1.
Shang dynasty
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The Shang dynasty or Yin dynasty, according to traditional historiography, ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated them from c.1600 to 1046 BC, the Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history supported by archaeological evidence. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, the Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones – turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones. More than 20,000 were discovered in the scientific excavations during the 1920s and 1930s. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, many events concerning the Shang dynasty are mentioned in various Chinese classics, including the Book of Documents, the Mencius and the Zuo Zhuan. Working from all the documents, the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian assembled a sequential account of the Shang dynasty as part of his Records of the Grand Historian. His history describes some events in detail, while in other cases only the name of a king is given, a closely related, but slightly different, account is given by the Bamboo Annals. The Annals were interred in 296 BC, but the text has a complex history, the name Yīn is used by Sima Qian for the dynasty, and in the current text version of the Bamboo Annals for both the dynasty and its final capital. It has been a name for the Shang throughout history. Since the Records of Emperors and Kings by Huangfu Mi, it has often used specifically to describe the later half of the Shang dynasty. In Japan and Korea, the Shang are still referred to almost exclusively as the Yin dynasty, however it seems to have been a Zhou name for the earlier dynasty. The word does not appear in the bones, which refer to the state as Shāng. It also does not appear in securely-dated Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, xie is said to have helped Yu the Great to control the Great Flood and for his service to have been granted a place called Shang as a fief. Sima Qian relates that the dynasty itself was founded 13 generations later, when Xies descendant Tang overthrew the impious and cruel final Xia ruler in the Battle of Mingtiao. The Records recount events from the reigns of Tang, Tai Jia, Tai Wu, Pan Geng, Wu Ding, Wu Yi and the final king Di Xin. According to the Records, the Shang moved their capital five times, Di Xin, the last Shang king, is said to have committed suicide after his army was defeated by Wu of Zhou. Legends say that his army and his equipped slaves betrayed him by joining the Zhou rebels in the decisive Battle of Muye, according to the Yi Zhou Shu and Mencius the battle was very bloody
2.
Qiang people
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The Qiang people are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups recognized by China. They live mainly in a region in the northwestern part of Sichuan on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. A group called Qiang were mentioned in ancient Chinese texts as well as in inscriptions on oracle bones 3000 years ago, however, this was applied to a variety of groups, they are not the same as the modern Qiang. Nonetheless, it is possible that the modern Qiang might be descended from one of the referred to as Qiang in ancient times. Qiang territory lies between the Han Chinese and historical Tibet, and the Qiang would fall under the domination of both. There was also infighting between different villages and the Qiang constructed watchtowers and houses with stone walls and small windows. Each village may have one or more towers in the past. The modern Qiangs refer to themselves as IPA, or IPA, however, they did not define themselves with the Chinese term Qiang ethnicity until the twentieth century as Qiang is a Han Chinese classification. On 12 May 2008, the Qiang people were affected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Genetic evidence reveals a predominantly Northern Asian-specific component in Qiangic populations, the Qiang speak the agglutinative Qiangic languages, a subfamily of the Tibeto-Burman languages. However, Qiang dialects are so different that communication between different Qiang groups is often in Han Chinese, until recently, the Qiang lacked a script of their own, and the Qiangs carved marks on wood to remember events or communicate. In the late 1980s a writing system was developed for the Qiang language based on the Qugu variety of a Northern dialect using the Latin alphabet, the Qiangs also use Chinese characters. The often matrilineal Qiang society is primarily monogamous, although polyandry, since most women are older than their husbands and lead agricultural activities, they act as the head of the family as well as the society. Romantic love is considered important, and sexual freedom is prevalent, in the past, marriages were arranged by an individuals parents, with approval from the individual. It is still not unusual for the bride to live in her parents home for a year or so after her marriage, in the past, children were usually separated from their parents after marriage, except for the first son and his family. However, such customs have been discarded since the Chinese Civil War. The Qiang also have strict customs regarding birth and death, prior to the birth of a baby the pregnant woman is not allowed to go near the riverside or a well, attend a wedding ceremony, or stand in the watchtower
3.
Anyang
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Anyang is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It has a population of 5,172,834 as of the 2010 census,2,025,811 of whom live in the metropolitan area made of 4 urban districts. Xiaonanhai, on the far edge of the city, was home to prehistoric cavemen during the Stone Age. Over 7,000 artifacts have been unearthed here, representing what has been dubbed the Xiaonanhai culture, around 2000 BC, the legendary sage-kings Zhuanxu and Emperor Ku are said to have established their capitals in the area around Anyang from where they ruled their kingdoms. Their mausoleums are today situated in Sanyang village south of Neihuang County, at the beginning of the 14th century BC, King Pangeng of the Shang Dynasty established his capital 2 km north of the modern city on the banks of the Huan River. The city, known as Yin, was the first stable capital in Chinese history, Anyangs Tangyin County was the seat of Yue Village, birthplace of the famous Song Dynasty general, Yue Fei. This was also the home of Zhou Tong, Yues military arts tutor. Following the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, Anyang was given its present name after a renaming process. In August 1949, Anyang prefecture was detached from Henan and – along with Puyang and Xinxiang – consigned to the short lived experimental province of Pingyuan by the ruling Communist government, all three were eventually returned to Henans territory in November 1953, with the dissolution of Pingyuan. Anyang has an administrative area of 7,413 square kilometres. The city actually lies on the border between steppe and the North China Plain, and as such, it has a four-season, monsoon-influenced climate, winters are cold and very dry, with a January 24-hour average of −0.9 °C. Summers are hot and humid, with July averaging 27.0 °C, a majority of the annual precipitation of 557 millimetres falls in July and August alone, and the annual mean temperature is 14.11 °C. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 43% in July to 58% in May, extreme temperatures have ranged from −21.7 °C to 43.2 °C. The prefecture-level city of Anyang administers 4 districts,1 county-level city and 4 counties, sixteen foreign-funded enterprises have been established. A multichannel, all-round foreign relations and trade network has set up to lay a foundation for developing Anyangs economy. Anyang city is an ancient city with a history of over 3,000 years and is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China and it is one of the key birthplaces of Chinese ancient culture. The city has three museums, the Anyang Museum, the National Museum of Chinese Writing, and the Yinxu Museum on the ruins
4.
Records of the Grand Historian
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The work covers the world as it was then known to the Chinese and a 2500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the authors own time. The Records has been called a text in Chinese civilization. After Confucius and the First Emperor of Qin, Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, the Records set the model for the 24 subsequent dynastic histories of China. The work that became Records of the Grand Historian was begun by Sima Tan, after his death in 110 BC, it was continued and completed by his son and successor Sima Qian, who is generally credited as the works author. Sima Qian is known to have completed the Records before his death in c.86 BC, with one copy residing in the capital of Changan. Details regarding the Records early reception and circulation are not well known, beginning in the Northern and Southern dynasties and the Tang dynasty, a number of scholars wrote and edited commentaries to the Records. Most 1st millennium editions of the Records include the commentaries of Pei Yin, Sima Zhen, the primary modern edition of the Records is the Zhonghua Book Company edition of 1959, and is based on an edition prepared by the Chinese historian Gu Jiegang in the early 1930s. There are two known surviving fragments of Records manuscripts from before the Tang dynasty, both of which are preserved in the Ishiyama-dera temple in Ōtsu, Japan, a number of woodblock printed editions of the Records survive, the earliest of which date to the Song dynasty. In all, the Records is about 526,000 Chinese characters long, making it four times longer than Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, Sima Qian conceived and composed his work in self-contained units, with a good deal of repetition between them. His manuscript was written on bamboo slips with about 24 to 36 characters each, even after the manuscript was allowed to circulate or be copied, the work would have circulated as bundles of bamboo slips or small groups. Endymion Wilkinson calculates that there were probably between 466 and 700 bundles, whose total weight would have been 88–132 pounds, which would have been difficult to access, later copies on silk would have been much lighter, but also expensive and rare. Until the work was transferred to many centuries later, circulation would have been difficult and piecemeal. Sima Qian organized the chapters of Records of the Grand Historian into five categories, the first five cover either periods, such as the Five Emperors, or individual dynasties, such as the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The last seven cover individual rulers, starting with the First Emperor of Qin, Tables Chapters 13 to 22 are the Tables, which are one genealogical table and nine other chronological tables. Each table except the last one begins with an introduction to the period it covers, Hereditary Houses The Hereditary Houses is the second largest of the five Records sections, and comprises chapters 31 to 60. Within this section, the chapters are very different in nature than the later chapters. Many of the chapters are chronicle-like accounts of the leading states of the Zhou dynasty, such as the states of Qin and Lu. The later chapters, which cover the Han dynasty, contain biographies, Ranked Biographies The Ranked Biographies is the largest of the five Records sections, covering chapters 61 to 130, and accounts for 42% of the entire work
5.
Oracle bone script
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The vast majority were found at the Yinxu site. They record pyromantic divinations of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning with Wu Ding, whose accession is dated by different scholars at 1250 BCE or 1200 BCE. After the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou dynasty in c.1046 BCE, divining with milfoil became more common and it is also the oldest known member and ancestor of the Chinese family of scripts, preceding the bronzeware script. The term oracle bone was first coined by the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing, because turtle shells as well as bones were used, the oracle bone script is also sometimes called shell and bone script. As the majority of oracle bones bearing writing date to the late Shang dynasty and it is certain that Shang-lineage writing underwent a period of development before the Anyang oracle bone script, because of its mature nature. However, no significant quantity of clearly identifiable writing from before or during the early to middle Shang cultural period has been discovered, the oracle bone script of the late Shang appears pictographic, as does its contemporary, the Shang writing on bronzes. The earliest oracle bone script appears even more so than examples from late in the period, additionally, the writing of characters in vertical columns, from top to bottom, is for the most part carried over from the bamboo books to oracle bone inscriptions. The vertical columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally ordered from right to left and this level of maturity clearly implies an earlier period of development of at least several hundred years. Compare, for instance, the third and fourth graphs in the row below, without careful research to compare these to later forms, one would probably not know that these represented 豕 shĭ swine and 犬 quǎn dog respectively. By the late Shang oracle bone script, the graphs had already evolved into a variety of mostly non-pictographic functions, phonetic loan graphs, semantic-phonetic compounds, and associative compounds were already common. Although it was a fully functional writing system, the oracle bone script was not fully standardized, a graph when inverted horizontally generally refers to the same word, and additional components are sometimes present without changing the meaning. These irregularities persisted until the standardization of the script in the Qin dynasty. Of the thousands of characters found from all the fragments so far. One reason for this is that components of certain oracle bone script characters may differ in later script forms, such differences may be accounted for by character simplification and/or by later generations misunderstanding the original graph, which had evolved beyond recognition. Another reason is that some characters exist only in oracle bone script, in such cases, context - when available - may be used to determine the possible meaning of the character. One good example is shown in the fragment below, labeled oracle bone script for Spring, the top left character in this image has no known modern Chinese counterpart. One of the better known characters however is shown directly beneath it looking like an isosceles triangle with a line cutting through the upper portion. This is the oracle bone script character for 王 wáng, the numbers of oracle bones with inscriptions contemporaneous with the end of Shang and the beginning of Zhou is relatively few in number compared with the entire corpus of Shang inscriptions
6.
Given name
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A given name is a part of a persons personal name. It identifies a person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan. The term given name refers to the fact that the name usually is bestowed upon a person and this contrasts with a surname, which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the childs immediate family. Given names are used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is commonly used, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idioms on a basis and being on first-name terms allude to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name. The order given name – family name, commonly known as the Western order, is used throughout most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe. The order family name – given name, commonly known as the Eastern order, is used in East Asia, as well as in Southern and North-Eastern parts of India. The order given name - fathers family name - mothers family name is used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain using given name - mothers family name - fathers family name, under the common Western naming convention, people may have one or more forenames. If more than one, there is usually a main forename for everyday use, sometimes however two or more forenames may carry equal weight. There is no particular ordering rule for forenames – often the main forename is at the beginning, a childs given name or names are usually chosen by the parents soon after birth. If a name is not assigned at birth, one may be given at a ceremony, with family. In most jurisdictions, a name at birth is a matter of public record, inscribed on a birth certificate. In western cultures, people normally retain the same name throughout their lives. However, in some cases names may be changed by petitioning a court of law. People may also change their names when immigrating from one country to another with different naming conventions, in France, the agency can refer the case to a local judge. Some jurisdictions, like in Sweden, restrict the spelling of names, parents may choose a name because of its meaning
7.
Book of Documents
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The Book of Documents or Classic of History, also known as the Shangshu, is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, the Book of Documents was the subject of one of Chinas oldest literary controversies, between proponents of different versions of the text. The New Text version was preserved from Qin Shi Huangs burning of books, over time, the Old Text version of the Documents became more widely accepted, until it was established as the imperially sanctioned edition during the early Tang dynasty. The chapters are grouped into four sections representing different eras, the reign of Yu the Great. The Zhou section accounts for half the text. Some of its New Text chapters are among the earliest examples of Chinese prose, the history of the various versions of the Documents is particularly complex, and has been the subject of a long-running literary and philosophical controversy. According to a tradition, the Book of Documents was compiled by Confucius as a selection from a much larger group of documents. However, the history of both texts is obscure. Beginning with Confucius, writers increasingly drew on the Documents to illustrate general principles, six citations of unnamed Shū appear in the Analects. Although Confucius invoked the pre-dynastic emperors Yao and Shun, and figures from the Xia and Shang dynasties, increasing numbers of citations, some with titles, appear in 4th century BC works such as the Mencius, Mozi and Commentary of Zuo. These authors favoured documents relating to Yao, Shun and the Xia dynasty, the chapters currently believed to be the oldest were little used by Warring States authors, perhaps due to the difficulty of the archaic language or a less familiar world-view. Fewer than half the passages quoted by authors are present in the received text. Authors such as Mencius and Xunzi, while quoting the Documents and their attitude contrasts with the reverence that would be shown to the text in the Han dynasty, when its compilation was attributed to Confucius. Many copies of the work were destroyed in the Burning of Books during the Qin dynasty, Fu Sheng reconstructed part of the work from hidden copies in the late 3rd to early 2nd century BC, at the start of the succeeding Han dynasty. His version was known as the New Text because it was written in the clerical script and it originally consisted of 29 chapters, but the Great Speech chapter was lost shortly afterwards and replaced by a new version. The remaining 28 chapters were later expanded to 33 when Du Lin divided some chapters during the 1st century, another version was said to have been recovered from a wall of the home of Confucius in 186 BC by his descendent Kong Anguo. This version was known as the Old Text, because it was written in the pre-Qin seal script. Han dynasty sources give contradictory accounts of the nature of this find, according to the commonly repeated account of the Book of Han, the Old Text included the chapters preserved by Fu Sheng, another version of the Great Speech chapter and some 16 additional chapters
8.
Indiana University
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Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. The core campuses of Indiana University are located in Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Bloomington is the flagship campus of Indiana University. Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis is the urban campus of Indiana University. The campus is operated in cooperation with Purdue University, but is administered by Indiana University, in addition to its two core campuses, Indiana University comprises seven smaller campuses and two extensions spread throughout Indiana. The smaller campuses are, Indiana University East is located in Richmond, Indiana University Kokomo is located in Kokomo, Indiana. Indiana University Northwest is located in Gary, Indiana, Indiana University South Bend is located in South Bend, Indiana. Indiana University Southeast is located in New Albany, Indiana, Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. IPFW is operated in cooperation with, and is administered by, Indiana University – Purdue University Columbus is located in Columbus, Indiana. The centers/extensions are, The Danielson Center is located in New Castle, the Elkhart Center is located in Elkhart, Indiana. Future projects include, A medical school complex near downtown Evansville, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the value of the endowment of the Indiana University and affiliated foundations is over $1.57 billion. Mark Cuban Brad Stephens Indiana University has three medals to recognize individuals, the University Medal, the only IU medal that requires approval from the Board of Trustees, was created in 1982 by then IU President John W. Ryan and is the highest award bestowed by the University. It honors individuals for singular or noteworthy contributions, including service to the university and achievement in arts, letters, science, the first recipient was Thomas T. Solley, former director of the IU Art Museum. Indiana University Presidents Medal for Excellence, a reproduction in silver of the symbolic jewel of office worn by the president at ceremonial occasions, is rich in meaning. The first recipients were member of the Beaux Arts Trio on September 20,1985, Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion recognizes individuals who are shining examples of the values of IU and the universal academic community. President Ryan was the first to award this honor and it was first awarded to the president of Nanjing University on July 21,1986. Indiana University has a number of ways to recognize the accomplishments of faculty, the recipient is also the IU nominee for the national Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Award for Service Learning. The Mace, a symbol of authority dating back to medieval times and it later would be used in processions of city mayors and other dignitaries, and became an emblem of order and authority during academic ceremonies. The staff of IUs Mace is 30 inches long and made of polished ebony encircled with four brass, gold-plated collars, atop the staff is a globe of plated brass with four flat sides
9.
Oracle bone
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Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula or turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. Scapulimancy is the term if ox scapulae were used for the divination. Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding future weather, crop planting, the fortunes of members of the family, military endeavors. These questions were carved onto the bone or shell in oracle bone script using a sharp tool, intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks and write the prognostication upon the piece as well, by the Zhou dynasty, cinnabar ink and brush had become the preferred writing method, resulting in fewer carved inscriptions and often blank oracle bones being unearthed. The oracle bones bear the earliest known significant corpus of ancient Chinese writing, when they were discovered and deciphered in the early twentieth century, these records confirmed the existence of the Shang, which some scholars had until then doubted. The turtle shell fragments were prescribed for malaria, while the animal bones were used in powdered form to treat knife wounds. A legendary tale relates that Wang was sick with malaria, and his scholar friend Liu E was visiting him and they discovered, before it was ground into powder, that it bore strange glyphs, which they, having studied the ancient bronze inscriptions, recognized as ancient writing. As Xǔ Yǎhuì states, No one can know how many oracle bones, prior to 1899, were ground up by traditional Chinese pharmacies and disappeared into peoples stomachs. It is not known how Wang and Liu actually came across these dragon bones, although scholars tried to find their source, antique dealers falsely claimed that the bones came from Tangyin in Henan. In 1908, scholar Luo Zhenyu discovered the source of the bones near Anyang, decades of uncontrolled digs followed to fuel the antiques trade, and many of these pieces eventually entered collections in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan. The first Western collector was the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant, Chalfant also first coined the term oracle bone in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing, which was then borrowed into Chinese as jiǎgǔ 甲骨 in the 1930s. The Canadian Presbyterian minister James Mellon Menzies bought the largest amount, the Chinese still acknowledge the pioneering contribution of Menzies as the foremost western scholar of Yin-Shang culture and oracle bone inscriptions. His former residence in Anyang was declared a Protected Treasure in 2004, the inscriptions on the oracle bones, once deciphered, turned out to be the records of the divinations performed for or by the royal household. These, together with royal-sized tombs, proved beyond a doubt for the first time the existence of the Shang dynasty, which had recently been doubted, today, Xiǎotún at Anyang is thus also known as the Ruins of Yin, or Yinxu. The Jiǎgǔwén héjí edited by Hu Houxuan, with its supplement edited by Peng Bangjiong, is the most comprehensive catalogue of oracle bone framents, the 20 volumes contain reproductions of over 55,000 fragments. A separate work contains transcriptions of the inscriptions into standard characters, the vast majority of the inscribed oracle bones were found at the Yinxu site in modern Anyang, and date to the reigns of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty. The extant inscriptions are not evenly distributed across these periods, with 55% coming from period I and 31% from periods III, a few oracle bones date to the beginning of the subsequent Zhou dynasty
10.
Fu Hao
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Her tomb was unearthed at Yinxu, by archaeologist Zheng Zhenxiang intact with treasures such as bronzes and jades. Inside the pit was evidence of a wooden chamber 5 meters long,3.5 m wide and 1.3 m high containing a wooden coffin that has since completely disintegrated. What is known is that King Wu Ding would cultivate the allegiance of neighbouring tribes by marrying one woman from each of them, Fu Hao entered the royal household through such a marriage and took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks. Fu Hao is known to modern scholars mainly from inscriptions on Shang dynasty oracle bone artifacts unearthed at Yinxu, in these inscriptions she is shown to have led numerous military campaigns. The Tu-Fang had fought against the Shang for generations until they were defeated by Fu Hao in a single decisive battle. Further campaigns against the neighbouring Yi, Qiang and Ba followed, with up to 13,000 soldiers and important generals Zhi and Hou Gao serving under her, she was the most powerful Shang general of her time. This highly unusual status is confirmed by the weapons, including great battle-axes. This was very unusual for a woman of that time, the sacrificial bronze vessels and tortoise shells inscribed prepared by Fu Hao discovered in her tomb further evidence her status as high priestess and oracle caster. She also controlled her own fiefdom on the borders of the empire and she died before King Wu Ding, and he constructed a tomb for her on the edge of the royal cemetery at his capital Yin. The King later made many sacrifices here in hope for her assistance in defeating the attacking Gong. The tomb was unearthed by archaeologists in 1976 and is now open to the public, tomb of Fu Hao Loewe, Michael, Shaughnessy, Edward L. The Cambridge History of Ancient China, From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC
