Essay On The Shang Dynasties

The time surrounding 3000 B.C.E. marked an extremely important period in the history of humanity. During this era, the earth’s population began to move from the small farming villages characteristic of the Neolithic period towards forming full-fledged civilizations (Duiker, 9). These initial civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, and early China developed in fertile river valleys with abundant arable land. Over the next 3000 years, both the area surrounding the Mediterranean and Chinese society continued to grow, evolve, and increase in both size and sophistication. As the earliest Mediterranean civilizations and Chinese dynasties fell during the 1000s B.C.E., new regimes, including the Greek and Roman empires and Zhou dynasty, took their place, and lasted well into the classical era beginning around 500 B.C.E. These new civilizations were characterized by new ways of thinking and social role and expectations that differed from the …show more content…
This new dynasty remained in power for several centuries, as it did not fall until 222 B.C.E. (Duiker, 61). While the Zhou kings retained much of the power that was present in the Shang dynastic period, a new idea, called the “Madate of Heaven,” was introduced that altered the political landscape and ideas of power in general. Under this new way of thinking, kings were not divine beings themselves, but only representatives from heaven. On top of this, if a ruler was not governing effectively, he could theoretically be replaced by a more able or benevolent overlord. This shift was very important because it forced the Zhou kings to govern with a sense of responsibility to the people of the empire, giving the Chinese individual, in theory, more power to affect government than was previously available (Duiker, 62). Essentially, as China moved into the Classical age under the Zhou, the government became less of a dictatorial and more