Xia Shangzhong, Shang Shanggong, Zhou Shangwen, what does it mean exactly?

Xia Shangzhong Shang Shang Ghost Zhou Shangwen

Roughly, it means that the Xia Dynasty honored "loyalty", the Yin and Shang Dynasties honored ghosts and gods, and the Zhou Dynasty honored the system of rituals and music.

Give you some relevant information to get a more complete understanding:

The Records of the Grand Historian (史记-高祖本纪)有："Xia's political loyalty. The loyalty of my, the villain to wild, so the Yin people undertake to honor. To the myriad of honor, the villain to ghosts, so the Zhou people to undertake the text. When the text is worn out, the small people are small and small, so the people of the Zhou undertake to use loyalty to save the smallness."

Interpretation: The politics of the Xia Dynasty was mainly based on the word "loyalty". The so-called loyalty is honesty and generosity. The downside of this was that it often led to the vulgarity and lack of etiquette of the little people. By the time the Yin people succeeded the Xia dynasty and took power, they were especially concerned about the word "respect". Honor, is to honor the sky, honor the gods, honor the meaning of the ancestors. Its disadvantage was that it often led to superstitious belief in ghosts and gods. When the Zhou Dynasty succeeded the Yin Dynasty and took power, they emphasized the word "wen" (文). Wen refers to the system of rituals and music. When people emphasized too much on rituals and music systems, they would inevitably have the disadvantage of emphasizing only the complicated forms. If people's hearts are thin, there is no sincerity to speak of. In order to correct this deficiency, there is really no more effective than the word "loyalty".