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` @c @ ` `  `   @  @  D x x x cnt kindsof bronze vessels
- further development of carving and drilling technology for ritual jadeobjects

The Chinese Calendar
Shang times on until the twentieth century, today even sometimesused in art, the cyclic lunar calendar (yueli 月曆) was the instrumentto date every event. It is composed of two different cylces, the ten CelestialStems (tiangan 天干) and the twelve Terrestrial Branches (dizhi 地支).To count the days, a combination of two characters - each being oneof the two cycles - came up to sixty days, divided in two months and sixten-day weeks (xun 旬). Once the 60 unit cycle has ended, it is repeatedtime after time. Thus, one 360 day year includes six complete stem-branch-cycles. Twelve months made up one moon year, and to adjust it to the sun year, oneweek (runyue 閏月) was added each 19 years ("year" is nian 年,a character that originally meant "harvest"). In later dynasties, the yearshave been counted in the same manner, resulting in sixty-years-cycles whichmade it possible to define a year if the name of the ruler was known. Sometimesthe ten Stems and Branches just serve as numbers. The Shang rulers used tocount their ancestors in this way.

The Chinese Script
The first appearance of Chinese script in Wuding's reign is no proofit had been invented and was used exclusively there and in this time. Thefirst Chinese characters appear in oracle bone inscriptions (jiaguwen) aswell as in bronze vessels (jinwen). We must assume it had been used beforeon non-durable material like bamboo. The Zhou Dynasty totally inherited thescript and therewith a part of the "construed" Chinese culture. The languageof the inscriptions is full of specific terms and hardly to understand evenif one has learned to read Classical Chinese.

Go back to the Shang Dynasty introduction pageand learn more about Shang Dynasty economy, arts, literature, government...

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外丙Sheng 勝Bo (2 years)Zhong Ren "Middle IX" 帝中壬 (or 仲任)Yong 庸Bo (4 years)Tai Jia "Great I" 帝太甲 (or Da Jia 大甲), temple name Taizong "Great Ancestor" 太宗

He killed the meritorious minister Yi Yin because Yi Yin wanted to make himself ruler); residence:

Zhi 至Bo (12 years)Wo Ding "Fertile IV" 帝沃丁Xun 絢Bo (19 years)Tai Geng "Great VII" 帝太庚 (or Da Geng 大庚), also called Xiao Geng 小 庚 "Small VII"Bian 辨Bo (5 years)Xiao Jia "Small I" 帝小甲Gao 高Bo (17 years)Yong Ji "Harmonious VI" 帝雍己Dian 佃Bo (12 years)Tai Wu "Great V" 帝太戊 (or Da Wu 大戊), temple name Zhongzong "Middle Ancestor" 中宗Mi 密Bo (75 years)Zhong Ding "Middle IV" 帝中丁 (or 仲丁)Zhuang 莊Ao (9 years)Wai Ren "Outer IX" 帝外壬