Did the early Shang Dynasty exist in the form of a nomadic regime?

The existence of the Shang Dynasty, a slave society, has been proven by both historical documents and archaeological materials. This Yin-Shang Dynasty had a major impact on ancient Chinese history and even the entire ancient Chinese history. The Shang Dynasty had highly developed bronze art. The profound implications of this art had a profound impact on Chinese aesthetic culture. The period from the mid-Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty was the heyday of bronze art, but the earliest origin of this art can be traced back to Beijing, the hometown of Shang at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain. The culture of the Shang Dynasty was highly developed, but pre-Shang culture was the original form of Shang culture.

The original Shang people were nomadic people living in the southern foothills of Yanshan Mountain. They set out from Beijing and went south along the north-south passage at the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains. They stopped and wandered along the way. After a long and tortuous development process of more than 400 years, they finally confronted the Xia Dynasty in the Central Plains and finally replaced it.

This is a tribe that was once very weak, but its cultural heritage is extremely profound. Many of the earliest myths and legends of the Chinese nation are related to the origin of this tribe, and the history of the Shang tribe’s migration south is also spread as A heroic epic full of legend; this is another tribe that gradually developed later and its cultural accumulation was ultimately brilliant. As the embodiment of the aesthetic ideal of the Shang Dynasty, bronze art represents the highest achievement of the aesthetic culture in the early days of ancient Chinese history; that is, This tribe from the intersection center of three major cultures, with its magnificent imagination and infinite potential, has brought Chinese aesthetic culture to a new historical stage of creation and development.

The origins and secrets of business culture are hidden here. The origin of the Shang people is at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain, in today's Beijing-Tianjin area. Since the middle and late Shang Dynasty, two Fang states affiliated to the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Ji and Yan, have appeared on the Beijing Plain south of the Yanshan Mountains. In the Youyan area, Xiaofang states established by different tribes had appeared in the late Shang Dynasty. The main ones recorded in historical records are Yan state, Ji state, Guzhu, Lingzhi, Wuzhu and Tufang.

Tufang was a large tribe, mainly active near Huai'an at the junction of Hebei and Shanxi today. The main activities of Wu Ending Kingdom are in the area of ??today's Jinji County. The Guzhu Kingdom and the Lingzhi Kingdom are two indigenous tribes in the lower reaches of the Luan River. The two countries are not far from each other. The Guzhu Kingdom's activity center is in the Lulong area of ????now Hebei, and the Lingzhi Kingdom's main activities are in the northeast of Luannan County today. Located in the center of today's Beijing are the Ji and Yan states.

These two countries were established long before King Wu of Zhou conquered Zhou and destroyed the Shang Dynasty. They were countries that grew up naturally during the Yin and Shang Dynasties; the Ji and Yan countries that were enfeoffed in the early Zhou Dynasty were established during the Shang Dynasty established on the basis of the country. The Ji State of the Shang Dynasty was blocked by the Yanshan Mountains in the north, the Tufang and Shanrong forces were in the west, it was adjacent to Wujing State in the east, and the Liuli River area in the south was the power of the Yan State. Therefore, the capital of the Ji State in the Shang Dynasty should be in today's Beijing. The southwestern part of the city is close to the location of the capital of Houyan State in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period.

The history of the ancient Yan Kingdom in the Shang Dynasty has been reflected in oracle bone inscriptions. The Yan character of Yan State was written as 妟 in the Shang Dynasty (it was written as Yan in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, 彽 during the Spring and Autumn Period, and 椻 during the Warring States Period). In the Shang Dynasty oracles, there are records of "Broom Yan" (a woman from the State of Yan who married into the Shang Dynasty) and "Women from the State of Yan" (a woman from the State of Yan who came to the Shang Dynasty to form an alliance). The State of Yan in the Shang Dynasty was once a vassal state of the Shang Dynasty. Archaeological discoveries prove that the capital of the State was located in the ancient city of Zhou Yan in Dongjialin Village, Liuli River, Fangshan, Beijing today.

The north and south areas of Yanshan in northern Hebei are the forefront of the convergence of China’s three major cultures and the melting pot of the three major aesthetic cultures. Beijing is located at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain, where the Shangzhai Culture of the Middle Neolithic Age has shown the characteristics of this multicultural integration. Of course, no matter where the aesthetic culture that first gathered here came from, its perceptual form is generally relatively simple and rough. Judging only from the surface form of the unearthed deep-bellied jars, red-topped bowls, and bird-headed pottery pillars, It seems difficult for people to find more wonderful and brilliant things.

However, the historical situation of the convergence of multiple sources and the resulting cultural advantages have emerged after all. The aesthetic structure of multi-source culture and the long-term historical heritage will be the development of Beijing’s aesthetic culture for thousands of years in the future. Provide an endless source of deep motivation and beauty.

And people will see that when the legendary era of ancient Chinese history turns to the historical period, and when the primitive tribal alliance transforms into a national form, the comprehensive characteristics of the multi-source gathering of Beijing's aesthetic culture will gradually emerge. Those historical silhouettes of vague and simple beauty will be transformed into a glorious and grand art palace, and the first thing to reflect this aesthetic heritage is the culture of the Shang Dynasty.