Important Innovations of the Shang Dynasty
- The lunar calender created under the Shang Dynasty was used into the twentieth century; it was based on cycles of 60.
- Shang astronomers also recognized the solar calender that we have today, with a year being 365.25 days long.
- The Shang created China's first known script, and thus the first written history for us to study today. Aside from oracle bones, they also inscribed bronze with this writing.
- Handiwork flourished during the Shang Dynasty, and the importance of bronze to their culture can not be overstated.
- The people of the Shang dynasty improved work with pottery and jade and created primitive porcelain.
- Folk and palace music made strides during the Dynasty, and musical instruments were created.
- Through oracle bones it has been discovered that the people of the Shang dynasty had concepts of decimals and odd and even numbers.
- There are records of both solar and lunar eclipses observed during this dynasty.
- An excavated convex mirror shows that ideas of optics were also present .
In Context: What Else Was Happening During the Shang Dynasty?
"1500–1000 B.C.Ikhnaton develops monotheistic religion in Egypt (c. 1375 B.C.). His successor, Tutankhamen, returns to earlier gods. Greeks destroy Troy (c. 1193 B.C.). End of Greek civilization in Mycenae with invasion of Dorians. Chinese civilization develops under Shang Dynasty. Olmec civilization in Mexico—stone monuments; picture writing" via : Ancient History | Infoplease.com
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