent, the difficulties of Zu Jia’s reforms, the lords’ growing alienation, and simmering popular resentment eventually drive the mighty Shang capital toward the prophecy that “the nine-tailed fox heralds the decline of Shang.” Though the last ruler, King Zhou, initially showed extraordinary talent, he ultimately succumbed to arrogance and suspicion. His crown fell at the Battle of Muye, and he composed a tragic, thought-provoking elegy.
This is a story not only of the rise and fall of kings, nobles, ministers, and generals, but also of the evolution of institutions in early Chinese civilization. Going beyond a simple tale of good and evil, it seeks to explore the dialectical relationship between “Heaven’s mandate” and “benevolent governance.”
