Chapter 9 8 Pan Geng moved the capital

When Shang Tang established the Shang Dynasty, the earliest capital was Bo (sound bo, now Shangqiu, Henan).In the next three hundred years, the capital was moved five times.This is because the royal family often competed for the throne and civil strife occurred; in addition, there were often floods in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.Once there was a flood that completely submerged the capital and had to move. From Shang Tang, there were twenty kings, and the throne passed to Pan Geng.Pan Geng was a capable monarch.In order to change the social instability at that time, he decided to move the capital again.

However, most nobles are greedy for comfort and are unwilling to relocate.Some powerful aristocrats even incited the common people to rise up against it, causing a lot of trouble. Faced with strong opposition, Pan Geng did not waver in his determination to move the capital.He found the nobles who opposed the relocation of the capital, and patiently persuaded them: "I want you to relocate because I want to stabilize our country. Not only do you not understand my painstaking efforts, but you panic unnecessarily. You want to change my mind, It can't be done." Because Pan Geng insisted on moving the capital, he defeated the opposing forces, and finally crossed the Yellow River with civilians and slaves, and moved to Yin (now Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan).The politics of the Shang Dynasty was rectified there, and the declining Shang Dynasty was revived. After more than two hundred years, the capital has not been moved.So the Shang Dynasty is also called Yin Shang, or Yin Dynasty.

Since then, after more than three thousand years, the capital of the Shang Dynasty has long since been reduced to ruins.In modern times, people unearthed a large number of ancient relics in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, proving that it was once the site of the capital of the Shang Dynasty, and they called it "Yin Ruins". Among the relics unearthed from the Yin Ruins, there are more than 100,000 pieces of tortoise shells (that is, tortoise shells) and animal bones, and unrecognizable characters are carved on these tortoise shells and animal bones.After the research of archaeologists, these texts were clarified.It turns out that the ruling class of the Shang Dynasty was very superstitious about ghosts and gods.When they sacrificed, hunted, and went out to war, they used tortoise shells and animal bones to divination whether it was auspicious or unlucky.After the divination, the situation that happened at that time and the result of the divination are engraved on the tortoise shell and animal bone in words.This kind of writing is very different from the current writing, so it was called "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" later.The Chinese characters we use today evolved from oracle bone inscriptions.

Among the relics excavated in the Yin Ruins, a large number of bronze vessels and weapons were also found, of various types and exquisitely made.There is a large square tripod called "Simuwu", which weighs 875 kilograms and is more than 130 centimeters high. The tripod is also engraved with magnificent patterns.Such a large bronze ware shows that during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the technology and artistic level of copper smelting were very high.But it can also be imagined that such a huge and exquisite cauldron is soaked with the blood and sweat of many slaves! Archaeologists also excavated the tombs of Yin Shang slave owners in Yin Ruins.In a large tomb of a Shang king in Wuguan Village, Anyang, in addition to a large number of luxury funeral objects such as pearls and jade, many slaves were killed alive and buried.In the tomb passage next to the large tomb, there are many headless corpses piled up on one side, and many heads are arranged on the other side.According to the written records on oracle bone tablets, they sacrificed to their ancestors and massacred slaves as offerings, with the largest number reaching more than 2,600.This is evidence of the cruel persecution of slaves by slave owners.

From the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins, we have relatively conclusive research on the social conditions in the Yin and Shang Dynasties.Therefore, the earliest written history of our country began with the Shang Dynasty.