Hello future people of the UK!
I’d like to show you around Ancient China. But to do that you have to travel back in time.
Back before the Vikings, before the Romans and keep going back, back, back until Stonehenge is being built - 3500 years ago.
I’m on the other side of the world… So go across Europe, across the Middle East, and all the way over to Eastern China. Down there in the Shang Empire, nestled by the Yellow River Valley.
Hi, I’m Li! And this is my Dad, Chen. Welcome to the Shang Empire…
Not again! "Excuse me, coming through!"
We’ve got soldiers everywhere around these days – it’s a real nuisance.
I live way before the borders of China were drawn so we’re constantly at war with nomads, barbarians and other empires who want to take over, so we need lots of soldiers to keep our empire safe.
They’re led by clever military leaders and armed with advanced weapons so we’ve been doing pretty well recently – We’ve got spears, knives, chariots, arrows and amour, which makes us really tough to beat.
Some of them have survived to your time, and you can see they’re all made of bronze, which is why you call this period – you guessed it – the bronze age.
It might not look like it, but Dad and I are helping with the war effort too. In the back of our carriage is something that could change the outcome of some key battles, we just have to deliver it to the emperor’s palace.
We must be getting close, because here’s the market – this is where the artisans and craftsman sell their wares.
Rural farmers like us can’t afford any of this, of course. We have virtually no cowrie shells (that’s what we use for money)… But people who work for the Emperor have loads!
The Emperor is the head of our Empire. He’s the latest in a long line of Emperors, who we believe originally descended from a God.
He and his helpers, mainly his relatives, make all the big decisions about our future in there: the palace city. We never get to go in there, but today we’re allowed to because we’re carrying such precious cargo.
Wait for it. Ta Dah - these are bones from an ox. I know what you’re thinking, what’s so important about an ox bone? Well, I’ll show you…
That’s one of the Emperor’s wives, Fu Hao.
She’s really respected by the Emperor, which is rare for a woman in our time.
She’s using the bone to write on. In case you can’t read early Chinese. Let me help you.
These are questions to the Gods. Writing on a bone just like this one will become the earliest evidence of Chinese writing you have.
Writing means we can do loads of new things…
accounting,
planning,
love letters,
As well, of course, as talking to Gods!
And we have quite a few of those.
‘Shang Di’ is our supreme ‘go-to’ God but we have lesser gods of the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces too. We also worship our ancestors – phew, what a list!
I’m not sure who Fu Hao is writing to, but it looks as though they’ve got back to her.
She put a hot rod into the bone and the shape of the fracture tells her the gods answer to the question. In this case the Gods agree that she should take a further 13,000 soldiers into battle. I told you that our Ox bone could help with the war effort.
Well, I’m glad finally saw some fortune telling, but if bones could really tell the future then we’d see that our civilization won’t last forever.
We will lose some really important battles and fall under the rule of a stronger empire. Different leaders will continue to fight each other for a good few thousand years until China becomes united into the country you know today.
And all this? Well, it’ll be history.
Video summary
We follow Li, a farmer boy, and his father as they deliver some ox bones to the Shang Emperor's palace.
These oracle bones are used to foretell the future.
They are one of our main sources of information about the Shang Dynasty, who ruled part of China about 3,500 years ago.
We have also found lots of artefacts in tombs.
The Shang developed writing amongst other inventions.
This Bronze Age society developed a powerful army using bronze weapons.
This clip is from the series Lost Lands.
Teacher Notes
Could be used to explore Bronze Age culture, and contrast the Shang with Bronze Age Britain.
It could also be used to explore change, from Stone Age to Bronze Age.
Bronze weapons made the Shang powerful – how were they better than stone?
It could be used to help the students explore beliefs - how many gods did the Shang have, and how did they communicate with them? Why were the bones so important?
This clip is relevant for teaching History at Key Stage 2 and Second Level.
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