What is Yin Shang culture?

The culture of Yin merchants is rich in connotation and has many levels, such as Xuanniao merchants, Wanghai merchants and Tang Cheng merchants. China Merchants, commerce and commercial culture originated in the Central Plains, which is the knowledge of national archaeology and history circles. Shang culture attached importance to Jia and Zhou people attached importance to agriculture, which was the basis of Yin Zhou culture. Archaeology believes that the pre-Shang culture is closely related to the post-Qiheng culture.

Historical origin

Xia Dynasty

About 3,800 years ago in the Xia Dynasty, Wang Hai, the seventh monarch of Shang Dynasty and the sixth grandson of Shang tribe, started the commercial trade in China and began to barter with other tribes with cattle, sheep, silks and millet. Over time, people refer to merchants engaged in trade activities as "merchants", goods used for exchange as "commodities" and occupations engaged by merchants as "commerce". People respectfully call Wang Hai "the originator of business" and "the ancestor of Chinese businessmen". Thousands of years have passed. Shang tribes have been active in the Central Plains from Qi to Shang Tang in the pre-Shang period, which is hardly disputed by historians and archaeologists. The terms "merchant" and "commodity" come from the Shang tribe.

Shang Dynasty

Shang Tang has adopted the policy of "leniency to the people". With the help of the wise ministers Yi Yin and Zhong You, the commercial power of Shang became stronger and stronger, and they traded with Xia people in exchange for their food. After Shang Tang's death, his son Taiding died early, so Taiding's brother Vaike succeeded him. After the death of Waic, his brother Zhong Ren succeeded to the throne; After Zhong Ren's death, Tai Jia, the son of Dading, succeeded to the throne. Tai Jia ascended the throne for three years, and was put into the children's palace by Yi Yin because of his tyranny. Tai Jia lived in Tonggong for three years, repenting and blaming himself. Yi Yin welcomed Tai Jia back and gave him political rights. Later, the powerful minister deposed the emperor and said, "Do what Yi Yin and Huo Guang did.".

More than 265,438+00 years after the Shang Dynasty established Bo as its capital, Bo suffered a flood in the early years of the tenth monarch's accession to the throne, so it moved its capital from the west to the west (now Zhengzhou, Henan Province), and the Shang Dynasty began to move its capital. Later, he moved the capital many times. During the reign of Pan Geng, he moved the capital to Yin (now Anyang, Henan) and settled down. Shang Dynasty established its capital in Yin for more than 270 years, so it was also called Yin and Yin Shang by later generations.

After Pan Geng moved to Yin, the economy of Shang Dynasty developed further. It was not until Wu Ding ascended the throne that the Shang Dynasty started a crusade, conquered many small countries around and expanded its territory. At this time, the national strength of Shang Dynasty reached its peak.

After Wu Ding, the Shang Dynasty gradually began to decline. Di Xin, the last emperor of Shang Dynasty, was influenced by Germany to develop southeast China, spreading civilization to the economy and culture of Huaihe River and Yangtze River basins.

Businessmen attach importance to Jia and Zhou people attach importance to agriculture, which is the fundamental difference between Shang and Zhou cultures. Businessmen attach importance to trade and agriculture. As early as before the Shang Tang Revolution, the commodity economy of Shang tribes was already very developed. Wang Hai, the seventh ancestor of the Tang Dynasty, drove an ox cart, traded with silks and oxen, and moved to the north bank of the Yellow River for commercial trade. Later, it was plundered by the Yi people. His younger brother, Wang Heng, was easily defeated and got back the ox cart.

Because merchants attached importance to the production and trading of commodities, the handicraft industry of Yin merchants was superb, and the bronzes of Shang dynasty were very exquisite, such as Simuwu Dafang Ding (unearthed in Wuguan Village, Anyang City, Henan Province) and Sifang Yangzun. And the bronzes in the early Western Zhou Dynasty were far less than the merchants; If businessmen want to trade with distant places, they must have advanced means of transportation. Xiangtu, the ancestor of the merchant, invented the carriage, and Wang Hai invented the ox cart.

The Book of Songs records that "Xiangtu was fierce and intercepted overseas", and seashells and whale bones were indeed found in the cultural relics unearthed in Yin Ruins, which shows the wide range of merchants' transactions; Because the commodity economy is developed and there are many debts, there are also many debt slaves; Because of the busy communication, it often conflicts with other tribes, and because the commodity economy is easier to accumulate material wealth than the farming economy, it is enough to support wars, so wars are frequent and there are many prisoners of war and slaves. For example, Oracle bone inscriptions say that the King Ding of Wu and the queen of Shang Dynasty were handsome and handsome, and 30,000 people went to conquer Qiang people. Because there are enough slaves, technology is far more important than manpower in the commodity economy, and the big slave owners of Yin and Shang dynasties spare no effort to kill and die. The biggest difference between a commodity economy society and a farming economy society is that the former focuses on open source, while the latter is more inclined to cut costs. The difference between commodity economy and farming economy lies in the unpredictability of commodity trading, and agricultural production, as long as we do our best, will have a bumper harvest for three years, and we can get at least three years of grain a year.

Businessmen value ghosts and gods, are good at divination, and are not good at ghosts and gods. Businessman divination is actually more like voting. Shang Shu Hong Fan said that Wang had a problem and wanted to discuss it with nobles, Shu Ren, divination and divination. Fan Wenlan listed six groups of merchants' divination in A Brief History of China. There are five groups of people voting: Wang, Gui, Gui, Qing and Shu. If Gui and Gui agree, even if Wang and others object, things are still feasible. Only when both Gui and Gui object or disagree, things are not feasible. Divination is a way for witches to speak for ghosts and gods, and turtles are a way for history to speak for ghosts and gods. Witches and history are both learned people, so their opinions are decisive. Witches and history at that time were almost the same kind of people, and they were not classified as they were later, so they could all be regarded as witches, at best, witches with different division of labor and high status. Later, Zhou Liwang kept the people's mouths shut, let Wu Wei watch the people, and let the people of China learn the road. Defending the country and defending the country is the hometown of business, and Wu Wei is also a witch of business, which shows that the witch culture of businessmen is far-reaching.

cultural heritage

Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province are the ruins of the ancient capital of Yin and Shang Dynasties in China and one of the most famous ancient capitals in the world.

Yin Ruins in the northwest suburb of Anyang City straddles the north and south banks of Huan River. It was called "Northern Mongolia" in ancient times, and also called "Dayi Merchants" and "Yi Merchants" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. It is the capital of China in the late Shang Dynasty, and the first ancient capital site recorded by Oracle Bone Inscriptions and confirmed by archaeological excavations in the history of China. It has a history of 3300 years.

The scenic spot of the ruins of Yin Ruins Palace and Temple is built in the area of Yin Ruins Palace and Temple. It is a world cultural heritage, a national 5A-level tourist attraction, the birthplace of archaeology in China and the birthplace of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. It is one of the national 100 demonstration bases of patriotism education announced by the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China, and the first batch of national youth civilization at the level of tourist attractions, belonging to the national key cultural relics protection units. The 53 building sites excavated here before 1973 are the main body of the ancestral temple area of the palace in Yin Ruins and the center of gravity of the overall planning and layout structure of the capital of Yin Dynasty. Archaeologists divide them into three groups: A, B and C. The building site of group A was * * * discovered 15 buildings, which are the earliest and longest-used buildings in the palace and ancestral temple area and are considered to be Group B found 2 1 building, most of which are complex in structure, huge in area and interconnected. These buildings are considered as ancestral temples of the Yin royal family. Group C * * * found 17, which is considered as an altar building of Shang royal family. At present, more than 80 large rammed earth buildings have been found in the ancestral temple area of the palace. These buildings are grand in shape, imposing and orderly in layout. According to the pattern of ancient palace buildings in China, they are arranged in turn and distributed around the palace area.

1961March, Yin Ruins were announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In March, 200 1 year, Yin Ruins was rated as the first of "China 100 new archaeological discoveries in the 20th century". On July 13, 2006, Yin Ruins were listed on the World Heritage List at the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee because of its outstanding universal value and good management display.

Build a museum in Yin Ruins

In order to protect and display the elegant demeanour of Yin Ruins culture, as early as 1987, the Yin Ruins Museum was built in Anyang City, and in recent years, additional ancillary buildings such as TombNo. Tomb and Che Ma Hang have been continuously built to restore the original appearance of history thousands of years ago.

The museum is located in Xiaotun Village, northwest suburb of Anyang City, on the site of Shang Dynasty palace. It is the most important cultural relic landscape in Anyang, and is listed as one of the national 100 demonstration bases of patriotism education by the China municipal government.

Yin Ruins in Anyang are national key cultural relics protection units. Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the earliest written language used by the Chinese nation, and Simu Wuding, known as the "crown of bronze tripod in the world", have been unearthed here.

"1899, Yin Ruins became famous at home and abroad," Yang Xizhang, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters. "The Museum of Yin Ruins can make people intuitively understand and know Yin Ruins."

Carry forward Yin Shang culture

Yang Xizhang said that the archaeology of Yin Ruins, which started at 1928, really opened the mysterious door of this underground museum, and the modern archaeology of China was born.

Over the past century, after several generations of scholars' excavation and research, many historical sites such as palaces, tombs, residents and ancestral halls, handicraft workshops, chariots and horses pits in the late Shang Dynasty have been discovered here, and tens of thousands of precious historical relics such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronzes, jade articles, gems, pottery and bone teeth have been unearthed. The culture of Yin Ruins, represented by Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronzes, has become a treasure in the world cultural heritage. Yang Xizhang believes that the precious historical and cultural heritage contained in Yin Ruins has magical cohesion and appeal to Chinese descendants since ancient times.

Anyang immigrants

Zhaowei, deputy secretary of Anyang Municipal Committee, said: "We should make good use of the cultural relics in Yin ruins, inherit the excellent cultural heritage and create a more splendid new culture." In order to build the museum, the whole city of Anyang has made great efforts, especially the villagers in Xiaotun Village.

Anyang, a small village famous for the earliest excavation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, has little arable land and the villagers have the custom of "loving the soil", so they are unwilling to leave their homes easily. However, in order to ensure the land for the project, the Anyang municipal government has set aside a demolition area of 2 1 000 square meters in this village, requiring the villagers in this area to move to a place far away from this area to settle down.

Pi Xiuru was originally a villager in Xiaotun Village and recently moved to Anyang Stadium. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, she said: "I have no culture, but I am proud to have such an ancient culture around me. In our hearts, we don't want to leave the place where our ancestors lived. But in order to attract more people to visit Yin Ruins and let them better understand the culture created by our ancestors, it is worthwhile for us to make some sacrifices. "

She said: "The government is also very considerate of us and has paid a high demolition fee to help us settle down. The thought that more and more people will come to see Yin Ruins makes my eyes shine. This is also our contribution to the country's protection of Yin ruins and the promotion of Yin ruins culture. "

Related introduction

Yin Shang culture, as a Zhou tribe dominated by farming economy and the later Zhou Dynasty, farming is the foundation of its founding, and they have special feelings for agricultural production. Throughout the history of Zhou tribes in The Book of Songs * Ya, although it is not credible, it is indeed a reflection of its true history. The Zhou tribe never had a chance to acquire a large number of slaves. Unlike Zhou, King Wen was captured by the war. He wanted to build a platform, just like the book of songs, Lingtai said, "Shu Ren attacked it in a few days." As a farming tribe, at that time, people were the most precious, and people were wealth, so they did not hesitate to attract and cultivate people with favorable conditions; For businessmen, skilled slaves can be regarded as valuable wealth, while ordinary slaves are worthless and can be supplemented by war at any time.

The rulers of Shang and Zhou dynasties had different policies towards the common people. The former is mean and the latter is kind. The former is the tyranny of the rulers over most underground ruled people, while the latter can almost be regarded as the rule of the whole people. Therefore, people's hearts are flowing backwards. From the Huaihe River to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhou Wenhua is as far away as Zhejiang today. As mentioned earlier, the main basis for Zhou people to govern the Huaihe River Basin was Cai Guo and its nearby governors.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Cai Guo also became a vassal of the Chu people. However, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, southern Henan was still the starting point for the Central Plains culture to enter the Huaihe River Basin. Anhui, in the Neolithic Age, had a tradition from Dawenkou culture to Indian pottery culture. The tribe living here is mainly Xu Shu, belonging to the eastern tribal group. Huainan has many cultural relics of the Yin Dynasty. Yin Shang is a tribe in the eastern plain, and the edge of the plain is its natural tail. After the Zhou Dynasty, the conflict between the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Zhou people was well documented. Therefore, cultural exchanges are extremely frequent. Quite a few Western Zhou cultural relics were found in Anhui. A large number of Western Zhou bronzes have been unearthed in Jiashan, Buried Hill, Feixi and Tunxi. Generally speaking, the bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Anhui are basically similar to those of the Central Plains, but there are also some characteristics developed in some places. Tunxi in southern Anhui is far away from the Central Plains, and the bronze decoration obviously imitates the weaving pattern of local geometric printed pottery. Unearthed glazed pottery and printed pottery are undoubtedly the characteristics of indigenous culture. Glazed pottery has high hardness and low water absorption. Western Zhou celadon unearthed in Zhangjiapo, Xi, Shaanxi, Luoyang, Henan and Yandun Mountain, Dantu, Jiangsu, is similar to glazed pottery in southern Anhui.

The situation in Jiangxi is very similar to that in southern Anhui. Many bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been unearthed, covering Qingjiang, Xintu, Nanchang, Yugan, Pingxiang, Dongxiang and Fengxin. All these places are located in the lower reaches of the Ganjiang River and its tributaries near Poyang Lake, which is the main traffic artery from the south of the Yangtze River. The fine bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty are no different from those of the Central Plains. The period is often earlier than the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and less after the middle period. The pottery produced at the same time is geometric printed hard pottery. Geometrically printed hard pottery is widely distributed in Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places with Gannan as the center. From the Neolithic Age to the Warring States Period, this kind of hard pottery has always been the indigenous culture of Jiangyou. In contrast, the bronze culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty is just a dotted island in the Indo-Chinese Ocean (Cultural Relics Committee, 1979: 243, 248-249; Xue Yao,1963; Guo, 1965). The bronze wares of Xu State in the Spring and Autumn Period unearthed in Jing 'an are known as "a place of Xu Wang". Xu Guoyuan is in Huaisi area. After repeated attacks in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it gradually moved south. It is said that in the era, Xu was once resurrected. According to the Book of Rites, under the bow of Tan, Xu still remembered the grand occasion of "the first monarch and the king sought help from the river" in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, after King Mu, Xu people gradually moved into the areas along the Yangtze River in Anhui. In the Spring and Autumn Period (657 BC), Shu was taken, and it was already in the north of Huainan.

According to archaeological excavations, the site of Taijia Temple in Baizhuang Natural Village, Sanhe Village, Zhuzhai Town, Funan County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province is a high-level settlement in the Huaihe River Basin in the early and middle Shang Dynasty. It is determined that the Shang culture in Huaihe River basin, represented by the site of Taijiasi, belongs to the Central Plains Shang culture system.