Teach China Spring Outreach Poster Text (front) c. 2000 – 1500 BCE Evolution of Chinese metalwork starts with copperware in the Qijia culture (located in modern day Gansu Province) which eventually develops the full use of bronze technology as evidenced by ritual vessels found at burial sites throughout the region.

Qijia culture – an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of western Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai that produced some of the earliest evidence of bronze technology.

c. 1580 BCE Approximate beginning of the Shang Dynasty.

Shang Dynasty – (aka Yin Dynasty) a dynasty of thirteen kings who ruled from circa 1384 to 1045 BCE. They were highly skilled in the production of bronze ware and exerted considerable control over its production.

c. 1800 BCE Recently discovered bronze vessels with distinctly different styles produced at sites other than the Yellow River region, including the spectacular Sanxingdui site in the Sichuan valley (see below) and various Yangzi river cultural sites (see above); these bronze variations suggest bronze technology was diffused throughout China and then locally adapted to reflect regional belief systems different from that of the Yellow River region to the north.

Sanxingdui – name of a significant archaeological site in the Sichuan basin and its deduced culture dating from the 12th-11th centuries BCE based on radiocarbon dating of the distinctive bronze ware discovered at the site.

c. 1250 BCE Probable importation of war chariots (see right) from Central Asian nomads incorporating bronze technology. The chariots were used in elaborate royal burials showing their military significance to the Shang culture. c. 1200 BCE Earliest inscribed oracle bones (see above) which record divination practices conducted by the state and are the earliest recognizable form of the Chinese writing system.

Oracle bones – Pieces of cattle bone or turtle plastron (underside of turtle shell) that bear the written results of divinatory practices during the Shang dynasty.

c. 1200 BCE Lady Hao (a chief consort of the Shang King Wu Ding) is buried outside Anyang in a royal tomb. Her tomb escapes centuries of grave looting and was discovered with its funerary furnishings intact (including sacrificial human victims and a full set of ritual bronzes) by 20th century archaeologists.

Anyang – Contemporary city in Henan province that was the site of the first capital in Chinese history, Yin, established at the beginning of the 14th century BCE by King Pangeng of the Shang Dynasty. It is the site of major royal tombs.

1100 – 1050 BCE Reigns of last Shang Dynasty kings and the age of King Wen of the Zhou people, the nominal founder of the Zhou dynasty who is hereafter depicted as a paragon of virtue. He was compelled to rebel against the suzerain Shang king whose depravity made the Shang dynasty lose the Mandate of Heaven.

King Wen – (c. 1099 – 1050 BCE) founding patriarch of the Zhou Dynasty who planned to overthrow a corrupt Shang dynasty but died before that was accomplished, leaving his son King Wu to complete the establishment of the Zhou dynasty.

1045 BCE Zhou conquest of the Shang led by King Wu, son of King Wen. The Zhou Dynasty establishes a “feudal” system wherein Zhou relatives and supporters are granted sizable land estates but fully recognize the Zhou state as political sovereign over “all under heaven.”

Zhou Dynasty – China’s longest dynasty (c. 1045 – 256 BCE) that is widely considered the zenith of Chinese bronze ware production. The Dynasty is traditionally divided into an earlier Western Zhou and a later Eastern Zhou, with the sacking of the Western capital by the Quanrong people in 771 BCE dividing the two periods.

c. 1043 BCE King Wu dies and sets off a fierce succession crisis that results in the regency of his brother, the Duke of Zhou, over his son, King Cheng.

King Wu – first sovereign king of the Zhou dynasty whose reign is traditionally given as 1046 or 1045 to 1043 BCE. Son of King Wen.

c. 1040 - 1035 BCE Founding of the “Eastern” capital at Chengzhou (near modern day Luoyang), sets off another heated debate about the nature of “The Mandate of Heaven” in which the Duke of Zhou and his half-brother spar over an absolutist understanding of the Mandate of Heaven (meaning the court should not be moved) or a more meritocratic understanding (championed by the Duke of Zhou); while the royal capital remained in the West at Zongzhou at this time (near modern day Xi’an), the debate is more significant for its influence on centuries of Chinese political culture.

Mandate of Heaven – Critical cosmological concept that established the legitimacy of rulers predicated on the sustained virtue of a just ruler; it similarly allowed for rebellion against an unjust ruler with success or failure as proof of who possessed the Mandate.

Duke of Zhou – Powerful son of King Wen and brother of King Wu who became regent of King Cheng at the death of his brother and defeated his other brothers who waged a rebellion against the young King. He was regarded as a paragon of leadership by future Confucian thinkers.

11th – 8th centuries Era of bronze inscriptions (see below); these inscriptions record the lineal connections between court and nobility as well as rewards bestowed upon court officials for acts of service; these bronze inscriptions (and their rubbings) thus become an important source of historical information about this period of Chinese history. c. 800 – 650 BCE The Book of Poetry (Shiji) is compiled from various “feudal” state poems and odes; the book eventually becomes a Confucian classic and gives us insight into everyday life during the Western Zhou period.

771 BCE The Western Zhou capital Zongzhou is sacked by a northern nomadic peoples, the Quanrong; the court flees to the Eastern capital of Chengzhou, burying many valuable but bulky bronzes in their haste (in all likelihood hoping to eventually retrieve these bronze works). This event marks the dividing line between the earlier “Western Zhou” and the later “Eastern Zhou.” Large scale growth of chariot warfare between the aristocratic class begins around this time as well.

Zhou Dynasty – China’s longest dynasty (c. 1045 – 256 BCE) that is widely considered the zenith of Chinese bronze ware production. The Dynasty is traditionally divided into an earlier Western Zhou and a later Eastern Zhou, with the sacking of the Western capital by the Quanrong people in 771 BCE dividing the two periods.

680 BCE Duke Huan of the state of Qi is formally acknowledged as the first “hegemon” (ba); in the “ba system,” powerful northern states acted as protectorates of smaller states especially against the powerful southern state of Chu (located in the Yangzi River valley in modern day Hubei and Hunan provinces). While nominally acknowledging Zhou supremacy, Confucians later criticized them as deviant autocrats who undermined the virtuous principles that guided King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou.

Hegemon (“ba”) – A term adopted by the most powerful leaders of feudal states during the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou who ruled their own states as autocrats around which weaker states rallied but who nominally acknowledged Zhou supremacy.

670 BCE The Chu state occupies the northern state of Sui; the ruler of Chu, Cheng, challenges the ba system by conferring the title of “King” (wang) upon himself. Such challenges become increasing frequent throughout the Eastern Zhou period, showing increased political stress and escalating warfare.

Zhou Dynasty – China’s longest dynasty (c. 1045 – 256 BCE) that is widely considered the zenith of Chinese bronze ware production. The Dynasty is traditionally divided into an earlier Western Zhou and a later Eastern Zhou, with the sacking of the Western capital by the Quanrong people in 771 BCE dividing the two periods.

c. 550 BCE Miniature bronze spades are used as metal money (see above) for the first time in Chinese history; the whole at the top of the spade allows for individual units to be threaded together into larger units.

551 BCE Confucius born in the state of Lu.

Confucius – (551 – 479 BCE) prominent social philosopher during the Spring and Autumn Period who revered ritualistic practices from the early Western Zhou period as a remedy to increased state- to-state warfare.

c. 500 BCE Development of iron technology begins, first in the south where iron ploughshares start to appear. Iron weapons quickly follow.