The first traces of what is now China is said to be in the Neolithic Era (7000 BCE-2000 BCE), which consisted mostly of pastoral nomadism and small villages. The history of this extensive Neolithic culture is very fragmented and scattered as intangible cultural elements such as art and music are lost to time, (insert citation). Following the lengthy and mysterious Neolithic Era, came The Bronze Age, in which the Xia, Shang, and Zhou came into existence. The occurrence of the Xia Dynasty (2070 BCE – 1600 BCE) is disputed among scholars as there is no concrete historical record corroborating the existence of the Xia. Nonetheless, as the Xia faded the Shang (1600-1046 BCE) appeared. The Shang dynasty is often referred to as China’s first historical dynasty as it is the first dynasty in which we have concrete archeological evidence indicating its creation. Much like the Xia, the Shang had expertise in mining, creating, and molding bronze products. Other than being extremely useful for everyday tasks, bronze was indicative of a complex political infrastructure and symbolic of power and wealth. Due to the relation between bronze and class, bronze objects were frequently used in elaborate burial ceremonies for the elite.
Beginning in the 20th century, due to a newfound emphasis on uncovering the roots of Chinese culture following World War I, archeologists began to search for ancient Chinese relics and objects, (sixth HW). While one may argue question the importance of these ancient Chinese objects, they have allowed modern-day Chinese scholars to rebuild the lost parts of Chinese history that cannot be explained by texts and historical records. One of the most prominent of these discoveries was the uncovering of Bronze Age bronze vessels and objects as they gave Chinese archaeologists the ability to better understand the culture, everyday life, and political structure of The Bronze Age. One of the bronze objects excavated exemplifies the importance of this archeological process in understanding Chinese history is a Shang dynasty bronze wine container.
Dated in the 13th century B.C., the wine container is around two feet tall and one and a half feet in diameter, (#2). The wine container has a spherical shape, an abundance of inscriptions, and a short circular foundation. Due to the expensive process of bronze production, this wine container was likely created to symbolize the political and royal power. The creation of this wine container began with creating ceramic piece molds around a clay model, (#4). Afterward, bronze was poured in between the molds and clay model to allow for the imprinting of the mold onto the bronze, (#4). Following a cooling process and the breaking of the ceramic mold, the production of this wine container would be finished, (#4). However, the wine container, more literally, was likely used to the pouring of wine and other liquids for the Shang royal family. The inscriptions around the body of the container focused on honoring ancestors, “we must not dare to do the wrong thing. We must perform the ceremony to our accomplished and cultured ancestry, and benefit them for ten thousand years,” (#2). In addition to the inscriptions on the bottom of the vessel, there are four depictions of the Taotie cast into the bronze vessel. In ancient Chinese civilization, the use of Taotie, one of the four evil creatures of the world, was meant to inspire fear and respect in rivaling clans as the Taotie was known for savagely eating people. Therefore, the usage of the Taotie is likely utilized in this bronze wine container to inspire respect and fear towards the person in the tomb. While the individual details and inscriptions of the wine container are certainly beautiful, they, more importantly, are extremely beneficial in highlighting cultural and historical trends in the Shang and beyond.
Throughout Chinese history and even in modern day China the importance of family, filial piety and ancestor worship has been a central tenet of Chinese culture. In the Shang, this deep connection to family was highlighted in the oracle bone inscriptions, in which the Shang King would ask important questions relating to his plans, activities, and health to his ancestors and other supernatural beings. The emphasis on family and filial piety can be seen again in Confucius’ teachings in The Analects. He believed that dedication to one’s family would bring order and stability to society, “Among those who are filial toward their parents and fraternal toward their brothers, those who are disinclined to offend against their superiors, there have never been any who are yet inclined to create disorder, (Confucius, 1:2). Even in contemporary Chinese society, there is a deep dedication to family as seen in the numerous festivals dedicated to worshiping ancestors, like the Qingming festival, in which families visit the graves of their ancestors and pay their respects. With all this in mind, the inscriptions on this wine container that emphasize the importance of respecting our ancestors continue this long-standing tradition of filial piety in Chinese culture. By understanding the roots of these ancient beliefs and practices, as seen with the emphasis of ancestry on this wine container, present-day Chinese can better understand the roots of their beliefs that trace back to ancient times.
Other than the interesting connection to the emphasis of the family in Chinese history, this wine container highlights an important pattern in the Bronze Age: the usage of bronze objects to differentiate class and status. The Bronze Age was a time known for its urbanization of Chinese civilization. Previously, in the Erlitou period, much of civilization was focused in small villages with little cohesion and unity between these distinct cultures that formed. The Bronze Age began this urbanization process that gradually brought the Chinese people to form a more unified state. By no means was this process of unification complete during The Bronze Age, but the start of this consolidation was extremely significant in developing a distinct identity for the Chinese people. This bronze wine container highlights this consolidation of peoples into a more structured society. In the previous centuries, during the Erlitou period, there was some differentiation of classes but during The Bronze Age is when the classes became more distinct and tangible. This bronze wine container is symbolic of this class separation as only the rich and wealthy had access to the expensive process of bronze production. As we know, this wine container was created for a royal family member in the reign of Cheng Weng to symbolize enormous political power. All in all, this wine container symbolizes the transition from The Erlitou period into the Bronze Age, as it portrays the enormous change in the utilization of materialistic good, such as bronze, to indicate class and status.
This bronze wine container has also allowed archaeologists to better understand the dynamic between man and woman in The Bronze Age. This bronze wine container closely resembles many of the bronze vessels excavated from Fu Hao, or Lady Hao, (#2). Fu Hao was one of the 60 wives of Emperor Wu Ding in the Shang dynasty, (#1). Lady Hao, while a mother and wife, was also a military leader and influential politician in her lifetime, (#1). During the Shang, a woman in these positions of power seldom occurred. Therefore, the discovery of Fu Hao’s tomb was of great importance to not only understanding the lives of the members in the Shang royal family but the dynamic between genders outside of the domestic sphere. When excavated, Fu Hao’s tomb gave archaeologists an abundance of objects to examine, some of them include: 468 bronze objects, 755 jade objects, 63 stone objects, and 564 bone objects, (#3). Often, we think of an extreme power inequality between man and woman in Ancient Chinese civilization, as a majority of those in positions of power and influence were men and women tended to adopt positions in the domestic sphere. The similarity between this bronze wine container, found in a male royal tomb, and many of the bronze objects found in Fu Hao’s tomb is extremely significant in challenging our preconceived notions of the gender dynamic in The Bronze Age. By having similar bronze objects of relatively similar values, Fu Hao and this royal man seem to be similar in status and standing in the Shang. Interestingly, with this similarity in mind, one might question preconceived stereotypes regarding the separation of power between man and woman. It seems, with all the information regarding Fu Hao’s life, that she was as honorable as any man and that she was regarded with as much respect as any other man. To conclude, the discovery of this wine container along with the adjacent uncovering of Lady Hao’s tomb allows us to better understand that women could be as well respected and honorable as men in the Shang dynasty.
With one simple analysis of a bronze wine container from the Shang dynasty, we were able to uncover an abundance of information about what Shang society was like and understand how the Shang people challenged and continued the trends of Chinese history. Therefore, the importance of analyzing and finding goods from past generations cannot be understated as much of what these goods found explain matters that no text could ever attempt to convey.