In the temple stands an oracle, his silk clothes woven with images of dragons, his fingers dulled and blackened by smoke. Before him waits the king, questions hanging on his slanted, half-open eyes. Should he wage a war and lead a thousand men to their deaths, all in the name of so-called honor? Should he move his domain to another part of the country, away from a rival commune? Should he live where the hills roll into the mountains, where the rains can ensure that the rice harvest will be better next year? Should he take away lands? Free slaves? Raise taxes?

The oracle hesitates, hums. Soon, he raises a hot stick of iron, then touches it upon a tortoiseshell. Cracks appear on the shell’s surface: cracks that call forth the assistance of the heavenly tribes, the hands of the earthly branches; cracks that tell tales, and give answers.

The Shang dynasty ruled parts of northern and central China for nearly six hundred years. From 1766-1027 BCE, thirty-one Shang kings from over 17 generations of rulers watched over a burgeoning civilization. China’s Shang was known for arts, crafts, and finely-wrought and engraved jade and bronzeware. It also developed a writing system of about 5,000 characters, making the system one of the oldest forms of written communication.

This same writing system was engraved onto bamboo strips, rice paper, silk, and cattle bones. In the 20th century, China’s Yuan River flooded, washing away earth to reveal layers of tortoiseshells and bones containing the characters devised by the Shang. Their correct interpretation came decades later, when historians discovered that the shells, bone fragments, and the characters that had been carved into them actually constituted the Shang royal oracle-archive. Of the one hundred thousand pieces, one thousand have been correctly interpreted, allowing the modern world a glimpse into life in the Shang dynasty.

It is thought that the previous dynasty, the largely mythical Hsia, was a political entity that existed alongside the powerful Shang. According to legend, the Shang thought themselves to be descendants of a god. The most powerful amongst them was the king, or wang, who could cross from the world of the living to the realm of the dead, and who ruled with religious and military power.

Religion in the time of the Shang was based on ancestor worship, as well as the worship of many gods, the highest of whom was called Shang Ti, or the Lord on High. Royal ancestors were thought to be the guardians of the living, the senders of curses and dreams, the guides of the wang in battle. The god on earth, the Shang king, was so revered and obeyed, and sent away with a grand burial. In his tomb would be laid weapons, jades, ritual vessels, and a holocaust of servants, commoners, and slaves, who were buried alive with the royal corpse.

The Shang dynasty also saw the development of arts, crafts, and science in China. The early astronomers reportedly pointed out Mars in the millions of stars in the sky, and mapped the routes of comets long before the Medieval world awoke. Textile workers invented a simple loom, which they used to weave silk fabric with hidden patterns. Craftsmen perfected the art of working on stone and ivory, and carving the hard, almost impenetrable jade. Jade carving requires an artisan to use diamonds – it would take a single a man an entire year to completely fashion a small carving.

What the Shang craftsmen are best known for is their expertise and advancement in bronze workmanship. While the rest of the world was focused on turning the alloy into tools and weapons, Shang artisans turned bronze casting into an art form. Ritual goblets and basins became the receptacles of legends. Wine vessels and jars became the first history books. Bowls and plates were embellished with varying geometric motifs, figures of animals and demons, and even the faces of emperors and kings.

Bronze weapons were still in use, however, but were confined to the warrior class – a measure taken in fear that the commoners would overthrow the government once they found some other use for the metal, other than as a base for drinking cups and utensils.
Shang commoners were well versed in trade. The currency of the time was the cowry shell, and many a hand made exchanges as traders haggled and sold their wares in the local markets. Although the tradesmen owned their bronze containers, stone weapons, pottery, or their house, all the land belonged to the king; and, for the privilege of owning it on behalf of their god on earth, the people paid taxes.

The people also worked the land and cleared some parts of the kingdom for the cultivation of crops. These lands were referred to as p’ou, and were usually cleared in the summer. The land would then be divided into nine squares: a local farmer could keep the harvest from eight of the squares, but the output of the ninth was reserved for the ruling lord.

Farm implements had been improved from the Hsia dynasty. Shang farmers used spades, stone axes, sickles, and stone ploughs pulled by domesticated water buffalo or humans. The most important tool was a wooden two-pronged digging stick, which was used to break up hard soil. According to oracle bone inscriptions, four main crops were produced during the Shang period: Shu, the most widely used grain; Chi, another grain, but which was much harder to harvest in China’s swamps; Tao, which is depicted as rice, but which may have been an early type of soybean; and Mai, a wheat that was used for rituals, and which may have been introduced from Western Asia. There is also mention of Ni, which some historians interpret as wild rice.

Rice was grown in the country's hot and swampy south, where conditions were ideal for its growth; while millet was prevalent in the dry lands of the north.

The land was sown and tilled by teams of chung-jen, men who were both farmers and soldiers of low rank. They were controlled by the Shang king: if there was a battle, they would fight; if there was a farm, they would work; if they refused to obey orders, they, and their families, would be punished.

Cattle breeding was another important industry during the Shang era. Farmers domesticated chickens, pigs, dogs, sheep, horses and oxen, to pull their ploughs or serve as food; and kept silkworms, to produce silk, which craftsmen wove

For all their skills and progress, the Shang dynasty, like the Hsia before it, was doomed to fail. The last king was a dictator, who, according to legend, committed suicide after his own army turned against him. Other tales say that he was murdered by a king from the rival land of the Zhou, once part of the Shang, and soon to be ancient China’s new ruling dynasty.

The oracle speaks quietly, head bowed to the ground. Perhaps he tells of a coming drought, or of heavy rains, or of lands bereft of water and life that must prompt the king to move his people and armies. Perhaps he whispers of a rebellion brewing in the alleyways of the young kingdom, a war blazing steadily in the kingdom over yonder, a bloom on a silent mountaintop that shall speak volumes and volumes of mystery, of poetry, of biddings from gods who choose to speak through signs and omens, rather than by plain words.

The king nods tentatively, then walks away. The tortoiseshell is cracked, mottled, splotched with shadows; it remains in place.

The oracle bows, as though to a spirit that has taken the ruler’s place. Soon, he sweeps the tortoiseshell away, onto the temple floor, where it crashes into a few pieces. Perhaps it shall be crushed beneath his footsteps, when he leaves. Perhaps it shall sustain the blows of time, clasp itself to the ground, take root and bear fruit like a tree of stone. Perhaps it shall flow with the river, into time and forgetfulness, until a flood shall rise centuries later, and unearth it once again.

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