Explaining Shang Power (9/30/26 + 10/2/26)

Bronze Vessels

Luxury items that the Shang created that were made of copper, tin, and lead

• required craftspeople, miners, tools, food, transportation, soldiers

20, ore, wood, charcoal, Anyang, soldiers, clay, fans, details

There were about ? steps in the process of making Shang Bronze Vessels + Weapons

• Mines to collect ?

• Cut ? for fuel then turn that into ?

• Transport metal and wood to ?

• ? to protect works and make sure they don’t split

• Refineries for the metals

• Artisans to make ? molds for the bronze stuff

• ? to keep fires hot enough for the bronze making

• Artisans to add ? to the pottery and weaponry

Wu Ding

A notable king of the Shang empire that had an immensely large tomb

hundreds, sacrificial, voluntary, forced

Wu Ding’s Tomb had

• ? of ramps

• many ? pits stuffed with people, dogs, and bronze

• a mix of ? nobles and ? commoners

violence

Shang rulers derived their powers from mainly ?

Violence

Direct and straightforward war and representation of power

Threat of Violence

Explicit punishment for those who don’t listen to the Shang rulers

Implied Threat of Violence

Not an active threat but just the lingering idea of punishment at the hands of the Shang

parade

Shang Rulers would literally just ? around their lands to demonstrate their power

• showed off tools, vessels, hunting abilities

Shamanism, blood, spiritual

Shang power and violence was heavily tied to ?

• They believed the spilling of ? gave them ? power whether it was from animals or humans

ancestors, spiritual

In a Shamanistic type of way, the Shang king was seen as a vessel of the ? and their ? power

De

a Chinese word that literally means “charismatic power”

• gained through the spilling of blood

• marked by the spiritual approval of the ancestors