The Shang Dynasty, by George Cottrell

Ancient Chinese history is certainly something that is of interest to some readers and this book serves as a particularly basic and short introduction to the culture and archaeology of this ancient society as far as it as it is known today expressed in a form that is accessible for young readers.  To be sure, this book will be basic for adult readers who come across the book, but as an introduction to an ancient Chinese civilization that ruled China during the Middle Bronze age, when the Exodus occurred and Hammurabi legislated and the Hittites ruled over most of Anatolia, this book certainly does a good job at discussing the culture and material artifacts of ancient China.  If this book is nowhere near as advanced as a reader like myself would want, it is certainly appropriate for young people to read if one wants to encourage in them a love for and an interest in Chinese history and culture.  And given the importance of China to the contemporary world, that is probably a healthy interest to cultivate at least in part, because there is a great deal of usefulness in being interested in China’s past.

This book is a short one at 32 pages or so.  The book begins with a discussion of the Shang Dynasty and its rule over China from the 17th century to 11th century BC.  This leads into a discussion of the Shang oracle bones as well as a discussion from what we can know of Shang daily life from surviving remains.  There is a discussion of Shang art and culture as well as its cities and even its monarchs and rulers, at least insofar as they have survived in the historical record.  The author of the book shows a marked feminist approach by spending a lot of time on Fu Hao, one of the queens of China during this period and a particularly important queen, as she was the chief wife of the Shang’s most notable king.  There are discussions about Shang religion and the legacy of the Shang in terms of what it provided to future Chinese civilization.  After that the book closes with a few aspects that will be of interest to readers, most notably a timeline of the Shang dynasty, a map of its domain, which centered around the Yellow River, as well as a glossary and an index.