Culture and Art

In the field of music, there was also great progress. The improvements in the bronze casting techniques allowed for delicate musical instruments to be made. In Yin Xu (Yin Yuins) in Xiao Tun Village of Anyang City, archeologists discovered musical instruments of the Shang Dynasty including: Xun (Ocarina made of baked clay), drums, and copper cymbals.

Great advancements can also be seen in the written characters of Shang Dynasty which are considered the oldest Chinese written form for communication. The characters were usually carved on tortoise shells, animal bones, bronze wares or some other utensils. Many Oracle Script pieces that have been found in the Yin Ruins offer us many important events happened during that period.

The sculpture produced during this time was also superb. Various kinds of patterns were carved on bronze, jade, and pottery wares. On other goods, like stones, animal bones, and horns, fine pictures can also be seen. In terms of beliefs, the people of the Shang Dynasty believed that God dominates the world. They also worshipped their ancestors, the sun, the moon, the river, and the earth and sacrifice ceremonies were typically grand events. In addition, the art of fortune telling was popular during this time.

The Oracle Scripts contain records about solar and lunar eclipses, stars and other celestial happenings. The records clearly demonstrate great advancements in astronomy. During this time, the calendar system continued to advance and in the area of math, people performed elementary accounting distinctions between odd and even numbers appeared.