Shang & Chou Times - Ancient China for Kids

Shang & Chou Dynasties
Ancient China for Kids

Shang Dynasty
About 1700 BCE to 1100 BCE

Chou (also called Zhou, pronounced "joe") Dynasty
About 1100 BCE to 250 BCE

Shang and Chou times are known for their use of jade, bronze, horse-drawn chariots, ancestor worship, highly organized armies, and human sacrifice.

Cities were surrounded by protective walls. One city was surrounded by a wall 30 feet high, 65 feet thick, and 4 1/2 miles long! Inside these walled cities lived the rulers, priests, and warriors. Merchants and craftsmen lived in mud houses built up against the outside walls of the cities. Farmers lived in nearby villages.

Chopsticks were invented, which changed the way people ate their food.

Family: For both the rich and the poor, the family was all important. The oldest male was the head of the family. If one member of a family did something wrong, the entire family was in disgrace. Amongst the nobles, marriages were arranged to strength or to create a union between two clans or families.

The young obeyed their parents without a fuss. This was important part of ancestor worship. Even a wealthy noble with many servants might patch his father's robe with his own hands. Children looked forward to the day when they would be parents, and their children would honor them.

The role of the woman was to be gentle, calm, respectful, and to obey her husband. In ancient China, home and family were so important that they were nearly sacred.

Shang & Chou kings and nobles: The rich lived in large homes and palaces made of mud and wood. They had tall bronze candlesticks. They used bronze drinking cups. (Shang leaders were famous for their drinking bouts.) They loved to hunt. Their bronze weapons were decorated with elaborate designs. Horseback riding was very popular, both as a sport and, in late Chou times, as a method of war. (Chariots had not worked very well as the landscape was rather bumpy and rugged.)

The nobles wore elaborate gowns of silk and lived in large, brick homes with tiled roofs. They were lavishly decorated and furnished. Jugs of wine lined the walkways. The air was scented with flowers in the gardens and spices from pots of food steaming on stoves.

They were buried in lavish tombs. Unlike the ancient Egyptians, the Shang and Chou were buried with living people. In their tombs, archaeologists have found entire chariots, objects of art, and the remains of guards and dogs who accompanied kings to their graves.

Warriors: The leaders of different clans were continually waging war with each other. Warriors were knights in bronze armor who went to battle in horse-drawn chariots made of wood and bronze. They wore bronze helmets, and carried daggers, spears, and axes. Each chariot had a driver, a spearman, and an archer. Behind them, came the foot soldiers, who were usually peasants, forced to leave their fields. Foot soldiers wore tunics and trousers.

Farmers: Most people were farmers (peasants). Their life was very hard. Farmers lived in nearby villages. Their homes were very simple. In the summer, peasants lived on the land near their fields. Summer homes were made of bamboo branches. In the winter, they moved to their permanent homes in the villages. Winter homes were drafty, one room houses with thatched or tile roofs, dirt floors and no furniture. The walls were made of mud. Doors faced south. Each family had their own winter home.

They farmed small plots of land with primitive stone and wood tools. They did not own the land. They worked the land assigned to them by the royals and the nobles. They had to give the nobleman part of the food they grew. They were also expected to give gifts to the nobleman of wine or silk. They worked without pay on the noble's house, roads, and bridges. They pretty much worked all the time.

Their gods were the gods of nature, the river god, the rain god, the earth god. They believed in many gods, but the most powerful was the sky god, T'ien, the king of gods. To the peasants, T'ien was more brilliant and more powerful than any earthbound king.

As in Xia times, the earliest times, each year they celebrated the Spring Festival. Several villages would gather for the Festival. Unlike the nobles, marriages were rarely arranged. Boys and girls met each other at the Spring Festival. This is when young boys and girls found husbands and wives. Girls were about 15 years old when they married. Boys were about the same age, or a little older.

It was during Shang times that the Spring Festival evolved into what we call today Chinese New Year.

Merchants and Craftsmen: Since this group did not produce food and were not part of the nobility, they were outside the class structure. Like slaves, they were hardly considered men. In times of war, when the city was attacked, they were not taken inside the protective walls, but were left to fend for themselves as best they could.