The second capital movement of the Shang Dynasty

Shangdu refers to the capital of the Shang Kingdom during the Xia and Shang Dynasties. Merchants frequently moved their capitals, mainly because of river floods and wars. Zhang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote in Xijing Fu Nian: The Yin people moved many times, eight in the first and five in the last. The former refers to the period from the Ancestor Deed of the Shang Dynasty to the establishment of the capital in Tangcheng, also known as the pre-Shang period, which lasted more than 400 years. During this period, the Shang Kingdom moved its capital eight times. After that, there was a period of more than 600 years, from the establishment of the Shang Dynasty to the destruction of the Shang Dynasty by the Zhou people. During this period, the Shang Dynasty moved its capital five times.

The Shang Dynasty had seven capitals. Since the Tang Dynasty established its capital here, Zhongding moved to Tao from here, Hejia moved to Hunan from Tao, Zuti first moved from Geng, and a year later due to the flooding of the Yellow River, he moved from Xing, Nangeng moved from Xing to Yan, and Pan Geng moved from Yan After moving, it was called Yin. This was the final achievement of the capital and Yin. The General Secretary should have moved the capital seven times. Furthermore, historians tend to omit Geng as the capital for only one year. If omitted, the Shang Dynasty had six capitals and five moves.

According to historical records, the Shang Dynasty moved its capital five times. It is recorded that the king moved from Bo to Tao, the He family moved from Tao to Xiang, Zu Ti lived in the shelter, Nan Geng moved from the shelter to Yan, and Pan Geng moved from Yan to Northern Mongolia, called Yin. However, so far, archaeologists have only discovered four capital ruins: Yanshi Erlitou, Zhengzhou Shangcheng, Yanshi Shangcheng and Anyang Yinxu. These four locations are all very large, exceeding three to four million square meters.

Archaeologists have discovered important remains of large palaces, tombs and workshops in these four sites. For example, Palace No. 1 was discovered in the middle of the Erlitou site, covering an area of ??10,000 square meters. Large-scale city walls were discovered in Yanshi, Luoyang, Zhengzhou and other places. Large-scale sacrificial ruins were also discovered in the Yin Ruins in Anyang in the Wangling District. From these discoveries and documentary records, we can know that the Shang Dynasty established a relatively complete national organization, with various official positions, standing armies, laws and regulations, criminal regulations, etc. However, academic circles still have different views on the relationship between these capitals and the names of people recorded in documents. Only the Yin Ruins in Anyang was the capital of the kings after Pan Geng, and their views were relatively consistent.

After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, there were several migrations: Zhong Ding moved from Bo to Wei, He Tuojia moved from Tao, Zu Ti moved from Geng, Zu Ti moved from Geng to Xing, and Zu Ti moved from Geng to Xing. From Xing to Pi we can see that Zu Ti moved the capital three times during his reign. After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, several immigrants occurred in today's Henan and Shandong provinces, which once involved Shanxi Province, but they were not far from the Yellow River.

After Zhong Ding died, his younger brother Wai Ren inherited the throne. Shortly after Wai Ren succeeded to the throne, two vassal states of the Shang Dynasty rebelled. One is called Ai and the other is called Pi. Ai is a member of the Shen family, and the Shen family married into the Tang Dynasty, and the Shang Dynasty established their descendants as princes. In Xiapi, Xia Che lived in the west, and Pi was granted the title of vassal. Yi and Pi, two princes closely related to the Shang Dynasty, determined the Shang Dynasty during this period and shocked the government and the public.

After Huairen's death, his younger brother He Shujia succeeded to the throne. In order to alleviate the increasingly acute conflicts between the royal family and change the unfavorable situation after the Ai and Pi rebellions, the capital was moved from Tao to Xiang, which temporarily alleviated the royal family conflicts. This was the second capital move after the establishment of the Shang Dynasty.

: He Shujia, full name. In the first year of Gengshen, the king came to the throne and he moved to the position of prime minister. Three years, Penberg Pier. In four years, he conquered Lanyi. Five years later, Wa joined the class.

Peng Bo, Weber