What is the basis for the formation of bronze civilization in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties?

The basis for the formation of bronze civilization in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties: Bronze culture China's bronze culture originated in the Yellow River valley, starting in the 265,438+0th century BC and ending in the 5th century BC, which is roughly equivalent to the period from Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period recorded in the literature, and has experienced a history of about 65,438+0,500 years. This is always related to the emergence, development and decline of China's slave country. Some scholars divide the bronze age from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Warring States Period in China into four stages: heyday, decline, revival and decline. Some scholars also divide this period into five stages: pre-Yin Shang, post-Yin Shang, western circulation, pre-Eastern Zhou and post-Eastern Friday. China bronze culture has its own characteristics and styles, which can be divided into different regional types. China entered the Bronze Age and generally experienced several different stages of development.

Early days. Represented by Erlitou culture in Yanshi, Henan Province (see Erlitou site), it dates from about 2080 BC to 65438 BC+0580 BC. Coupled with Xia Feng in Xiaxian, in Shandong, Yueshi culture in Shandong, Xiajiadian culture in the east of the Great Wall in Liaoning and Siba culture in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, various bronzes appeared one after another, and human sacrifices were also found in some tombs. Radiocarbon dating of the above sites (see archaeological chronology) is just within the chronology of Xia Dynasty recorded in history, and these sites should belong to the slavery culture type of Xia Dynasty, which indicates that China has formed a slave country. ② Mid-term. Including the Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The first period of this period is the early Shang Dynasty, about 16 ~ 13 BC, represented by Erligang culture in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. During this period, the slave country developed further, the number of bronzes increased greatly, often accompanied by complete sets of ritual vessels, and a large number of coins appeared, and human sacrifices and sacrifices became more common. The latter stage, from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, is about 13 BC to 10 BC (before Mu Wang). At this time, China reached its peak in the Bronze Age, which was also a typical period for the development of slavery. The bronze casting process is quite mature, and a large number of exquisite bronze ritual vessels, weapons and tools have been unearthed. At this time, the bronze culture was represented by Yin Ruins in Anyang, which was the political ruling center of Shang Dynasty and the center of bronze casting industry. At this time, large-scale palaces and tombs were built, developed bronze inscriptions and Oracle Bone Inscriptions appeared, and human sacrifice and human sacrifice became a very popular system, which reflected the prosperity of the slave society. The palaces, ancestral halls and tombs of the Zhou Dynasty were excavated in the ruins of Joo Won? and titles in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and a large number of bronze ritual vessels were found, which reflected the maturity of the ancient ritual system in China. ③ Late stage. From the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, the slave society in China gradually declined. During this period, the capitals of various countries formed prosperous political, economic and cultural centers, and a large number of metal currencies circulated. Outstanding progress has been made in bronze casting technology, and advanced technologies such as separate casting method and lost wax method have appeared. The ancient copper mine discovered in Tonglushan, Hubei Province proved that it had reached a high level in mining, ore blending, furnace building and smelting at that time (see Tonglushan ancient mining and smelting site). In the Warring States period, the bronze manufacturing industry gradually declined under the impetus of iron.

Bronze age

In the remote areas of China, there were some bronze cultures with local characteristics at that time. For example, in Gan Qing, due to the mixed ethnic groups, the culture is complex and diverse, including Xindian culture, Shajing culture and Siwa culture, among which Siwa culture is closely related to Western Zhou culture. Xiajiadian in the northern region has an upper-class culture, and the unearthed bronze dagger has local characteristics, and a bronze ritual vessel with quite strong cultural characteristics of the Central Plains has also been unearthed. From Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Qin and Han Dynasties, Ordos-style bronzes were popular in Ordos grassland in Inner Mongolia. It was not until the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty that the bronze culture emerged in Zhejiang, Fujian and Taiwan Province in the southeast, and the unearthed bronze weapons were the same as those in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The bronze culture in Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and other regions has both local characteristics and the style of Central Plains culture. In a word, the bronze culture in different places is influenced by the bronze culture in the Central Plains to varying degrees, and at the same time, it has local characteristics. In addition, the bronze culture in China has been in contact with the surrounding areas during its development. For example, it had an exchange with the bronze culture of Mongolian grassland and Siberia in the north, and had a close relationship with the bronze culture of Southeast Asia in the later period.

China's bronze age is Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States. The existing Simuwu Dafang Ding is a rare large bronze ware in the world. There are quite a few casting models in the copper smelting sites in the early Shang Dynasty. Although there were few tools for bronze production in the early funerary objects, we still saw that the tools for bronze production accounted for a considerable proportion in the bronze unearthed in the early Shang Dynasty, indicating that in the handicraft industry of the Shang Dynasty, bronze tools such as axes, saws, chisels, cones and so on. Widely used, bronze weapons are increasing. As for bronze farm tools, although slave owners can't. The practicability of bronze tools in production makes bronze smelting and casting technology increasingly important, so it can develop rapidly.

According to archaeological findings, in the early Shang Dynasty, Liu Lige in Huixian and Donggangou in Luoyang belonged to this era with Erligang in Zhengzhou as the center. In the late Shang Dynasty, the upper floors of Zhengzhou Park and the ruins and tombs of Taishan Temple in Luoyang all belonged to this era, with Xiaotun Village in Anyang as the center. In the early Zhou Dynasty (Western Zhou Dynasty), the main representative sites were the tombs of Anfenghao Village and Baoji in the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the riverside of Luoyang was the center, and the tombs of Guo in Shangcunling, Zheng Zheng in Xinzheng and Cai Hou in Shouxian were the representatives of this period. During the Warring States Period, Liu Lige, Guweicun, Changsha and Tangshan in Huixian all belonged to this era.

According to the latest excavation results, South China also entered the Bronze Age in the early Shang Dynasty. The most representative bronzes are Panlongcheng site in Wuhan, Hubei, Tanheli site in Changsha, Hunan, and Shang Dynasty tomb in Xingan, Jiangxi, which proves that there is also a developed bronze civilization in the Yangtze River basin.

In the Bronze Age, China had established a country (Guo Moruo regarded it as a slave country according to Marxist historical view, which is controversial), agriculture and handicrafts were developed, and Chinese characters were mature.

The epoch-making bronze smelting and casting technology was developed on the basis of copper smelting and casting. China is one of the earliest areas in the world where iron and bronze were invented. Bronze works of art in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age in China show the history of the emergence, development and change of Chinese bronzes, which lasted for more than 1500 years.

In the Stone Age, people simply used rocks as raw materials and made tools to transform nature. The appearance of bronze smelting and casting industry shows that human beings can extract metals from ores and use them to make tools to transform nature. This is a sign that the productive forces have reached a new stage, and it is also an important sign of scientific and technological progress. The development of bronze industry has promoted the emergence of various workers and promoted the prosperity of various industries together. It is precisely because of the development of bronze industry that the Shang society created a splendid bronze civilization.

Bronze is an alloy that ancient working people consciously combined copper with tin or lead. Because the main component is copper and the color is blue, it is named bronze. As an alloy, bronze has a lower melting point than pure copper (red copper). In terms of hardness, bronze is higher than pure copper The volume of molten bronze expands slightly when it condenses, so it has better filling property and fewer pores, which shows that it has better casting performance than pure copper. All these make bronze more adaptable in application, so the production of bronze develops rapidly. Bronze tools have some functions that copper tools can't do, so they gradually replace some stone tools, wood, bone tools and copper, and become an important part of production tools. The appearance of bronze production tools has played an epoch-making role in the development of productive forces. Since then, although the stone tools have not been completely eliminated, the Stone Age has finally been replaced by the Bronze Age.