Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in the Cultural History of China

The biggest feature of Xia, Shang and Zhou culture is patriarchal clan system. Patriarchal system sprouted in Xia Dynasty and was completely established in Western Zhou Dynasty, and was strictly regulated and implemented in the law of eldest son inheritance in the late Shang Dynasty. Its symbol is the eldest son inheritance system, the land enfeoffment system and the strict ancestral temple sacrifice system. Under the patriarchal clan system, "ceremony" is extremely mandatory and binding for every member of the gentry. In fact, the patriarchal clan system has become unwritten customary law. Within the scope of the patriarchal clan system, paying homage to relatives and friends for generations in the ancestral hall has stipulated the identity. The genealogy in the ancestral temple is a political birthright. Under the patriarchal clan system, "country" and "world" are based on "home", and the spirit of "home" has become the basic type of political order at all levels. The patriarchal clan system began to disintegrate at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but its influence hung over China society for a long time. The patriarchal feudal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty left scholars with the idea that there was only one master in the world during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and also laid the foundation for the establishment and unification of the Qin and Han empires. The influence of patriarchal clan system is not only political, but also limited to the ruling class. It became the basis of clan concept in civilian society and spread widely in later generations.

In the cultural history of China, people in China during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties developed the concept of immortals, without the concept of reincarnation advocated by Buddhism. But people at that time also thought that people would become ghosts after death and their identity would continue in the underworld. Therefore, in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, people believed that the soul continued to care about things that affected the world after death, which led to the popularity of divination. Whether you can get the protection of ghosts and gods depends on whether the sacrificial ceremony is appropriate. The divination tools in Shang Dynasty were mostly tortoise shells or Oracle bones, while those in Zhou Dynasty were changed into eight diagrams expanded from Yin and Yang symbols and sixty-four hexagrams to express good or bad luck. By the late Western Zhou Dynasty, both rulers and scholars had doubts about destiny. Scholars gradually attached importance to "popular support", and to win popular support, it was necessary to implement "rule by virtue", which later became the basis for Confucianism to advocate "rule by virtue"

Bronze and jade are the most important ritual vessels in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Its elegant and solemn shape embodies the cultural characteristics at that time. China's bronze smelting technology also reached an advanced and mature stage in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In the Zhou Dynasty, there were more kinds and finer classifications of handicrafts, so there was a saying that everything was done. The mature theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements in Shang and Zhou Dynasties also became the earliest natural phenomenon induction method in China. Five lines of gossip Theory has become one of the thinking modes of China people. In Shang dynasty, people who specialized in astronomy developed the method of keeping track of the sun on the basis of keeping track of the sun in Xia dynasty. After the Zhou Dynasty invented the method of measuring shadow with standard instrument, it determined some solar terms and twelve o'clock. In mathematics, decimal system was used in Shang Dynasty, and mathematics became a compulsory subject for scholars in Western Zhou Dynasty.

At present, the earliest written language found on the East Asian continent is Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, which has a history of 3300 years. Shang Dynasty laid the foundation of China's pictophonetic characters. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, many famous literary works were born and spread, such as Shangshu and The Book of Songs.