Early Chinese civilization: the Yangshao, Lungshan, and Shang dynasty

China and the Neolithic and Shang Periods

The present day China is a well demarcated region with defined borders and a centralized leadership system with the citizens referred to as Chinese who draw identity from one common culture and one governance system. However, this was not the case in the early periods leading to the 2000 BC times during the Neolithic period and also during the Shang dynasty that existed up to 1027 BC. These were times that it would be impossible to effectively or definitely use the term China due to the following events and reasons.

The Neolithic period of the ancient China spanned from the 12,000 to the 2000 BC with two major tribes being noted through their pottery as seen in the present day archeology. The main activities that defined their lives at the time were gathering, hunting as well as agriculture. In the Neolithic period, the potteries used then were black and some were painted. This was a representation of two tribes that occupied the region at the time, the Yangshao who predominantly occupied the North and West mountains and the Lungshan who occupied the plains in the Eastern part of the present day China (Gill N.S., 2016). This meant that there was no unified nation or kingdom in the Neolithic period but just two tribes that existed side by side, with different utilitarian activities that formed part of their daily survival. From their pottery and literature inscribed on objects and caves predominantly from the Neolithic period, there is no evidence of a common nation with a common leadership structure as is the case with the present day China.

Further, the Shang state was not a stable, geographically well defined entity with the leadership or rulers being from a centralized place. It was a dynasty that was defined by alliances that were formed and broken over a period of time, these agreements of alliances kept shifting among tribes hence the royal house kept shafting from one place to another depending on the composition of the alliance at any given time. The Shang aristocratic chieftains were spread over a large region in the North-Central region of the present day China. The Shang dynasty was largely agricultural in nature and this built a stable economy as compared to the nomadic enemies that came from other societies. The Shang Civilization was one of the significant stages of the development of the China as a unified cultural entity with a centralized control or leadership system (Indiana University, 2010). It is however historically proven that it is the emergence and continued existence of dynasties like the Shang dynasties that led to the eventual establishment of China as a nation. The Shang dynasty under Tang managed to streamline taxes, focused on meaningful projects and had peculiar wisdom in ruling that gave room for art and culture to thrive. It is under the Shang dynasty that architecture, metallurgy using bronze and religion were well developed. It is under Tang that the ruler would be considered to have divine powers in contrast to the previous times when people worshipped many different gods with varied rituals and religious activities. Essentially, the people under the Shang dynasty started coming together to form an entity in religion, culture and leadership. This approach, combined with the activities of other dynasties like the Zhou dynasty and Qin dynasty (from where Cina-China derived its name), the Han dynasty all contributed to what ultimately became the present day China.