Editing History of China (section)

=== <span class="anchor" id="Shang"></span>Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC)===
{{Main|Shang dynasty}}
{{further|Bronze Age#China|Chinese ritual bronzes|Predynastic Shang}}
[[File:HouMuWuDingFullView.jpg|thumb|The 12th-century&nbsp;BC [[Houmuwu ding|Houmuwu ''ding'']], the largest [[Bronze Age]] bronzeware found anywhere in the world]]

Both archaeological evidence like oracle bones and bronzes, as well as transmitted texts attest the historical existence of the Shang dynasty ({{circa|1600|1046&nbsp;BC}}). Findings from the earlier Shang period come from excavations at [[Erligang]] (modern [[Zhengzhou]]). Findings have been found at [[Yinxu]] (near modern [[Anyang]], Henan), the site of the final Shang capital during the [[Late Shang]] period ({{circa|1250–1050&nbsp;BC}}).{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|p=756}} The findings at Anyang include the earliest written record of the Chinese so far discovered: inscriptions of divination records in ancient Chinese writing on the bones or shells of animals—the [[oracle bone]]s, dating from {{circa|1250|1046&nbsp;BC}}.{{sfn|Boltz|1986|p=436}}

A series of at least twenty-nine kings reigned over the Shang dynasty.{{sfn|Keightley|1999|p=232}} Throughout their reigns, according to the ''Shiji'', the capital city was moved six times.{{sfn|Keightley|1999|p=233}} The final and most important move was to [[Yinxu|Yin]] during the reign of [[Wu Ding]] {{circa|1250&nbsp;BC}}.<ref>{{cite journal
| last= Boileau | first= Gilles 
| date= 2023
| title= Shang Dynasty's "nine generations chaos" and the Reign of Wu Ding: towards a Unilineal Line of Transmission of Royal Power
| journal= Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
| publisher= Cambridge University Press 
| volume= 86 | issue= 2 
| pages= 293–315, esp. 299, 303
| doi= 10.1017/S0041977X23000277
| s2cid= 260994337 
}}</ref> The term Yin dynasty has been synonymous with the Shang dynasty in history, although it has lately been used to refer specifically to the latter half of the Shang dynasty.{{sfn|Keightley|1999|p=232}}

Although written records found at Anyang confirm the existence of the Shang dynasty,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cheung |first=Kwong-yue |title=The Origins of Chinese Civilization |pages=235 |year=1983 |editor1-last=Keightley |editor1-first=David N. |chapter=Recent archaeological evidence relating to the origin of Chinese characters |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04229-2 |editor2-last=Barnard |editor2-first=Noel |translator-last=Barnard |translator-first=Noel}}</ref> Western scholars are often hesitant to associate settlements that are contemporaneous with the Anyang settlement with the Shang dynasty. For example, archaeological findings at [[Sanxingdui]] suggest a technologically advanced civilization culturally unlike Anyang. The evidence is inconclusive in proving how far the Shang realm extended from Anyang. The leading hypothesis is that Anyang, ruled by the same Shang in the official history, coexisted and traded with numerous other culturally diverse settlements in the area that is now referred to as [[China proper]].{{sfn|Bagley|1999|p=158}}