Chapter 4 – Early Society in East Asia

Political Organization in Early China

Early Agricultural Society and the Xia Dynasty
The Yellow River
Yangshao Society and Banpo Village
The Xia Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty
Bronze Metallurgy
Shang Political Organization
The Shang Capital at Ao
The Shang Capital at Yin
The Zhou Dynasty
The Rise of the Zhou
The Mandate of Heaven
Political Organization
Weakening of the Zhou
Iron Metallurgy

Society and Family in Ancient China

The Social Order
Ruling Elites
Specialized Labor
Merchants and Trade
Peasants
Slaves
Family and Patriarchy
Veneration of Ancestors
Patriarchal Society

Early Chinese Writing and Cultural Development

Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing
Oracle Bones
Early Chinese Writing
Thought and Literature in Ancient China
Zhou Literature
The Book of Songs
Destruction of Books in Chinese Literature

The Broader Influence of Ancient Chinese Society

Chinese Cultivators and Nomadic Peoples of Central Asia
Steppelands
 Nomadic Society
The Southern Expansion of Chinese Society
The Yangzi Valley
The State of Chu

Chronology