Zhengzhou Shang City

Zhengzhou Shang City 

TheZhengzhou Shang City(Chinese: 郑州商城; pinyin: Zhèngzhōu Shāngchéng) is an archaeological site in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. Based upon examination of the soil in the walls of the site, it was built about 3,570 years ago, during the early Shang dynasty. The excavation of the site is of great importance in understanding the history of the Shang dynasty.

Introduction of Zhengzhou Shang City

A brief introduction to Shang City Ruins

Located in downtown Zhengzhou, Shang Dynasty City Ruins is the remains of a capital of Shang Dynasty. In 1955, the discovery of a high rammed–earth city wall proved that it is the capital ruins of Shang Dynasty. In 1961, Shang Dynasty City Ruins was included into the lists of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units. 

Excavations

Archaeologist Han Weizhou discovered the site in 1950. In the spring of 1951, a group of archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences came to research in Zhengzhou. They collected some specimens and confirmed that it was indeed of Shang dynasty, and older than the Shang city of Yinxu in Anyang.

Erligang is the type of site of Erligang culture. This is the area located outside the giant walls of the ancient city. Starting in 1952, the first formal archaeological excavations at Erligang began. Also the east area of Luoyang was explored. In 1954, the archaeologist An Jinhuai and staff conducted a large-scale excavation in this area. The site of the city walls was identified to be of Shang dynasty in 1955. The living area of the royal families was found in the northeast part of Shang City. The excavation was forced to stop because of the Cultural Revolution.

In 1971, An Jinhuai reorganized the archaeological group to continue excavations when he had a chance to go back to Zhengzhou. In 1973, they found ruins of many buildings of differing sizes made of hangtu. This turned out to be the palace area. Archaeologists found numerous other sites in this area. The excavations are difficult because the modern city covers most of the ancient city area.

Abstract

The Zhengzhou Shang dynasty site is the location of an early Shang city, vast in area and abundant in archaeological remains, which was discovered by Chinese archaeologists in the middle and lower Yellow River basin during the early fifties. Within the site there is a Shang dynasty rammed-earth wall extending north-south in a rectangular shape and having a circumference of 6960 meters. These are the earliest Shang wall remains discovered to date.

Layout

The grand scale of the Zhengzhou Shang wall, and the fact that inside and outside the wall were found palace foundations and workshops for the production of bronze, bone, and ceramic articles as well as numerous widespread storage pits, wells, ditches, house foundations, and tombs, and that many bronze, jade, primitive porcelain, pottery, stone, bone, and clamshell artifacts have been excavated here, including also some carved ivory pieces, pottery sculpture, and inscribed bones and pottery, lead us to conclude that the Zhengzhou Shang site was one of the early Shang capitals. Whether it is to be identified as Ao or Bo we cannot now say. In any case, the discovery and excavation of this site has supplied direct evidence of the greatest importance for the history of early Shang politics, economics, cultural, and military affairs.

How to Get There

  • Take bus No.2, 33, 87 and 40 from the railway station.
  • By bus No.64 or K206.

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Edited by  Lynette Fu/付云锐