Chapter 2 Chapter Two Bronze Culture of the Shang Dynasty

In the Shang Dynasty, especially in the late Shang Dynasty, the bronze smelting and casting industry had developed to a high degree.The ruins of a copper casting workshop in the late Shang Dynasty discovered in the north of Anyang Nursery covers an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters, and the diameter of the copper melting furnace has reached 0.83 meters.More than 19,000 pieces of pottery models and pottery were unearthed, mainly bronze ritual vessel models. One of the tripod wall models is 1.14 meters long, which is larger than the famous Houmuwu tripod. At this time, although stone tools were still in use, bronze was widely used to make agricultural production tools and handicraft production tools (Figure 3), which greatly developed the agricultural and handicraft production in the Shang Dynasty. The foundation of the highly developed bronze culture in the Shang Dynasty.

The social economy of the Shang Dynasty was dominated by agricultural production, and the agriculture of the Shang Dynasty was 耜〔si四〕cultivated agriculture, that is, Lei〔lei〕耜 was mainly used for farming.In ancient China, from the Yangshao culture in the middle and late Neolithic Age at least 7,000 years ago, agriculture in the Xia, Shang, Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods was all plowing agriculture, which is a characteristic of ancient Chinese agricultural production.Only in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period, especially after the middle period of the Warring States period, due to the gradual use of iron farm tools and the gradual development of ox farming, did the plow and plow farming appear and develop.Lei plowing agriculture is to use plow plowing to plow the ground and raise the soil for sowing; the farming method is coupled (ou) plowing, that is, two people are facing each other, but they are walking (regressive) and plowing. "Lu's Spring and Autumn Ji Dongji": "Ji Dong..., ordered the Secretary of Agriculture to plan and do farming, repair Leisi, and have field utensils."

In the Neolithic Age, wooden leils and wooden plows were mainly used (there are many kinds of plows including wood, stone, and bone). "Yi Xici Xia": "Shennong's works, 〔zhuozhuo〕 wood for Lei, kneading wood for Lei, the benefits of Lei Lei, to teach the world." In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, in addition to continuing to use wooden Lei and Mu Lei , Bronze Leisi appeared.The shape of the Lei is that the upper part is a long wooden handle, and the lower end is generally divided into two teeth (tips). The bronze Lei is either put on the two fork points, or the whole Lei end is made of bronze.In this way, due to the strong and wear-resistant bronze, the production efficiency is greatly improved.Oracle bone inscriptions " ", just like an upright person holding a lei handle, raising his foot and stepping on the shoulder to pierce the ground. There are still clear traces of the Shang Dynasty on the earth wall of the Shang Dynasty cellar in the west of Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan, showing a " From the measurement, it can be seen that the teeth are 19 centimeters long, seven centimeters in diameter, and eight centimeters apart. The upper part of the bronze pike is also a long wooden handle, and the lower end is a slightly rectangular wooden puppet body. The last one is made of bronze, slightly rectangular, flat and hollow, and has a curved blade. The bronze puppet crown unearthed in Panlong City, Huangpi, Hubei Province, in the middle of the Shang Dynasty, is 16.6 cm long and about 10 cm wide. Its use and efficacy Same as today's shovels.

In addition, the bronze agricultural implements of the Shang Dynasty include 钁 [juejue] and shovels.钁 is a tool for digging and breaking the ground. It is slightly narrow and rectangular in shape and has a thick body. Unearthed in Erligang, Zhengzhou, Henan in 1959, is a bronze 钁 from the mid-Shang Dynasty. It is 16.5 cm high, 5.5 cm wide at the top, and 4 cm wide at the blade.A large number of pottery models used for casting bronze 钁 were unearthed at the site of a bronze casting workshop in the middle of the Shang Dynasty outside Nanguan, Zhengzhou, which shows that the output of bronze 钁 was very large at that time.Shovel, called money in ancient literature, or Cho [yao Yao].It is a tool for leveling the soil and weeding.The body is in the shape of a rectangular sheet, with a blade at the lower end, a short handle protruding from the middle of the upper part, and a rectangular handle at the upper end of the handle, which is used to install a straight wooden handle. In 1953, a bronze shovel of the late Shang Dynasty was unearthed in Da Sikong Village, Anyang, Henan Province, with a length of 22.45 cm and a blade width of 8.5 cm. "Yi Zhou Shu Ke Yin" records that after King Wu destroyed Zhou: "He ordered the Nangong to suddenly shake the money from the deer platform and disperse the millet from the giant bridge." It shows that the Shang royal family has a large number of bronze shovels.

In the Shang Dynasty, fishing and hunting still played a certain role in economic life.Archaeological finds that fishing and hunting tools made of bronze mainly include fishhooks and arrowheads (arrowheads).The early Shang Dynasty copper fishhook unearthed in Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan Province, is about 2.7 cm long.Arrowheads are not only fishing and hunting tools, but more importantly, they are used as weapons. The handicraft production tools made of bronze in the Shang Dynasty mainly included axes, adzes, chisels, saws, knives (cutting), awls and drills, etc. They were mainly used to make wooden utensils and wooden carts.An ax is a felling tool, generally rectangular, with a double-sided blade at the lower end and a rectangular handle at the upper end, which is used to install a straight wooden handle, and then a horizontal wooden handle is installed on the straight wooden handle, and the wooden handle is in the same direction as the blade.Its use is similar to today's axes.Some bronze axes have a semi-circular ear on the side of the upper end.For example, the bronze ax of the late Shang Dynasty unearthed in 1974 at the East Bridge of Lingbao, Henan, is 12 cm long and has a curved blade.Adze, called Jin in ancient times, was used to chop wood, and its function was similar to today's plane.The body is narrow and rectangular, the lower end is mostly a single-sided blade, and the upper end is a scorpion, which is used to hold a zigzag wooden handle.The characteristic is that the wooden handle is perpendicular to the blade. A bronze adze from the late Shang Dynasty unearthed in 1976 from the Fuhao Tomb at the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, is 13.5 cm long and 4.1 cm wide.Chisel, narrow and long, with a single-sided blade at the lower end and a shovel at the upper end, used to hold a straight wooden handle and used for chiseling or slotting. Unearthed in Erligang, Zhengzhou in 1956, a copper chisel in the middle of the Shang Dynasty was 18.2 cm long.Saw, used to cut wood or aggregate, etc.The bronze saw unearthed in the west of Gao [Gao Eng], Hebei, in the late Shang Dynasty, is in the shape of a knife, with a serrated lower blade and a handle at the rear. It is 14.7 cm long, 4.2 cm wide, and 0.4 cm thick on the back.Knife, the small one is called cutting.Generally, it is a curved edge with a concave back and a straight handle behind it.The late Shang Dynasty bronze knife unearthed from Fuhao Tomb at Yin Ruins in Anyang is about 15 centimeters long.The copper chip unearthed from the same tomb has a circular handle at the end and is 13.9 cm long.Cone, for piercing.An early Shang bronze cone unearthed at Erlitou, Yanshi, is about 8.5 centimeters long, with a flat body and four edges gathered forward to form a cone tip.The above-mentioned bronze production tools are far sharper and more durable than stone tools, which greatly improves production efficiency. Due to the widespread use of bronze production tools, the Shang Dynasty’s woodworking, car-making, and bone and dental carvings have made great progress. big development.Let's take the automobile industry as an example to introduce.

According to ancient documents such as "Shiben Zuopian", Xi Zhong of the Xia Dynasty invented the cart; however, due to the long history and perishable wood, the Xia Dynasty cart has not been found in archaeological work.However, wooden carts for driving horses in the Shang Dynasty have been discovered frequently in archaeological excavations, and now we have been able to restore the structure of the Shang Dynasty carriages.It is characterized by two wheels and a single shaft (辀), and it is a curved shaft.That is, the rear part of the shaft (at the bottom part) is straight, while the front part is curved and upward.There is a wooden balance tied to the front end of the shaft, and a yoke (e evil) is attached to the balance. The yoke is placed on the horse's neck and used to drive the horse.In the Shang Dynasty, there were mostly one cart and two horses.A rectangular carriage (yu) for passengers is installed on the rear of the shaft and on the axle.For example, in the late Shang Dynasty chariot and horse pit M1613 excavated in Yinxu, Anyang, Henan in 1981, the total length (straight-line distance) of the wooden cart’s shaft is 2.90 meters, and a straight wooden scale is tied at about 10 cm from the front end of the shaft, with a length of 1.13 meters. .The rear part of the vehicle is 1.50 meters wide and 1.07 meters deep, and the middle part of the rear part is the door, which is about 0.35 meters wide.Yuxia axle is 2.94 meters long and 10 centimeters in diameter.The left and right wheels have been compressed and deformed, with a wheel diameter of 1.26-1.45 meters.Each wheel has a total of 18 spokes.The distance between two wheels (gauge) is 2.24 meters.

At that time, in order to make the cart strong and beautiful, the wooden cart and horse head were equipped with bronze components and decorations, which were called chariot and horse devices.There are mainly 軎 (weiwei), yoke ornaments, 軏 (yueyue) ornaments and heel ornaments, titles, 耳 (biao) and copper bubbles, etc. (Figure 4).Copper scorpions, slightly cylindrical in shape, are set on both ends of the axle, and then fixed to both ends of the axle with wooden sills (copper slats were used in the Western Zhou Dynasty), so as to prevent the wheels from falling out when driving.Bronze 軏, used to set on the shaft head, as a decoration.Bronze Fu unearthed from M20 in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan, is in the shape of a beast's head.The copper heel is set on the end of the shaft to protect the end of the shaft.The yoke is slightly herringbone and made of copper and wood.The yoke body [gougou] is made of two bent woods, and its upper end is covered with a bronze yoke head and a round hoop, and its curved and upward end is covered with a bronze yoke foot, which makes it durable.The horse bit, commonly known as the horse bit, is composed of two bronze rods with a ring at each end, and is placed horizontally in the horse's mouth.Horse biceps are attached to the rings on both sides of the horse's mouth.The bit and the rein are connected to control the horse.In addition, the Shang Dynasty also used leather strips to form a bridle on the horse's head, and bronze bubbles or shells were strung on the leather strips as decorations.The large round copper bubble in the middle of the horse's forehead developed into Danglu in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Horse-drawn carriages in the Shang Dynasty have been used for combat, field hunting and transportation.The chariots in ancient China were mainly standing vehicles, usually carrying two or three people.In the middle is the emperor, the master is on his left, and the warrior is on his right.Ancient Chinese carriages were independently invented and created by the ancient Chinese people themselves. They have distinctive national characteristics and are one of the characteristics of ancient Chinese civilization. In order to consolidate their rule, Shang kings and nobles used the most advanced bronze at that time to manufacture a large number of weapons.Bronze weapons found in the Shang Dynasty include ge, spear, halberd, knife, battle-axe, Qi, arrowhead, helmet and bow [bibi], etc. (Figure 5).Bronze weapons of the Shang Dynasty were not only sharper and more durable than stone weapons, but also had a large number.For example, in the tomb passage of a royal mausoleum of the late Shang Dynasty in the Yin Ruins of Anyang (Northwest Hill M1004, Houjiazhuang), 722 bronze daggers, 731 bundles of bronze spears and 141 bronze helmets were found buried with them, indicating that the king of Shang used bronze Armed with weapons a large number of armies.According to oracle bone inscriptions, the King of Shang dispatched 3,000 or even as many as 5,000 troops at a time.

The following are the bronze weapons of the Shang Dynasty.Ge, the most important bronze weapon in ancient China, may have been developed from a stone sickle.It is made by binding a bronze Ge head to a wooden handle (handle) about one meter long, and some of the upper ends are equipped with a bronze handle (龠).Ge can be used for pecking, but it is mainly used for hooking and killing, so it was called hooking soldiers in ancient times.The bronze spear of the Shang Dynasty, the front is aid, and the back is Nei (na Na).Its forms mainly include Zhi Nei Ge, Qu Nei Ge (also divided into two types: Yuanshou and Qiguan), Ji Nei Ge and Triangular Yuan Ge (or called 戣〔kui Kui〕) and so on.At the end of the Shang Dynasty, the short Hu Yichuan and Erchuan Ge were developed, which are the weapons with the most Chinese characteristics (Figure 6).In the bronze inscriptions of the late Shang Dynasty, "