Editing Shang dynasty (section)

=== Military ===
{{main|Military of the Shang dynasty}}
[[File:Shang Chariot Burial 04.jpg|thumb|War chariots at Yinxu. Shang chariots were introduced {{circa|1200 &nbsp;BC|lk=no}} through the northern steppes, probably from the area of the [[Karasuk culture]],<ref>{{citation |title=Chariots in Early China: Origins, cultural interaction, and identity |year=2013 |publisher=BAR |surname=Wu |given=Hsiao-yun |isbn=978-1-4073-1065-7}}</ref> or [[deer stones culture]].<ref>{{citation |surname=Rawson |given=Jessica |date=June 2020 |title=Chariotry and Prone Burials: Reassessing Late Shang China's Relationship with Its Northern Neighbours |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342651041 |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=135–168 |doi=10.1007/s10963-020-09142-4 |s2cid=254751158 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1988}}<ref>{{citation |surname=Barbieri-Low |given=Anthony J. |date=February 2000 |title=Wheeled Vehicles in the Chinese Bronze Age (c. 2000–741 B.C.) |url=https://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp099_wheeled_vehicles_china.pdf |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |volume=99}}</ref>]]
The Shang dynasty entered into prolonged conflicts with northern frontier tribes called the ''[[Guifang]]''.<ref>{{citation |surname=Creel |given=Herrlee G. |year=1970 |title=The Origins of Statecraft in China |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=232}}</ref><ref>{{citation |surname=Taskin |given=V. S. |series=Материалы по истории кочевых народов в Китае III-V вв <!--Russian series title is more useful for verification than the English translation. Unfortunately this parameter doesn't exist: |trans-series=Materials on the history of nomadic tribes in China in the 3rd–5th centuries--> |volume=3 |script-title=ru:Мужуны |trans-title=Mujuns |location=Moscow |publisher=[[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]] |year=1992 |page=10 |isbn=5-02-016746-0 |language=ru}}</ref>{{sfnp|Keightley|1999|p=269}}

Bronze weapons were an integral part of Shang society. Shang infantry were armed with a variety of stone and bronze weaponry, including spears, pole-axes, pole-based dagger-axes, composite bows, and bronze or leather helmets.{{sfnp|Wang|1993}}{{sfnp|Sawyer|Sawyer|1994|p=35}}

Although the Shang depended upon the military skills of their nobility, Shang rulers could mobilise the masses of town-dwelling and rural commoners as conscript labourers and soldiers for both campaigns of defence and conquest. Aristocrats and other state rulers were obligated to furnish their local garrisons with all necessary equipment, armour, and armaments. The Shang king maintained a force of about a thousand troops at his capital and would personally lead this force into battle.{{sfnp|Sawyer|Sawyer|1994|pp=33–34}} A rudimentary military bureaucracy was also needed in order to muster forces ranging from three to five thousand troops for border campaigns to thirteen thousand troops for suppressing rebellions.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - bronze battle axe.jpg|A ''yue'' bronze axe with head motif, dated to the Shang
File:Shang dynasty curved bronze knives with turquoise inlays and animal pommel. 12th-11th century BCE.jpg|Shang dynasty curved bronze knives with turquoise inlays and animal pommel. 12th–11th centuries&nbsp;BC. Such knives may be the result of contacts with northern people.<ref>{{citation |surname1=So |given1=Jenny F. |url=https://ia601307.us.archive.org/28/items/tradersraiderson00soje/tradersraiderson00soje.pdf |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier |surname2=Bunker |given2=Emma C. |year=1995 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-0-295-97473-6 |location=Seattle |pages=35–36 |quote=Enough northern bronze knives, tools, and fittings have been recovered from royal burials at the Shang capital of Anyang to suggest that people of northern heritage mingled with the Chinese in their capital city. These artifacts must have entered Shang domain through trade, war, intermarriage, or other circumstances.}}</ref>
</gallery>