Ancient China - The Shang Dynasty Part 1: The Story of Shang

The return! Today we are back in China to uncover the second of China's ancient dynasties, the Shang! The successor to the supposedly mythical Xia.
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[@Gypsyflyer_]

Very helpful, I am trying to study for my AP world history exam and I couldn't quite find a good video but this one was very helpful for my studying.

[@lovelyrabbyt666]

Thank you for this video it was very informative!!

[@noahpeng1689]

The earliest records of Emperor Xin's crimes seem to have only three or four items: 1. Listening to women; 2. Not re-employing his relatives, but giving key positions to humble slaves; 3. Not holding grand sacrificial ceremonies and disrespecting the gods etc. (very progressive in terms of modern people’s values). Di Xin's brother was dissatisfied with him and betrayed him on the battlefield, leading to the destruction of the Shang Dynasty by Zhou. As for crimes such as luxury and indiscriminate killing, they were gradually compiled after the demise of the Shang Dynasty.

[@tolumordebafegha8920]

Beautiful

[@thegrandportfolio5915]

Thanks!

[@ayzikdig1983]

btw is there a book you know of about chinese document forgery for politics? i saw you mention the bamboo annals in your part 2...

[@thegrandportfolio5915]

On the political side of things I don’t currently have any recommendations. However if you want a good historical book on China, I cannot recommend China: The Story of a Civilisation and its People by Michael Wood highly enough, it goes into an incredible amount of detail!

[@ayzikdig1983]

@@thegrandportfolio5915 thnaks

[@thegrandportfolio5915]

You’re welcome 😉

[@ayzikdig1983]

i might be that chinese literature makes use of hyperbolics? so di xin account never meant to be taken literally ?

[@thegrandportfolio5915]

I’m inclined to agree with you there!There are accounts of Di Xin that were written long after his death (for example, he was used as a negative example by Confucius). It’s likely that these accounts may have been intended as propaganda by successive dynasties such as the Zhou, in an attempt to justify their rule over the population. So yes, with these particular accounts, a pinch of salt would have to be taken.

[@ayzikdig1983]

@@thegrandportfolio5915 yeah but i think i meant more like they believed him to be a bad kind. (and perhaps he was.) but the exaggerate description itself is just a literary device. it takes someone who knows chinese literature well enough to decide this. but i know from my culture that an obvious exaggerated story is away to convey a social message of a certain time period. say, politically, current party tell the voters- "look what the other party polices do! they stealing your money and killing the working class." obviously they dont actually killing, but its a form of hyperbolic messaging. so i think the island of wine description , never meant to be a literal historical description. just more of a colorful imagery of the kings conduct. but again, it takes an expert on chinese literature expert to weigh in on this

[@thegrandportfolio5915]

Once more I agree and your points certainly make sense. But also yes, it would take an expert on Chinese literature to comment fully, and unfortunately I am not one! It makes me wonder though, if Confucius used Di Xin as a negative example in his writings, the meat island story could have been a warning to future rulers, perhaps on moral or philosophical grounds as you appear to imply. All in all this is a good view on it!

[@jesus2639]

Wu ding put his digaling to work. Someone had to say it.

[@PuckishAngeI]

This is quite interesting

[@user-fo2uh4rm5c]

It is difficult to follow your narratives of this video. not only the names and meanings are all mixed up. I advise you not to write article in front of experts in Confucius.

[@SaurianLeader]

goofy af

[@cudanmang_theog]

Shangdi was Yahweh