The Shang dynasty during the second millennium BCE.
Roughly around the 16th century or 3600 years ago, located at the city of Yin, near what is now the modern city of Anyang.
Around the same time, the civilisations of Mycenaean Greece, Ancient Egypt and the decline of the Hittite Empire.
One thing about the Shang dynasty is that they had a fairly advanced writing system; the Shang dynasty's scribes would write on the scapula of oxen, then they would heat it up, and when it cracked, read the cracks in the bones in order to read the future.
As we know, the Shang dynasty was built around the Yellow River and the Yangze River, since that was where they could cultivate plants, ruled by Di Xin.
11th Century BCE, and when the Shang dynasty was active, there was a consort who is debated to have been "corrupted" Di Xin, named Daji, which made him less competent and more corrupt.
When the Shang dynasty ended, Di Xin was defeated in the battle of Muye, and he was defeated by King Wu of Zhou, starting the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou dynasty continued for another 800 years.
They were people who were masters of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) and used it to make weapons and bronze chariots that they would ride into battle.
It is according to legend that the earliest era in ancient Chinese history is known as the Mythical Period, during which the Xia dynasty ruled over China, and then, in 1760, the Shang dynasty took over.
We do not know when the Shang dynasty took over from the Xia dynasty; all we know from archaeological finds is that the Shang dynasty ruled China from 1766 to 1046 BCE.
During excavations in the city of Anyang, they showed us inscriptions on bones and bronze, which the Shang dynasty dubbed "dragon bones", which were written in a proto-Chinese script.
These scripts on the dragon bones give us insight into their daily lives and how they did things.
Their agriculture, their systems of government, their medical treatments and much more were learned from these scripts.
The Shang dynasty followed an interesting way of rule, by getting a council of advisers and other bureaucrats to run the governing body.
They also heavily used bronze, developed their own writing system, which they used on the dragon bones, and developed a more sophisticated irrigation system.
The Shang dynasty along the Yellow River had loess (which is pronounced as "less"), which is a type of soil that is fertile for growing crops.
The Shang dynasty farmers made a large surplus of food, so that many people in the higher parts of their culture were able to develop more sophisticated art and technology.
Then, in 1046 BCE, the Shang dynasty was taken over by the Zhou dynasty, which was a "subject" under Imperial rule.
The Ancient Chinese also had things called Oracle Bones, which were bones that had "Prophecies" and divination of the future. Normally written on the shells or bones of animals, to tell the future, these were one of the ways that we found out about their civilisation through their writing.
The oracle bones were also used to write not just futures but also other things, and they can actually be read by modern Chinese speakers to a degree since the symbols are very similar to modern Chinese writing.
How these Oracle bones would work is that the Chinese kings would take animal bones, and then they would write the date and their names on these bones, then they would take them and heat them up until they cracked, then they would interpret the cracks as an answer.
These bones were normally used in reading the future, too, often used to determine childbirth, crop yields and sending soldiers to war.
Nearing the end of the dynasty, these oracle bones were mainly kept for the king to use to tell the future and were not often used by the commoners.
They also made their own writing system that helped them improve their technological advancements.
Using bones to write on, they documented eclipses and other events. They also used even and odd numbering in their texts. Around 1250-1150 BCE, there was a book named the I-Ching, which was centred around divination and fortune-telling.
The Shang also had advancements in music, most notably the Ocarina, a wind instrument. Flutes made from bones, bells, chimes, and drums were found at dig sites.
The Shang dynasty also used a lunar calendar, which they had trained astronemers to adjust the calendar throughout the years to maintain accuracy. They used this calendar to schedule crop harvesting and planting, and other tasks.
The Shang used tin, copper, and by combining them together, they made bronze, which was one of their technological advancements during their time.
They used this bronze in ceremonial and weapons. And since it was an alloy of two good metals, getting both benefits from both lets bronze be much stronger than both tin and copper.
They made weapons from this bronze, along with composite bows, made with animal sinew, which are the muscles of animals, along with horns and wood, making bones much stronger.
Along with their composite bows, they also made chariots to ride into battle on; their bows were much smaller.
Because of this fact, and were able to be at the same strength as a full wooden bow, and due to their smaller size, the archers were able to carry these on chariots, which gave the archers a mobile place to shoot and fire arrows from.
Due to them being at constant war during the expansion of the Shang dynasty, and their writings on the oracle bones telling us about the barbarians outside their kingdom which they had quelled.
They would often capture resources and P.O.W. or prisoners of war, and they would enslave or sacrifice them in rituals.
Since chariots were a vital part of the civilisation, they also buried their nobles with their chariots and charioteers, and horses.
The early Shang dynasty's influence went further than its borders and capital, as their techniques for refining and making bronze were adapted by other civilisations, and the Shang also were able to obtain new crops, such as wheat, and new weapons, like axes.
But due to them being isolated slightly due to the mountains and ocean, and large deserts, they were able to develop in a separate way from other civilisations of this time.
Their social hierarchy was separated by large walls, which the lower and common residents of the Shang dynasty would live on the outer wall, while the nobles, respected craftsmen and royals would live on the inner walls, giving them more protection.
It is said that when the first Shang ruler founded he city of Shang, around what is modern-day Zhengzhou, it is the proposed centre of the Shang Dynasty.
