## Detailed walkthrough
### [00:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=1s) Early Bronze Discoveries and the Eastward Transmission
In 1983, archaeologists unearthing the Taosi culture site in Linfen, Shanxi, made a critical discovery: a small bronze bell composed of 98% pure copper. The piece bore uneven walls and numerous air holes, bearing the clear marks of an experimental trial cast by local craftsmen rather than a refined end-product. Not long after, a gear-shaped bronze artifact was uncovered nearby. These finds provided early tangible proof that bronze smelting and metallurgy had penetrated East Asia through a northern transmission route, gradually moving into the Central Plains.
Meanwhile, along an alternate southern route from West Asia into Western China, another distinct tradition was taking shape. In 1929, a farmer named Yan Daocheng was clearing a drainage ditch in front of his house in Guanghan, near Chengdu in the Sichuan Basin, when he stumbled upon a subterranean pit packed with ancient jade. This single spade stroke unveiled the Sanxingdui civilization, a culture that endured for nearly two millennia, with its earliest cultural deposits reaching back approximately 4,800 years. By the time of the Xia and Shang eras, bronze production at Sanxingdui was in full bloom, yielding monumental works completely unlike the ritual bronzes of the Central Plains: a standing bronze figure reaching 2.62 meters in height, a four-meter-tall divine tree, and bronze masks with exaggerated, protruding eyes.
```mermaid
flowchart LR
accTitle: Eastward Bronze and Civilizational Transmission Routes
accDescr: Diagram tracing northern and southern transmission routes into East Asia and the Central Plains.
subgraph West["West Asian & Eurasian Roots"]
Meso["West Asia / Steppe Hubs<br/>Smelting, Domestication, Wheel"]
end
subgraph Routes["Transmission Pathways"]
North["Northern Route<br/>Steppe / Gansu / Linfen (Taosi)"]
South["Southern Route<br/>Sichuan Basin (Sanxingdui)"]
end
subgraph Core["Central Plains Integration"]
Erlitou["Erlitou Culture (Yanshi)<br/>Bronze Ritual Vessels & Weapons"]
YinShang["Yin-Shang Civilization (Anyang)<br/>Chariots, Oracle Bones, Metallurgy"]
end
Meso --> North
Meso --> South
North --> Erlitou
South -.-> Erlitou
Erlitou --> YinShang
```
The starkly distinct features, elaborate garments, and unfamiliar facial structures found at Sanxingdui have led to wild modern speculations. The speaker rejects sensationalism, arguing: “If you know that Western China was once a transit hub for West Asian, North African, and East Asian civilizations, you wouldn't resort to exaggerated theories about aliens visiting Earth when faced with these bizarre designs.”
---
[02:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=130s) Erlitou, Dynastic Mythology, and the Nature of Early Cities
In the Central Plains, the earliest systematic bronze complex appeared at Erlitou in Yanshi, Henan, where excavations revealed the architectural foundations of over a hundred ancient structures dating to roughly 3,600 years ago—corresponding to the middle-to-late Xia and early Shang periods. Although these artifacts represent the dawn of the Bronze Age in the Central Plains, they date approximately 200 years later than the earliest mass-produced bronze artifacts discovered in Western China. The speaker notes that while Erlitou cannot irrefutably verify every dynastic myth about the Xia, it undeniably establishes the material arrival of bronze culture in the region: “We don't need to equate civilization with dynasty, because civilization is far more important than any dynasty.”
A closer examination of the Erlitou assemblage reveals a pronounced social divide. The bronze objects recovered were almost exclusively ritual vessels and ceremonial weapons—costly prestige goods produced for the ruling elite—while the practical day-to-day agricultural tools and utility implements remained strictly stone. Furthermore, despite its palatial courtyards with connecting corridors, Erlitou lacked defensive city walls, meaning it did not meet the archaeological criteria of a fully fortified city. Even well into the Yin-Shang period, settlement enclosures were rudimentary:
- **Low Earthen Walls:** Early defensive earthworks were built low, primarily engineered to keep wild beasts away rather than to withstand organized military sieges.
- **Economic Calculus:** Outside of protecting the chieftain's immediate quarters, the modest surplus value locked in surrounding fields and timber-and-mud dwellings did not justify the enormous expenditure of labor needed to build towering ramparts.
---
[04:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=247s) Parallel Innovations: Writing, Wheels, and Domesticated Horses
The eastward flow of metallurgical techniques went hand-in-hand with deep-seated parallels across communication and transport between Mesopotamian cultures and the Central Plains:
| Civilizational Marker | West Asian / Central Asian Origin | Transmission & East Asian Parallels |
|:--- |:--- |:--- |
| **Pictographic Script** | Sumerian cuneiform emerges around 3200 BCE, serving as a shared medium across distinct languages. | Pictographs appear at Sanxingdui, on Taosi pottery jars, and eventually culminate in Shang oracle bone script. |
| **Wheeled Transport** | Sumerians invent the wheel around 4000 BCE; four-wheeled carts appear by 3300 BCE. | Roughly 2,000 years later, the Shang adopt chariot technology from western pastoral nomads; the character for "chariot" appears in oracle bone script. |
| **Equine Domestication** | 5,500-year-old horse remains found at the Botai site in Kazakhstan. | Horse remains track eastward to Gansu around 4,000 years ago, appearing abruptly in massive chariot burials only after Pan Geng moved the capital to Anyang. |
The evolution of writing mirrors this gradual convergence. A comparative look across Mesopotamian script, Sanxingdui symbols, Yunnan Naxi Dongba characters, Guizhou Shui writing, and Erlitou pottery signs reveals that written communication matured through gradual cross-regional exchange rather than spontaneous, isolated invention. The early Shang period represented a crucible where these diverse regional discoveries were assembled and standardized, easing the transition of disparate Central Plains tribes toward settled city-state life.
---
[06:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=412s) Challenging Central Plains Chauvinism
Modern archaeological discoveries directly challenge traditional historiography, which historically treated the Central Plains as the sole radiant core of culture while dismissing western and southern frontier regions as backward, dependent peripheries. This narrative survived because Central Plains dynasties monopolized the writing of history. On the ground, the timeline paints a reverse picture:
- **Southern Rice Domestication:** Settled agriculture in the Jiang-Huai basin predated farming regimes in the Central Plains.
- **Western Tool Metallurgy:** Bronze hauls from sites like Jiahe in Gansu consist entirely of pragmatic utility tools (knives, awls, chisels) and functional combat weapons, without luxury ritual vessels.
- **Technological Supremacy of the Periphery:** Pastoral and tribal networks across northwestern and southwestern frontiers led early advances in equestrian gear, vehicle manufacturing, weapon casting, and mobile tactical warfare.
Without utilitarian metal axes, adzes, and farm tools reaching farmers and carpenters, Central Plains rulers were sitting on an ideological superstructure devoid of a functioning economic base.
---
[08:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=517s) Pan Geng’s Relocation and the Rhetoric of Absolute Rule
In the century preceding King Pan Geng, the Shang court moved its seat of power six times. However, when Pan Geng ordered a seventh relocation—abandoning Yan (near present-day Qufu, Shandong)—he encountered fierce resistance from both hereditary nobles and commoners, while ancestral turtle-shell divinations yielded unfavorable omens. This unprecedented pushback suggests that Yan had accumulated genuine fixed assets: established arable fields, permanent structures, and a critical mass of valuable bronze tools that people refused to leave behind.
Determined to break the deadlock and enforce his autocratic will, Pan Geng assembled the defiant aristocracy in the city square. The speeches documented in the *Book of Documents* (*Shangshu*) preserve his authoritarian fury. Pan Geng dismissed both the elderly and the young as irrelevant to his decree, warning that dissent would be treated as treason. He issued an unsparing ultimatum to the assembly: “I will execute them, slaughter their entire family, and end their lineage; I will never allow anyone with divided loyalties to enter the new capital.”
Pan Geng justified the forced migration with a single promise: once this move was finished, the people would never have to uproot themselves again. Yet, as the speaker observes, achieving permanent settlement is not simply a matter of monarchical willpower—it can only take hold when a society's collective technological mastery, agricultural productivity, and engineering capabilities reach a threshold capable of anchoring a city indefinitely.
[24:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=1445s) The Foundations of Kingship, Violence, and the Origin of the "State"
Human civilization, viewed stripped of mythology, is fundamentally an institutional mechanism designed to regulate, bring transparency to, and balance the distribution of resources and benefits that supreme rulers originally seized by sheer force. Obscuring this primal role of violence renders the fundamental laws of historical development invisible. As Karl Marx famously observed regarding historical materialism, “ideas always fail once they are detached from interests.” Even in the classic Chinese legends of Yao, Shun, and Yu—where virtuous self-sacrifice and noble abdication are traditionally celebrated—the profound emotional gravity assigned to relinquishing the throne inadvertently confirms how extraordinarily vast the underlying material interests were. Across modern anthropological records, archaeological sites, literature, and even virtual games, sovereign leaders of early human tribes are uniformly characterized by using violence to secure an absolute monopoly over collective assets. This reality is reflected directly in paleography: the character for "King" (王) in oracle bone script depicts the shape of a battle-axe, a martial weapon of execution, matching realistic modern assessments of royal authority far better than later moralized philosophies.
```mermaid
flowchart TD
accTitle: Evolution of Settlement and Statehood
accDescr: Diagram illustrating how group growth and sedentary farming drove the transition from hunter-gatherer bands to fortified city-states.
subgraph Enclosure ["Evolution of Walls"]
BW["Early Barriers<br/>(Fending off wild beasts)"] --> FW["Fortified Ramparts<br/>(Protecting land & storage)"]
end
subgraph Polity ["Formation of the State"]
W["Axe / Force ('王')"] & FW --> GUO["Fortified City-State ('国')<br/>(Bronze tools & permanent property)"]
end
AG --> BW
AG --> FW
```
Tribal chieftains existed long before the advent of statecraft, originating while humans still lived as nomadic hunters. However, ruling a band or clan did not make a leader the sovereign of a true "nation." In Chinese, the oracle bone character for "State" or "Country" (国 / 或) consists of a graphic pairing of halberds or weapons (戈) defending an enclosed perimeter or city wall (口/城墙). Anthropological studies show that early nomadic foraging bands rarely exceeded 150 individuals, the natural limit of social cohesion without formal hierarchy. The shift to agriculture was directly necessitated by expanding population sizes. During the initial transition—marked by shifting cultivation, semi-foraging, and basic stone implements—communities continuously relocated once soil depleted. The rudimentary earthen mounds and palisades built around those settlements were not constructed as defensive bastions for inter-human warfare, nor did they maintain standing military guards; their sole function was to keep nocturnal predators of the primeval forests out of living quarters.
- In oracle bone script, the character for "King" (王) represents a broadaxe, symbolizing the martial violence required to claim authority and resources.
- The character for "State" (国) graphically couples weaponry with defensive walls, indicating a community fortified by armed force.
- Nomadic hunter-gatherer bands historically remained under the Dunbar-style threshold of roughly 150 members before agriculture forced sedentary organization.
---
[26:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=1592s) Sedentary Property, the Yin-Shang Migrations, and the Strategic Choice of Anyang
A radical transformation occurred only when arable land evolved into fixed, non-abandonable real estate—a permanent means of production. When ancestral groups ceased their perpetual migration and constructed fixed domestic dwellings, agricultural plots, granaries, and settled villages became high-value assets worth defending to the death against rival populations. Only this permanent accumulation of wealth justified the immense labor investment needed to build towering, sturdy ramparts. Hence, the emergence of the fortified city-state marked the Central Plains' formal entry into sedentary urban civilization, an era catalyzed by the widespread introduction of bronze tools. While settled agriculture inevitably inaugurated deadly inter-tribal warfare, early Shang history was remarkably free of documented large-scale conflict. According to the *Bamboo Annals*, during the three centuries spanning from the dynastic founder King Tang to King Pan Geng, the Shang engaged only four regional adversaries: the Lanyi, the Pi, the Shen, and the Danshan Rong. Yet in the two centuries following Pan Geng’s reign, military conflicts increased dramatically—a shift driven not by declining imperial ethics, but by the exponential growth of accumulated urban wealth and commercial assets.
Walled urban centers were not invented by Pan Geng; formidable settlements like Taosi in Shanxi, Erlitou in Henan, and early Shang urban redoubts had long functioned as prosperous fortified strongholds. Even sites like Qufu, which would later become the capital of Lu and the birthplace of Confucius, flourished despite recurring flood threats from the Yellow River. This raises the fundamental question: why did Pan Geng insist on relocating the capital to Yin (modern Anyang)? The Shang dynasty’s previous eight relocations across the Yellow River were not chaotic flights that left abandoned ruins in their wake; rather, earlier capitals remained secure territorial holdings governed directly by the Shang royal clan. Across generations, these relocations effectively formed a systematic territorial enclosure encompassing the agricultural periphery of the Central Plains—spanning over 300 kilometers from Xingyang to Xingtai, and another 300 kilometers from Qufu to Anyang.
```mermaid
flowchart LR
accTitle: Strategic Geography of Anyang
accDescr: Flowchart showing how natural barriers, flood security, and agricultural plains combined to establish Anyang as an impregnable capital.
subgraph NaturalDefenses ["Natural & Positional Advantages"]
TH["Taihang Mountains<br/>(Rear defense & high ground)"]
YRF["Yellow River Barrier<br/>(Shielded from floods)"]
end
subgraph EconomicBase ["Agricultural & Territorial Base"]
AP["Alluvial Plains<br/>(Rich soils to sustain urban base)"]
PC["Network of Former Capitals<br/>(Defensive buffer perimeter)"]
end
TH & YRF & AP & PC --> ANYANG["Yin Capital at Anyang<br/>(Permanent political & commercial hub)"]
```
Having staked out the most fertile tracts of the Central Plains, the royal house needed an optimal strategic apex from which to command the entire basin. Modern topographic modeling reveals the calculated brilliance of Anyang. Situated on the transitional fault-line between the second and third steps of the East Asian landmass, Anyang directly backs against the rugged Taihang Mountain range, securing an unassailable defensive wall to its rear while affording an elevated vantage point overlooking the plains below. The older capitals to the north, east, and south formed an outer perimeter of loyal vassal outposts guarding the central seat. Economically, the broad alluvial fans east of the Taihang range provided rich soils capable of feeding dense urban populations. Crucially, the Yellow River, blocked by the southern projections of the Taihang chain upon entering the plain, could flood repeatedly without ever inundating Anyang. Selecting this precise site with the naked eye and on foot across virgin woodlands represents an astounding feat of early engineering and spatial strategy. Pan Geng's relentless resolve anchored the Shang capital permanently, providing the stability needed to build East Asia's first commercial civilization.
- The *Bamboo Annals* records only four external conflicts between King Tang and Pan Geng: against the Lanyi, Pi, Shen, and Danshan Rong.
- Post-Pan Geng warfare escalated significantly due to the vast concentration of real estate and agricultural capital stored within permanent cities.
- The geographic spread of older Shang capitals—roughly 300 km between Xingyang and Xingtai, and 300 km between Qufu and Anyang—served as a long-term territorial enclosure strategy.
- Backed by the Taihang Mountains, Anyang enjoyed elevation against Yellow River floods and relied on former regional capitals as buffer bastions.
---
[31:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=1912s) The Bronze Industrial Monopoly: Wu Ding’s Campaign Against the Ancient Yong State
The material backbone of this newfound urban civilization was bronze, an industry closely tied to peripheral states. One of the most critical metallurgic centers of the period was the ancient state of Yong (historically written with the metal radical, 銿 or 庸), whose iconic legacy was bronze casting. The territory of Yong was blessed with rich copper and lead deposits, making it a primary metallurgical processing center of the Shang era. Its artisans were the foremost metalworkers of antiquity, maintaining clan-based guilds that held generational secrets regarding prospecting, ore extraction, smelting, alloy formulation, piece-mold casting, and surface finishing. These mountain ranges, populated by descendants tracing their lineage to the mythological Fire God Zhurong, formed an essential cradle of early metallurgy and explain the clear stylistic and metallurgical affinities connecting Central Plains bronzes with those excavated at Sanxingdui. Verified geological surveys confirm that copper lodes remain dispersed throughout this mountainous corridor, with the ancient capital of Yong serving as the coordinating core of this vast production network.
For Yong, the Central Plains dynasty was merely an insatiable consumer and its most lucrative export client. But from the perspective of the Shang court, this dependence was intolerable. Because bronze alloy production represented the high technology, industrial power, and strategic military core of the Shang world, the royal house was vulnerable as long as raw deposits and sophisticated casting methods remained under foreign control. Relying entirely on an external mountainous kingdom handed the economic lifeline of the dynasty to an independent neighbor and slashed royal profit margins. Reflecting on this vulnerability, “this is why King Wu Ding of Shang was determined to take down the ancient Yong State.” King Wu Ding set out to achieve complete vertical integration over the entire metalworking supply chain, exactly mirroring the strategic consolidation seen in modern industrial conglomerates.
```mermaid
flowchart TD
accTitle: Wu Ding's Industrial Consolidation
accDescr: Flowchart detailing Shang's military campaign to capture upstream bronze resources and artisans from the Yong State.
subgraph PreWar ["Vulnerability of the Shang Court"]
YONG["Ancient Yong State<br/>(Controls copper, lead, & alloy know-how)"]
SHANG["Central Plains Shang<br/>(Downstream buyer lacking resource autonomy)"]
YONG -->|"Supplies raw ingots & bronze goods"| SHANG
end
subgraph Campaign ["Wu Ding's Total War"]
WD["King Wu Ding & Queen Fu Hao"]
ALLIANCE["Yong Mountain Tribal League<br/>(Ba, Lu, Tu, Qiang, Gui)"]
WD -->|"13,000 troops deployed across multi-front war"| ALLIANCE
end
subgraph Outcome ["Vertical Integration"]
WD --> CAPTURE["Captured Mines, Smelteries, & Guild Artisans"]
CAPTURE --> MONOPOLY["Closed-Loop Royal Industrial Supply Chain at Anyang"]
end
```
Subduing a bronze-age confederation entrenched in mountainous terrain proved grueling and ferocious. The upstream mining settlements and downstream craft guilds of the Yong league mobilized in mutual defense, forcing Wu Ding to fight simultaneously on multiple fronts. A key figure in these operations was Queen Fu Hao, one of Wu Ding’s principal consorts, whom he invested with the noble rank of marquess (*Hou*). Numerous oracle bone inscriptions preserve divination records concerning her battlefield deployments, showing she personally directed campaigns against the Ba, Lu, Tu, and Qiang tribes, at times mobilizing more than 13,000 troops under her command. The protracted war against the Gui (Guifang) lasted three continuous years before the Shang secured victory. Memorialized in later poetic odes recounting Wu Ding’s crushing expeditions into the Jing-Chu borderlands, the Shang army penetrated deep into hostile mountain valleys, overrun fortified workshops, annexed productive copper mines, and captured the guild artisans who possessed cutting-edge smelting techniques, marching them back to the workshops of the Central Plains to establish an absolute royal monopoly over bronze production.
- The ancient Yong State (銿/庸) held rich copper and lead mines and possessed advanced, proprietary piece-mold casting techniques inherited through Zhurong clan lineages.
- Metallurgical linkages from this mountain corridor link the bronze material traditions of the Central Plains directly with the Sanxingdui culture.
- Wu Ding sought a vertically integrated industrial supply chain to prevent foreign suppliers from controlling Shang military technology and commercial profits.
- Fu Hao, holding royal rank as a marquess, raised and commanded expeditionary armies of up to 13,000 soldiers against tribal alliances including the Ba, Lu, Tu, Qiang, and Gui.
- The three-year campaign against the Gui and Jing-Chu territories transferred operational mines, smelting facilities, and master craftsmen directly into the hands of the Shang royal house.
长江流域平行于殷商王室存在着一条庞大的青铜冶铸线，其关键地标涵盖了庸、彭、卢等古国。“In the Yin-Shang period, Zhurong did not mean 'God of Fire.' The character 'Zhu' originally meant a person who presided over rituals. The character 'Rong' in Zhurong means grand and bright. Put together, these two characters refer to a shaman who presides over joyous rituals.” 这一定义彻底扭转了后世对南方巫官体系的单一脸谱化认知。
水书所承载的易理，呈现出先秦古籍中失传已久的夏代《连山易》特征。正如学者在剖析古籍断代时指出：“According to ancient records, the great I Ching had three versions created in sequence: the Lianshan, the Guicang, and the Zhou Yi.” 自西周文王推衍《周易》并将其确立为主流正统后，《连山》《归藏》便散佚于正史之中。
> [02:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fGskeVhN8&t=130s) We don't need to equate civilization with dynasty, because civilization is far more important than any dynasty.
[39:32] 你可以握有财富的源头，可以占据最丰厚的利润空间，但如果你只是一个技术工匠，无论你行事多么低调，都终究逃不过一个掌握了更高综合国力的君王的长臂。
[42:22] 中国人将国家统一视作阖家团圆，将国土分裂视作骨肉分离，这就是那股文化基因的力量。
[2:10] We don't need to equate civilization with dynasty, because civilization is far more important than any dynasty.
[18:39] 王不是一个人，而是一套制度。
Original transcript
[0:01] In 1983, archaeologists discovered a
[0:04] small bronze bell at the Taosi culture
[0:06] site in present-day Linfen, Shanxi.
[0:09] This piece was made of 98%pure copper.
[0:15] The local casting quality was
[0:17] relatively crude with many air holes,
[0:19] clearly a trial product by local
[0:20] craftsmen. Archaeologists later
[0:25] discovered a gear-shaped bronze
[0:27] artifact nearby as well. This discovery
[0:33] suggests that bronze smelting and
[0:34] processing technology in East Asia,
[0:36] especially along the northern route of
[0:38] eastward transmission, gradually
[0:40] entered the Central Plains. In the
[0:43] Sichuan Basin of Western China, not far
[0:45] from Chengdu, there is a city called "
[0:47] Sanxingdui." In 1929, while clearing a
[0:56] water ditch in front of his house,
[0:57] local resident Yan Daocheng
[0:59] accidentally discovered an entire pit
[1:01] of jade artifacts, opening the curtain
[1:03] on Sanxingdui archaeological
[1:05] excavations and research. The
[1:12] Sanxingdui civilization spans a history
[1:14] of about 2,000 years, with its earliest
[1:17] artifacts dating back approximately
[1:19] 4,800 years. Note that along a southern
[1:23] route of civilization transmission from
[1:25] West Asia to East Asia, Sanxingdui
[1:27] bronze artifacts began to appear,
[1:28] generally considered to be
[1:30] contemporaneous with the Xia and Shang
[1:32] dynasties. The 2.62-meter-tall standing
[1:37] figure, the four-meter-high giant
[1:39] sacred tree, and the masks with
[1:41] protruding eyes all display facial
[1:43] features, clothing styles, and overall
[1:45] designs that are clearly non-Central
[1:47] Plains in character.
[1:54] >> If you know that Western China was once
[1:56] a transit hub for West Asian, North
[1:58] African, and East Asian civilizations,
[2:00] you wouldn't resort to exaggerated
[2:02] theories about aliens visiting Earth
[2:04] when faced with these bizarre designs.
[2:10] The earliest bronze discovery in the
[2:12] Central Plains was at Erlitou in Yanshi
[2:14] , Henan, where archaeologists found the
[2:17] remains of over a hundred ancient
[2:18] buildings. The unearthed artifacts
[2:21] belong to the middle and late periods
[2:23] of the Xia Dynasty and the early Shang
[2:25] Dynasty in the historical chronology.
[2:28] They date back about 3,600 years. Even
[2:35] if these bronze products did not arrive
[2:37] from afar, their dating is still
[2:39] approximately about 200 years later
[2:45] than the earliest mass-produced bronze
[2:47] artifacts found in Western China.
[2:48] Although this discovery cannot 100%
[2:50] prove the existence of a dynasty during
[2:53] the Xia period. It does 100%confirm the
[2:56] arrival of the Bronze Age in the
[2:58] Central Plains.
[3:01] >> We don't need to equate civilization
[3:03] with dynasty, because civilization is
[3:05] far more important than any dynasty.
[3:09] >> A characteristic of the Erlitou bronze
[3:11] artifacts is that most of them are
[3:13] bronze ritual vessels and weapons. We
[3:16] can regard these artifacts as luxury
[3:18] goods for the wealthy at that time.
[3:21] However, the tools unearthed are made
[3:23] of stone. It is quite a coincidence. In
[3:27] this ancient building complex at
[3:29] Erlitou, only the leader's palace used
[3:31] corridors to form a courtyard. The area
[3:34] around the Baiyuzuo site lacks city
[3:37] walls. By archaeological standards, it
[3:40] cannot yet be considered a "walled city
[3:42] ." Excavations show that even in the
[3:46] Yin-Shang period, if a so-called "city"
[3:49] had walls, they were very low, serving
[3:51] primarily to keep out wild beasts.
[3:55] Beyond the limited defense needs of the
[3:57] chieftain, the wealth value of the
[3:59] city's farmland and architecture was
[4:01] not yet enough to justify the immense
[4:03] effort of building tall city walls. To
[4:07] protect them. In fact, beyond bronze
[4:10] smelting technology, there were many
[4:12] other significant coincidences in the
[4:14] exchange between the Mesopotamian
[4:16] civilization in the two river basins
[4:18] and the Central Plain civilization on
[4:21] the East Asian continent. In 3200 BCE,
[4:24] the Sumerians invented cuneiform, a
[4:27] type of pictographic script. It became
[4:31] a shared script for different languages
[4:34] in Western Asia, and the script of the
[4:36] ancient Shu state at Sanxingdui was
[4:38] also pictographic. In Taosi, Shanxi,
[4:42] pictographic symbols were also found
[4:44] written on pottery jars. In the Central
[4:48] Plain, there were already oracle bone
[4:50] pictographs. For another example, in
[4:53] 4000 BCE, the Sumerians invented the
[4:56] wheel. By 3300 BCE, they had invented
[4:58] the world's first four-wheeled vehicle.
[5:02] Two thousand years later, the Yin-Shang
[5:04] learned vehicle manufacturing
[5:06] techniques from nomadic tribes in
[5:07] western China, and the character for "
[5:10] chariot" appeared in oracle bone script
[5:12] . Horses domesticated to pull these
[5:14] chariots also provide skeletal evidence
[5:17] of this same process. Archaeologists
[5:20] discovered a large number of 5,500-
[5:23] year-old horse remains at the Botai
[5:25] site in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. The
[5:31] next stop for these horses as they
[5:33] moved eastward was Gansu 4,000 years
[5:35] ago. In sites from the Yin-Shang period
[5:39] , archaeologists have yet to find
[5:41] traces of horse bones. It was not until
[5:44] the Anyang period after Pan Geng moved
[5:46] the capital that the spectacular sight
[5:48] of horses and chariots appeared before
[5:50] our eyes. The process of gradual
[5:53] civilizational development also applies
[5:55] to the study of the emergence of
[5:57] writing. If we look at ancient
[6:02] Mesopotamian script, Sanxingdui Shu
[6:04] script, Yunnan Naxi Dongba script,
[6:06] Guizhou Shui script, and Henan Erlitou
[6:09] pictographs alongside the later
[6:11] prevalent Yin-Shang oracle bone script,
[6:13] we see that writing also underwent a
[6:16] process of exchange and gradual
[6:17] evolution. The early Yin-Shang era was
[6:22] a period where all these civilizational
[6:25] achievements continuously converged,
[6:27] integrated, were created, upgraded, and
[6:29] moved toward maturity. It was the
[6:32] process by which thousands of tribes in
[6:34] the Central Plain gradually entered an
[6:36] era of permanent settlement and
[6:38] city-states. This is where the hidden
[6:42] details lie. We hope to present a more
[6:45] authentic and vivid historical scene,
[6:47] beyond the moralistic narratives of
[6:49] emperors, generals, and ministers. We
[6:52] now know that the emergence of bronze
[6:54] on the East Asian continent was related
[6:56] to the transmission of Western Asian
[6:58] civilization. These cultural
[7:01] achievements first took root in western
[7:04] China before spreading to the Central
[7:06] Plains; this modern scientific and
[7:08] archaeological confirmation contradicts
[7:10] the traditional, Central Plains-centric
[7:12] historical view. In the minds of many,
[7:16] the western part of the East Asian
[7:18] continent has always been viewed as
[7:20] backward, peripheral, subordinate, and
[7:23] devalued compared to the eastern
[7:25] Central Plains. However, this is merely
[7:29] because the Central Plains dynasties
[7:31] held the initiative in historical
[7:33] narrative; in reality, even regarding
[7:35] agrarian civilization, the rise of
[7:37] agriculture in the Jiang-Huai region
[7:39] south of the Central Plains was much
[7:42] earlier.
[7:44] >> During the Bronze Age, vast numbers of
[7:46] tribes were active across the lands of
[7:48] northwestern and southwestern East Asia
[7:50] . Whether it was horse domestication,
[7:52] vehicle manufacturing, metal tool and
[7:55] weapon casting, or the invention of
[7:57] combat tactics, all were once ahead;
[7:59] the bronze artifacts discovered in
[8:02] batches in Jiahe, Gansu, in the
[8:04] northwest contain no ritual vessels,
[8:06] only bronze tools and a series of
[8:08] weapons. These knives, awls, and
[8:11] chisels that propelled the progress of
[8:13] Central Plains civilization represent
[8:15] the most authentic and solid bronze
[8:17] techniques. Without widespread metal
[8:20] farm implements, there were not enough
[8:22] tools for carpentry or woodcraft. The
[8:26] Central Plains dynasty was like a
[8:28] superstructure without an economic base
[8:30] ; any imagination of grand scale was
[8:32] destined to be a vain hope. In the 100
[8:37] years before Pan Geng, the Shang
[8:39] Dynasty moved its capital six times.
[8:45] When the Shang Dynasty announced its
[8:47] seventh move—this time to a place
[8:49] called "Yan" near Qufu—previous moves
[8:52] had lacked detailed historical records
[8:54] or any opposition; but this time, the
[8:56] royal nobles and the common people were
[8:59] clearly unwilling to move, and the
[9:01] divination results were also
[9:03] unfavorable. The reason for such strong
[9:14] opposition suggests that the farmland
[9:16] and housing accumulated in Yan already
[9:18] possessed significant wealth value, or
[9:20] that bronze production and bronze tools
[9:23] had already become quite common there,
[9:25] forming fixed assets. Pan Geng had no
[9:33] choice but to take up the mantle and
[9:35] use his authority as king to push the
[9:37] relocation forward. In the recorded
[9:41] historical materials, Pan Geng left
[9:43] behind three important speeches
[9:44] regarding this relocation; he did not
[9:47] say what was good about the new capital
[9:49] or bad about the old, remaining very
[9:51] unyielding in the face of dissent. Pan
[9:54] Geng gathered all the nobles in the
[9:56] plaza; he was going to lecture them.
[9:59] The Book of Documents records that his
[10:01] tone during the lecture was
[10:02] exceptionally stern. He said, "I tell
[10:07] you, I have pleaded and I have scolded,
[10:09] and I have long seen through your
[10:11] little schemes; not only do you fail to
[10:13] persuade the people, you lead the
[10:15] unrest yourselves.""Are you not just
[10:19] courting your own death?""I tell you,
[10:22] the old and the young do not count; get
[10:24] your people in order. You only need to
[10:28] do as I demand, and I will bear the
[10:31] responsibility alone." From now on,
[10:34] everyone must perform their duties
[10:36] diligently, stay at your posts, do your
[10:39] work well, and keep your mouths shut.
[10:42] All you should think about is obedience
[10:44] . If anyone stirs up trouble, strays
[10:50] from the path, acts on their own, or
[10:53] refuses to follow orders, that person
[10:55] is the ultimate evildoer. I will
[11:03] execute them, slaughter their entire
[11:05] family, and end their lineage; I will
[11:08] never allow anyone with divided
[11:09] loyalties to enter the new capital.
[11:17] Believe me, what I am paraphrasing in
[11:19] modern Chinese is the essence of Pan
[11:21] Geng’s words regarding the benefits
[11:23] of relocation: there is only one, which
[11:26] is that once we move this time, we will
[11:28] never have to move again. Yet, rulers
[11:33] probably said this every time they
[11:35] moved, and it never came true. Because
[11:39] achieving permanent settlement is not
[11:41] something that can be decided by human
[11:43] will alone. It can only be truly
[11:46] realized when comprehensive cognitive,
[11:48] productive, and architectural
[11:50] capabilities reach a certain level.
[11:56] Insisting on moving the capital even
[11:57] when the current one was not flooded
[11:59] reflects Pan Geng’s far-sighted
[12:01] leadership. But on the other hand, the
[12:05] opposition of the people reflects
[12:07] another reality of social life. Many
[12:11] problems of large-scale groups could
[12:13] already be initially solved. For
[12:15] example, the initial formation of
[12:17] concepts ranging from fallowing to crop
[12:19] rotation. The emergence of management
[12:21] awareness regarding how to treat people
[12:22] . Improvements in the ability to till
[12:26] and organize farmland, along with
[12:28] advancements in building materials and
[12:30] construction techniques, gave farmland
[12:32] and housing the value of fixed assets.
[12:36] This obviously could not have been
[12:38] brought about by improvements in the
[12:40] making and use of stone tools, nor was
[12:42] it created by the brilliance of a
[12:43] monarch. It was clearly the widespread
[12:45] human interaction and the collective
[12:47] wisdom of our Central Plains ancestors
[12:49] that forged the agricultural
[12:50] civilization of the region. Yet history
[12:54] seems to have turned into a one-man
[12:56] show of the far-sighted Pan Geng pitted
[12:58] against the masses. How did such an
[13:02] overbearing and hard-headed man become
[13:04] the enlightened king who led the Shang
[13:06] era? Or let us put it another way: why
[13:12] would our wise and intelligent
[13:14] ancestors need such a self-righteous
[13:16] king? This is a good question worth
[13:25] 梳理 ing from the beginning, finding
[13:27] clues hidden in the earth and touching
[13:29] the tracks left by our ancestors.
[13:35] Magnifying the details that determined
[13:38] the course of history, and revealing to
[13:40] the world an unbroken scroll of
[13:41] exploration. Secret details are about
[13:44] to be revealed; the chronological order
[13:47] of bronze artifacts hides a grand
[13:49] landscape of civilizational exchange.
[13:52] >> The earliest bronze found within China
[13:54] was not actually made in China; the way
[13:56] oracle bone characters were created
[13:58] hides our ancestors 'initial concept of
[14:01] a state.
[14:02] >> The character for "state"(国) in
[14:04] oracle bone script consists of weapons
[14:06] and city walls.
[14:08] >> You will see when our Chinese ancestors
[14:10] acquired the skills for vehicle
[14:11] manufacturing and mass production.
[14:14] >> After 2000 B.C., the Shang dynasty
[14:17] learned chariot-making technology from
[14:19] nomadic tribes in western China. Why
[14:23] would our intelligent ancestors need a
[14:25] self-righteous king?
[14:29] >> Presented by Youku Video, Henan TV, and
[14:32] Shili Culture. Seeing a lovable China
[14:35] through the details of history.
[14:40] >> Why would our intelligent ancestors
[14:42] need a self-righteous king? That is a
[14:46] good question. It is worth examining
[14:51] from the very beginning, because in
[14:53] traditional Chinese history, these
[14:55] protagonists are already on stage from
[14:57] the opening chapter. In ancient Chinese
[15:03] history, the position of king was
[15:05] designed by Heaven, and the candidates
[15:07] were appointed by Heaven. Those who
[15:10] could be kings were sons of God—the "
[15:13] Son of Heaven"—and the earliest kings
[15:15] were simply gods. The kings in
[15:17] mythology, known as the Three
[15:18] Sovereigns and Five Emperors, were the
[15:20] founders of ancient Chinese
[15:22] civilization. Later, Yao, Shun, and Yu
[15:24] were no longer gods, but became the
[15:27] most capable among mortals,
[15:29] enthusiastic about serving the people,
[15:31] highly respected, and followed by all.
[15:34] In these legends, serving as king was a
[15:36] thankless job that required bearing
[15:39] hardships first and enjoying comforts
[15:41] last. What is even more moving is that
[15:44] when the predecessor could no longer
[15:46] carry on, he would not pass the throne
[15:49] to his own son, but yield it to another
[15:51] capable person. This virtuous act,
[15:55] praised throughout the ages, is called
[15:57] "abdication." Although there are only
[16:01] two such noble examples. Yao abdicated
[16:04] to Shun. Shun abdicated to Yu. This is
[16:08] a pattern known to almost all Chinese
[16:10] people. But have you ever questioned it
[16:12] ? The legend itself is contradictory in
[16:16] human emotion: nobility implies
[16:18] sacrificing personal gain. If being
[16:23] king were truly a hardship, then
[16:25] yielding it to someone else wouldn't be
[16:27] noble, nor would it be moving. If later
[16:34] historians were moved, then in their
[16:36] eyes at least, this was a massive
[16:38] sacrifice of interest, not some relief
[16:40] from hardship. In ancient China, those
[16:48] who recorded history loved to hide the
[16:50] king's struggle for power, making the
[16:52] early monarchs appear to have no
[16:54] interest in gain, but rather a joy for
[16:56] devotion and abandonment. This
[17:00] incredible degree of perfection was
[17:03] already being questioned over 2,000
[17:05] years ago. In one version of the Bamboo
[17:11] Annals, Shun imprisoned Yao and drove
[17:14] him into exile to seize power; Shun
[17:16] also killed the father of Great Yu,
[17:18] only to be exiled to Cangwu by the
[17:20] avenger Great Yu, never to return. Many
[17:26] people say, "No, that's not true; that
[17:29] was fabricated by later generations.""
[17:32] Let me tell you, Han Fei, a famous
[17:34] thinker of the Warring States period,
[17:37] said in his works:' Shun usurped Yao,
[17:40] Yu usurped Shun, Tang deposed Jie, and
[17:42] Wu Wang attacked Zhou. These four kings
[17:47] were subjects who killed their rulers,
[17:49] yet the world praised them. '""He is
[17:52] saying that these four men—Shun, Yu,
[17:54] Shang Tang, and Zhou Wu Wang—all
[17:57] killed their kings while serving as
[17:59] their subjects.""Yet, people all over
[18:03] the world praised them, and the phrase'
[18:05] the world praised them 'shows that this
[18:08] perspective was very popular 2,000
[18:10] years ago.""Of course, we are not
[18:18] foolish enough to use one legend to
[18:21] prove or disprove another; I cite this
[18:23] example to show that if you insist on
[18:25] claiming that being a king is a morally
[18:27] noble and self-sacrificing act, then
[18:29] your viewpoint is possible in any era."
[18:39] "In the animal kingdom, social species
[18:42] have relatively complex divisions of
[18:44] labor, kings, and even power structures
[18:46] with complex information exchange, but
[18:48] these are all inscribed in their genes
[18:50] through long evolution.""Human social
[18:57] division of labor is not determined by
[18:59] genes, but prescribed by culture.""This
[19:03] is unique to humans.""But why do humans
[19:06] have this kind of culture?""This
[19:09] becomes a very interesting question.""
[19:13] Cultures around the world have all,
[19:15] without prior consultation, given birth
[19:17] to a monarchy system; this is clearly a
[19:19] cultural necessity.""
[19:23] >> In the foraging era, groups were
[19:25] relatively small, yet they still needed
[19:28] a strong, experienced, and capable
[19:30] leader to command them.""Even without
[19:32] much surplus, there was an order to
[19:34] food distribution and struggles over
[19:36] mating rights. Once humans gained the
[19:38] ability to domesticate animals and
[19:41] plants, populations grew larger,
[19:43] production capacity increased, and the
[19:45] division of labor became more refined."
[19:47] "The social and cultural rule systems
[19:50] became complex.""A king is not just a
[19:55] person, but a system.""Contemporary
[20:03] sociologists and zoologists have
[20:05] repeatedly observed that whether it is
[20:07] human tribes or social animal
[20:08] communities,""The king is both a key
[20:10] figure for the survival and continuity
[20:13] of the population and the occupier of
[20:15] the greatest interests within the group
[20:17] . In this regard, the difference
[20:23] between humans and animals is that, for
[20:25] humans—whose scale of cooperation far
[20:28] exceeds any other species—the birth
[20:30] of a monarch is an inevitable outcome
[20:33] across all different cultures.""For
[20:36] example, agriculture requires someone
[20:38] to observe the celestial phenomena.""
[20:41] Construction and warfare require
[20:43] someone to interpret omens, and group
[20:45] societies need someone to mediate and
[20:47] decide disputes; there is even a need
[20:50] for people to have the leisure to paint
[20:52] or use creative inventions to satisfy
[20:54] people's ever-growing desires.""
[21:00] >> So, among all these needs, what kind of
[21:02] person becomes the king above everyone
[21:04] else?""We all know that Chinese
[21:10] characters are logographic; no matter
[21:12] how abstract or simplified, many
[21:14] characters still seem to speak for
[21:16] themselves, which is very evocative.""
[21:22] As for the character' Wang '(King) in
[21:24] Chinese, Confucius, the founder of
[21:26] Confucianism, explained it as:'
[21:27] Connecting the three (Heaven, Earth,
[21:29] and Man) is the King. '" What does this
[21:31] sentence actually mean? Dong Zhongshu,
[21:33] a Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty,
[21:35] explained that the ancients who created
[21:37] characters first drew three horizontal
[21:39] lines, representing Heaven, Earth, and
[21:41] Man. Then they used a vertical stroke
[21:43] to connect them. The one who connects
[21:46] all three is the King. It is indeed
[21:51] extraordinary for one person to unite
[21:53] Heaven, Earth, and Man, which is why
[21:55] people from all over would gather
[21:57] around him, forming the King's realm.
[22:01] This is the explanation of the
[22:03] character "King"(王) found in the*
[22:04] Shuowen Jiezi*, China's first
[22:06] dictionary. "That to which all under
[22:08] heaven return is the King." But 3,600
[22:11] years ago, what were the creators of
[22:13] these characters in the Shang Dynasty
[22:15] really thinking when they invented the
[22:17] character for "King"? This is a hidden
[22:21] detail. Archaeological studies of
[22:25] oracle bone script prove that the
[22:26] original creators of Chinese characters
[22:28] were thinking of something entirely
[22:30] different from connecting Heaven, Earth
[22:32] , and Man. In oracle bone script, the
[22:37] character for "King" was not even three
[22:40] horizontal lines, but a simple sketch
[22:42] of an ancient Chinese bronze battle-axe
[22:44] . The "Yue"(钺) is a large axe, the
[22:47] most lethal weapon in ancient China.
[22:51] >> Using fierce military power to
[22:52] symbolize the King was not just the
[22:54] creator's personal opinion. Because the
[22:57] characters carved on oracle bones were
[22:59] for the King's own divination needs.
[23:02] Those characters were all created for
[23:04] the King. Using a violent symbol like
[23:08] the battle-axe to represent royal power
[23:10] wasn't because the people of that era
[23:12] saw the violent nature of kingship more
[23:14] clearly than later interpreters. They
[23:18] were simply depicting a common sense
[23:20] shared by everyone at that time. The
[23:22] essence of kingship is driving the
[23:24] collective to engage in collaborative
[23:26] actions that generate benefits. And
[23:28] holding the power to distribute the
[23:30] group's interests—this does not
[23:32] inherently imply some natural evil. The
[23:36] emergence of the King was a rigid
[23:38] necessity for human group survival
[23:40] under specific conditions, and also a
[23:42] site for interest exchanges between the
[23:44] King and the group. From the
[23:47] perspective of group interest, there is
[23:49] no individual gain without large-scale
[23:51] collaboration. For example, hunting,
[23:54] migrating, land reclamation, and
[23:56] defending the city. None of these can
[23:59] be accomplished by individual strength
[24:01] alone. The progress of human
[24:05] civilization as a whole is essentially
[24:07] the process of regulating, making
[24:09] transparent, and ensuring the fair
[24:11] distribution of the benefits that the
[24:13] King once claimed through violence. If
[24:18] you avoid or cover up the fact that
[24:20] kings relied on violence to secure
[24:22] their interests, you will never clearly
[24:24] see the laws of history. Marx, a
[24:29] thinker highly respected by the Chinese
[24:31] , once said that ideas always fail once
[24:34] they are detached from interests. So
[24:38] you see, in the legends of Yao, Shun,
[24:41] and Yu, although their selfless
[24:43] dedication masked the traces of
[24:45] violence and interest, the very emotion
[24:47] stirred by the abdication of the throne
[24:49] in those same stories proves the
[24:51] existence of immense interests. Whether
[24:56] in contemporary anthropological
[24:58] observations, archaeological findings,
[25:00] literary works, or even online games,
[25:02] the glorious kings of human tribal
[25:05] groups are defined by the
[25:06] monopolization of maximum interests
[25:08] based on violence. In this regard, the
[25:11] character for "King"(王) in oracle
[25:13] bone script, composed of an axe, aligns
[25:16] better with people's modern perception.
[25:19] Although tribal leaders or chieftains
[25:21] emerged long ago when our ancestors
[25:23] were still hunters, being called a king
[25:25] in a tribe does not necessarily make
[25:27] one a "king of a nation." Because the
[25:31] character for "nation"(国) has a
[25:33] specific meaning in the Chinese
[25:35] language. The oracle bone script
[25:37] character for "nation"(国) consists of
[25:40] weapons and city walls. Its meaning is
[25:42] a fortified city protected by force and
[25:44] walls. Contemporary anthropological
[25:48] research tells us that the scale of
[25:50] human groups during the hunter-gatherer
[25:52] era generally did not exceed 150 people
[25:54] . The reason agriculture became the
[25:58] primary means of subsistence is
[26:00] directly related to the continuous
[26:02] expansion of human group sizes. However
[26:06] , whether in the era of semi-gathering
[26:08] and semi-farming, or in the early
[26:10] agricultural period where only stone
[26:12] tools were used and people were still
[26:14] constantly migrating, those so-called
[26:16] city walls merely served to keep wild
[26:19] beasts at bay in the primeval forest.
[26:23] They were not defensive barriers
[26:25] prepared for human warfare, and no one
[26:27] was specifically assigned to guard them
[26:29] .
[26:32] >> Only when arable land acquired the
[26:34] value of real estate as a means of
[26:36] production, instead of being constantly
[26:38] abandoned, and only when our ancestors
[26:40] had permanent dwellings instead of
[26:42] being in perpetual migration, did land
[26:44] and villages become objects for which
[26:46] different tribes fought and defended to
[26:48] the death. Only then were walls worth
[26:52] the massive investment required to
[26:54] build tall and sturdy defensive
[26:56] facilities. Therefore, the character
[26:58] for "nation"(国) in Chinese implies
[27:00] that the farmland cleared by our
[27:02] ancestors and the defensive
[27:04] fortifications built to protect that
[27:06] property with walls signify that
[27:08] Central Plain society had entered an
[27:10] era of permanent, settled city-states.
[27:13] The prerequisite for this was the
[27:15] widespread use of bronze tools.
[27:17] According to the consensus of human
[27:19] history research today, the
[27:20] agricultural civilization brought about
[27:22] by land cultivation opened the door to
[27:24] life-and-death struggles between
[27:26] different tribes. Yet, in the nearly
[27:29] 600-year history of the Yin-Shang
[27:31] Dynasty, there were not many wars
[27:33] recorded in history; apart from the
[27:35] very beginning and the end, there is
[27:37] not a single record of war in the
[27:39] middle. According to the*Bamboo Annals*
[27:45] , in the 300 years from King Tang to
[27:48] Pan Geng, they only fought against four
[27:50] neighboring rivals—the Lanyi, the Pi
[27:53] people, the Shen people, and the
[27:55] Danshan Rong—but in the 200-plus
[27:57] years after Pan Geng, the frequency of
[27:59] wars increased significantly. The
[28:04] fundamental reason for this change was
[28:06] not a sudden decline in the moral
[28:08] standards of the emperors, but rather
[28:10] the economic scale and wealth value
[28:12] brought about by permanent settlement.
[28:16] It increased substantially. Building
[28:21] walls around settlements was clearly
[28:23] not Pan Geng’s invention; at the very
[28:25] least, the large cities of Fenfen in
[28:27] Shanxi, the grand capitals of Erlitou
[28:30] in Henan, and the former capitals of
[28:32] Yin before Anyang were all fortified
[28:34] cities of great wealth. Qufu, located
[28:38] near today’s Qufu, was not hindered
[28:40] from later becoming the capital of the
[28:43] State of Lu and birthing the great
[28:45] Confucius, even despite the threat of
[28:47] Yellow River floods. Our question is:
[28:51] why was it so necessary for Pan Geng to
[28:54] move? In reality, the previous capital
[28:58] relocations of the Yin-Shang Dynasty
[29:00] may look like running back and forth
[29:02] across the Yellow River, but those
[29:04] abandoned capitals did not truly become
[29:07] ghost towns; they remained direct
[29:09] holdings of the Yin-Shang royal clan.
[29:13] As time passed, you suddenly realize
[29:15] this was more like a long-term
[29:17] territorial expansion along the fringes
[29:19] of the Central Plains' core area. From
[29:22] Xingyang to Xingtai is over 300
[29:25] kilometers; from Qufu to Anyang is also
[29:27] over 300 kilometers. The Shang Dynasty
[29:31] used its constantly shifting capitals
[29:33] to trace out a vast area in the Central
[29:35] Plains. Now, the Yin-Shang has
[29:40] completed its enclosure of the most
[29:42] fertile land in the Central Plains. It
[29:46] was time to establish a suitable high
[29:47] point for this region. That optimal
[29:52] location is none other than present-day
[29:54] Anyang. On terrain models generated
[30:01] from modern survey data, we can clearly
[30:03] see Anyang's advantage: this is the
[30:05] transition zone from the second to the
[30:07] third step of the East Asian continent.
[30:12] It backs against the Taihang Mountains.
[30:15] It serves as both a vital natural
[30:16] barrier against invading enemies and a
[30:19] strategic high ground for overlooking
[30:21] the plains. Below it, from north to
[30:24] east to south, lie the former capitals
[30:26] of the Yin-Shang, forming a protective
[30:28] perimeter for the core capital. This is
[30:31] a military advantage that the previous
[30:33] six capitals never possessed. Looking
[30:39] at agriculture, there are broad
[30:40] alluvial plains east of the Taihang
[30:42] Mountains, where the flat and fertile
[30:44] land is sufficient to support a large
[30:46] urban population.
[30:52] >> More importantly, the Yellow River,
[30:54] having crossed mountains to enter the
[30:56] Central Plains, is blocked by the
[30:58] Taihang range; no matter how it floods,
[31:00] it will never reach Anyang—this, too,
[31:02] is something the previous six capitals
[31:04] never enjoyed.
[31:08] >> In an era where surveying relied only
[31:10] on the naked eye and travel relied only
[31:12] on one's own two legs, amidst dense
[31:14] primitive forests and wilderness roamed
[31:16] by wild beasts. Our ancestors on the
[31:18] Central Plains were truly remarkable to
[31:20] accurately select such an ideal site
[31:23] for building a city. This, of course,
[31:25] was not solely Pan Geng’s individual
[31:27] wisdom. Though his shouting while
[31:29] brandishing a bronze battle-axe might
[31:31] be annoying, his foresight and firm
[31:33] willpower are still worthy of
[31:35] admiration. After all, he did fulfill
[31:39] his promise. The Shang capital was
[31:41] never relocated again, giving our
[31:43] ancestors the opportunity to create the
[31:46] first prosperous commercial
[31:47] civilization in East Asian history.
[31:50] Does that sound a bit unfamiliar?
[31:52] >> Because the "Yong" of the Yong State
[31:54] was written in ancient times with the
[31:56] metal radical. Bronze vessels were the
[32:00] iconic symbol of the Yong State. This
[32:04] place not only had copper and lead
[32:06] mines, but was also one of the most
[32:07] important centers for bronze smelting
[32:09] and processing during the Shang Dynasty
[32:11] . The people of Yong were the most
[32:14] skilled bronze craftsmen of the Shang
[32:16] era. These craftsmen excelled in ore
[32:19] mining, smelting, alloy casting, mold
[32:22] design, and refined finishing
[32:23] techniques. Passed down through
[32:27] generations within tribal families, let
[32:29] us rediscover these mountains. They are
[32:32] also one of the most important cradles
[32:34] of Chinese civilization. The reach of
[32:37] the ancient Yong State further explains
[32:39] the connection between Central Plains
[32:41] bronzes and the bronzes of Sanxingdui.
[32:47] These descendants of the Fire God
[32:49] Zhurong created a miracle of
[32:50] civilization in the central mountains;
[32:53] today, laboratory-verified copper
[32:54] deposits remain evenly distributed
[32:56] across the entire region. And the
[33:01] ancient capital of Yong was the
[33:02] organizational core of this bronze
[33:04] development and production.
[33:06] >> From the perspective of the Yong State.
[33:08] The Shang Dynasty of the Central Plains
[33:10] was their largest market and biggest
[33:12] client. But from the perspective of the
[33:14] Shang Dynasty, it was not so ideal. If
[33:18] bronze manufacturing represented the
[33:20] most advanced technology, productivity,
[33:22] and core competitiveness of the Shang
[33:24] era, then until then, neither the raw
[33:26] material resources nor the core
[33:28] technologies were truly in the hands of
[33:30] the Shang Dynasty. This not only
[33:37] greatly impacted the Shang's commercial
[33:39] profits but effectively held the
[33:40] economic lifeline of the Shang Dynasty;
[33:42] this is why King Wu Ding of Shang was
[33:44] determined to take down the ancient
[33:46] Yong State. He wanted a closed-loop
[33:52] supply chain for the entire industry.
[33:56] This is the same as the development
[33:58] path of modern large enterprises.
[34:04] >> Fighting a bronze-age state with
[34:05] numerous allied tribes was unimaginably
[34:07] difficult and fierce, as all the
[34:09] upstream and downstream industrial
[34:10] partners of the Yong tribes in the
[34:12] mountains joined the war. This forced
[34:16] Wu Ding to open multiple battlefields
[34:18] at the same time. Fighting alongside Wu
[34:21] Ding was a female general. This woman,
[34:24] named Fu Hao, was one of Wu Ding's many
[34:26] wives and was even granted the title of
[34:28] "Hou"(marquess) by him. Oracle bone
[34:34] inscriptions contain many inquiries
[34:36] about her personal participation in
[34:38] battles, showing that she commanded
[34:40] campaigns against the Ba, Lu, Tu, and
[34:43] Qiang tribes, once deploying over
[34:44] 13,000 troops.
[34:50] >> The war against the Gui tribe lasted
[34:52] for three years and ended in a Shang
[34:54] victory, with inscriptions on oracle
[34:56] bones recording the scenes of these
[34:58] battles. As the song goes, King Wu Ding
[35:02] of the Shang Dynasty launched a fierce
[35:04] campaign against Jing and Chu. He
[35:10] penetrated deep into enemy territory,
[35:12] defeated them, seized local copper
[35:14] mines and smelting workshops, captured
[35:16] skilled artisans who held advanced
[35:19] techniques, and brought some of them
[35:21] back to the Central Plains. This
[35:29] explains why the Shang Dynasty's bronze
[35:31] casting technology, volume, and
[35:34] artistry saw such a sudden, rapid
[35:36] improvement during Wu Ding's reign; in
[35:38] that era, bronze was wealth, and bronze
[35:41] was money itself. Through war, Wu Ding
[35:46] seized control of the source of wealth.
[35:50] He bridged the Shang Dynasty's lack of
[35:52] raw copper, acquired advanced
[35:54] techniques from alloy formulation to
[35:56] design and casting, and fueled an
[35:58] explosive growth in wealth for both
[36:00] Central Plains society and the royal
[36:02] house. Before its renaming, today's
[36:06] Zhangjiajie was known as Dayong City.
[36:11] It wasn't just the nobles of the State
[36:13] of Ying who lost their homes; the Lu
[36:15] and Pu tribes, who fought alongside
[36:17] them, also lost all their wealth and
[36:19] the resources they relied on to create
[36:21] it. Driven into the deep mountains,
[36:27] they harbored deep-seated hatred for
[36:30] the Shang, spending 150 bitter years in
[36:32] the wilderness until King Wu of Zhou
[36:34] marched on Shang, when they finally
[36:36] emerged to exact their bloody revenge.
[36:42] King Wu Ding, having cut off others '
[36:44] livelihoods, clearly could not foresee
[36:47] the tragedy his descendants would face.
[36:50] Controlling the sources of wealth and
[36:52] allowing the Shang Dynasty to rise in
[36:54] the Central Plains was, for him,
[36:56] naturally the most correct choice.
[37:00] Therefore, the process of making the
[37:02] Shang royal house even more powerful
[37:04] would continue. Nine years later, he
[37:06] once again led a great army, marching
[37:08] toward the southeast. This time, he
[37:11] targeted a city-state belonging to
[37:13] another descendant of Zhu Rong: the
[37:16] State of Peng, founded by Peng Zu.
[37:21] Unlike the State of Ying, the State of
[37:23] Peng was nominally a vassal state,
[37:25] leading many to claim that Wu Ding
[37:27] attacked them because they were
[37:29] disobedient and growing too powerful,
[37:31] threatening him. In reality, the State
[37:35] of Peng had never listened to the Shang
[37:38] kings, and for over a hundred years,
[37:40] they hadn't even paid tribute to the
[37:42] Shang court. Looking at the map, Wu
[37:45] Ding was in Anyang and the State of
[37:47] Peng was in Xuzhou; they were a
[37:49] thousand miles apart, each living their
[37:52] own lives. A thousand years prior, the
[37:57] State of Peng had annexed the
[37:59] neighboring Pi State, but there were no
[38:01] other records of expansion. Why would
[38:06] such a low-profile city-state, focused
[38:08] on health and cooking, suddenly
[38:10] displease Wu Ding enough to provoke a
[38:12] military invasion? Searching for clues
[38:17] hidden on the earth, touching the
[38:19] traces of our ancestors' progress, and
[38:21] magnifying the details that shaped the
[38:23] course of history, we piece together an
[38:26] unbroken scroll of exploration for the
[38:28] world. The hidden details are about to
[38:31] be revealed. The first large-scale
[38:34] bronze war in Chinese history.
[38:36] >> Not only are there copper and lead
[38:38] mines here, but it was also one of the
[38:40] most important production bases for
[38:41] bronze smelting and casting during the
[38:43] Shang Dynasty.
[38:45] >> You will discover that a clan existed
[38:47] in the Yangtze River basin that was
[38:49] parallel to the Shang royal family.
[38:52] There are four major landmarks in this
[38:54] region. They are Yong, Peng, and Lu.
[38:58] >> You will be surprised to see that the
[39:00] sorcerers of Zhurong, who invented the
[39:02] I Ching, are still alive today.
[39:05] >> We have a surprise in store for you. In
[39:07] the Chishui Kingdom, the land of the
[39:09] Yellow Emperor's wife—now the
[39:11] Guanling area of Guizhou—a script as
[39:13] ancient as the oracle bone script is
[39:16] still alive today. Brought to you by
[39:19] Youku Video, Henan Satellite TV, and
[39:21] Culture Media. Seeing a lovely China
[39:24] through the details of Yin. Premiering
[39:27] exclusively on Youku Video on June 15th
[39:30] at 8:30 PM.
[39:32] >> The Great Peng Kingdom was also a
[39:34] master of bronze smelting and casting.
[39:37] The area where its capital was located
[39:39] is in today's Tongshan District of
[39:41] Xuzhou City. Within Tongshan District,
[39:43] there is a Tongshan Island. This island
[39:46] was named for the copper deposits
[39:48] underground. The ancients used four
[39:52] words to describe this place: "Land
[39:54] producing copper and gold." Peng Zu's
[39:57] real name was Jian Keng; the character
[40:00] "Keng" can be broken down into the
[40:02] characters for "copper" and "gold."
[40:06] Even in the Qing Dynasty, one could
[40:08] still see the remains of this
[40:09] once-famous copper production site; the
[40:12] Xuzhou Prefecture Records state that
[40:14] eighty miles northeast of the city was
[40:16] once a source of copper, where the
[40:18] rocks were stained with green copper
[40:20] rust. The descendants of the Fire God
[40:24] Zhurong were indeed focused on the
[40:25] profession of high-temperature smelting
[40:27] . When choosing a place to establish
[40:30] their kingdom, they always followed the
[40:32] copper mines. From Bashu to Jin and the
[40:36] Huai River, this family of the Fire God
[40:38] was more like an independent enterprise
[40:40] guild in the smelting industry. And the
[40:44] mythical ancestor Zhurong was more like
[40:46] the founding patriarch of this guild.
[40:50] But facts prove that if you only have
[40:52] advantages in resources and technology,
[40:54] you cannot remain prosperous for long.
[40:59] You may hold the source of wealth and
[41:01] occupy the highest profit margin, but
[41:04] if you are merely an engineer, no
[41:05] matter how low-profile you remain, you
[41:08] cannot escape the reach of a king with
[41:10] greater comprehensive power.
[41:15] >> King Wu Ding of Shang decisively wiped
[41:18] out the 800-year-old Great Peng Kingdom
[41:20] and claimed their second major copper
[41:22] mine; the clan members fled in all
[41:24] directions, leaving their wandering
[41:26] footprints among the northern Rong-Di,
[41:28] the southern Man-Yi, and the western
[41:30] Qiang tribes of the East Asian
[41:32] continent. More than 100 years later,
[41:36] the resentful descendants of the Peng
[41:38] Kingdom joined King Wu of Zhou's
[41:40] campaign. Together with the Guifang and
[41:44] Pu states, who shared the same
[41:46] resentment, they fought side by side
[41:48] and revived their nations. Later
[41:54] historians often blamed King Zhou’s
[41:56] incompetence for the collective anger,
[41:58] while hailing King Wu Ding as a
[42:00] virtuous ruler. In reality, there were
[42:05] at least six vassal states following
[42:07] King Zhou of Shang. It was King Wu Ding
[42:12] who had provoked the hatred that
[42:14] destroyed the Gui and Peng states, and
[42:16] he did not stop there—this time, it
[42:18] was finally the turn of the Wei state.
[42:22] Although they were also descendants of
[42:24] the Fire God Zhurong, the Wei state was
[42:26] different from the Gui and Peng states.
[42:29] This tribe remained in the Central
[42:31] Plains, with its capital located within
[42:33] the territory of today's Anyang City,
[42:36] Anyang...(the historical context
[42:38] remains). Therefore, this branch did
[42:42] not inherit the Zhurong family's mantle
[42:44] of bronze craftsmanship, but instead
[42:46] inherited the shamanic traditions from
[42:48] the Guifang and Yong states. We need to
[42:53] reiterate this point. The ancient state
[42:56] of Shang-Yong was a cradle of Chinese
[42:58] civilization, just as ancient as the
[43:00] Shang Dynasty, rather than a barbarian
[43:03] small state hidden deep in the
[43:04] mountains. Beyond its leading bronze
[43:07] industry, it was a birthplace for
[43:09] architecture, sericulture, tea, Go,
[43:12] traditional Chinese medicine, and
[43:14] countless mythological tales. Because
[43:17] the local people revered ghosts and
[43:19] spirits, this region was called Guifang
[43:21] . While the term "ghost" might feel
[43:25] superstitious or even terrifying to you
[43:28] today, back then, it represented the
[43:30] mainstream consensus and imagination of
[43:32] our ancestors regarding the natural
[43:34] environment they inhabited. It is not
[43:38] only the origin of Chinese mythology
[43:40] but also the seed of the earliest
[43:42] science. We are finally coming to the
[43:44] sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty. This
[43:46] is the main reason why the Shang
[43:48] Dynasty has been criticized by later
[43:50] generations, but just like civilization
[43:52] aspects such as bronze, chariots,
[43:54] horses, and architecture, these were
[43:56] all products of cultural exchange
[43:58] between different ancestral tribes.
[44:00] Shamanism and ritual sacrifices were
[44:02] also products of cultural exchange
[44:04] across the East Asian continent. In the
[44:08] mythological systems of ancient Chinese
[44:10] history, it was not always centered on
[44:12] the Central Plains. Take the origin of
[44:14] humanity, for example. The Chinese say
[44:17] that Nüwa created humans from clay.
[44:20] Later, the Yellow Emperor’s
[44:21] descendant Zhuanxu fought against the
[44:23] Flame Emperor’s descendant Gonggong.
[44:26] Gonggong struck Mount Buzhou in a rage,
[44:28] causing a corner of the sky to collapse
[44:30] , which made the sky tilt northwest and
[44:33] the land tilt southeast. Nüwa set out
[44:35] to mend the sky—where else could she
[44:38] complete the massive metallurgical
[44:40] project of firing earth and smelting
[44:42] stones? Have you guessed it yet? It was
[44:47] , of course, in Shang-Yong, the largest
[44:50] smelting base in the south of the East
[44:52] Asian continent. The capital of the
[44:54] ancient state of Shang-Yong was built
[44:56] on a platform atop a mountain. That
[44:59] mountain was called Mount Ling, and the
[45:01] platform was the heavenly ladder for
[45:03] Nüwa to mend the sky. This is the most
[45:06] beautiful myth that a tribe of skilled
[45:08] artisans wove for themselves. You can
[45:12] even see that the ancient lands were
[45:14] surrounded by glowing bronze smelting
[45:16] furnaces left behind by Nüwa. In
[45:21] Chinese mythology, the legends of the
[45:23] Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor
[45:25] represent the rise of diverse
[45:27] civilizations in the north and south of
[45:29] the East Asian continent. However, the
[45:33] myths we see today were curated after
[45:36] the Shang Dynasty. To strengthen the
[45:40] legitimacy of their rule over "all
[45:42] under heaven," the Zhou Dynasty
[45:44] intentionally processed and organized
[45:46] the lineage, claiming that everyone
[45:48] from the Yellow Emperor down to Yao and
[45:50] Shun shared the same surname as the
[45:53] Zhou tribe: Ji. This made the Zhou
[45:57] tribe the natural rulers of the world.
[46:00] But what about the Yan Emperor in the
[46:02] south, who had the surname Jiang and
[46:04] wasn't part of the family? Mythology
[46:07] merged the Yan Emperor into the Yellow
[46:09] Emperor’s lineage. By creating a
[46:13] divine genealogy from the Three
[46:15] Sovereigns and Five Emperors in heaven
[46:17] to the human rulers Yao, Shun, and Yu,
[46:20] it shaped a fictional history where the
[46:22] entire East Asian continent descended
[46:24] from a single ancestor, forming a
[46:26] powerful cultural and emotional force.
[46:32] Chinese people view national
[46:34] unification as a family reunion and
[46:36] territorial division as a family
[46:38] separation; this is the power of that
[46:40] cultural gene. Mythology allowed the
[46:46] Yellow Emperor to merge with the Yan
[46:48] Emperor, working to blur the
[46:50] north-south divide by making the
[46:51] northern Yellow Emperor’s descendant,
[46:54] Zhuanxu, the founder of the southern
[46:56] Chu state—the "Gaoyang" mentioned in
[46:58] Qu Yuan's poems. The descendants of the
[47:03] southern Chu state thus became the
[47:04] Yellow Emperor’s progeny, achieving a
[47:07] unity where everyone is intertwined.
[47:10] However, the Yan Emperor’s lineage
[47:12] had its own 500-year history, making it
[47:15] hard to merge completely in mythology.
[47:18] For instance, the role of Zhurong, the
[47:20] God of Fire—the character "Yan"
[47:23] consists of two "fire" symbols, marking
[47:25] him as a true fire deity. Since the
[47:28] descendants of the Yan Emperor also
[47:30] produced a line of famous fire gods,
[47:32] they could not be fully subsumed.
[47:35] Although the bloodline of the Yan
[47:37] Emperor’s tribe was quietly diluted
[47:39] in Western Zhou official myths, it
[47:41] could never disappear from folk legends
[47:43] . On a cliff in the Lingsaijia Mountain
[47:47] of Guizhou, there is a set of iron-red
[47:50] symbols left by humans 4,000 years ago,
[47:52] known as "Red Script." Scholars
[47:56] speculate that this might be the
[47:58] legendary Chishui region founded by the
[48:00] Yan Emperor. The "Classic of Mountains
[48:03] and Seas," the first collection of
[48:05] Chinese myths, mentions the connection
[48:07] between the Yan Emperor and the Chishui
[48:09] Kingdom. The Yan Emperor’s wife was a
[48:13] princess of the Chishui Kingdom. Are
[48:15] there copper mines in the Wumeng
[48:17] Mountain region where the Chishui
[48:18] Kingdom was located? Yes. Are there
[48:22] coal mines here? Yes. If the Chishui
[48:25] River in Guizhou was also one of the
[48:27] earliest sources of bronze in China,
[48:29] the next stage would be the Ba, Shu,
[48:31] and Sanxingdui cultures along the
[48:33] Yangtze River. Sanxingdui is in
[48:36] Guanghan, Sichuan. The four major
[48:38] rivers here are important tributaries
[48:40] of the Yangtze. Does Guanghan have
[48:42] copper? It seems not. But do you know
[48:46] where the place closest to Guanghan is
[48:48] that has both copper and coal? Its name
[48:51] happens to be Pengzhou. It was also an
[48:55] ancient state founded by the Peng
[48:57] people. This important migration route
[49:02] tells us that the spread of bronze
[49:04] smelting technology across East Asia
[49:06] was not limited to the northern steppes
[49:08] . There was another southern route that
[49:15] came from India through tropical South
[49:17] Asia into Yunnan and Guizhou, passing
[49:19] through Bashu and eventually reaching
[49:21] the Central Plains, making the puzzle
[49:24] of East Asian civilization look more
[49:26] complete. In a text we are all familiar
[49:33] with, such evidence is clearly
[49:35] displayed. "Emperor Gaoyang's
[49:41] descendant, the upright Zhurong," this
[49:43] line sounds familiar, right? It's the
[49:46] first line of Qu Yuan's "Li Sao,"
[49:48] referring to the journey across the
[49:50] shifting sands, west toward the Chishui
[49:52] River and Zhurong. This refers to the
[49:56] connection between the Chishui State in
[49:58] Guizhou and the Zhurong tribe.
[50:03] >> Returning to Zhurong, we now need to
[50:05] formally correct the concept of the
[50:07] term "Zhurong."
[50:10] >> In the Yin-Shang period, Zhurong did
[50:12] not mean "God of Fire." The character "
[50:15] Zhu" originally meant a person who
[50:17] presided over rituals. The character "
[50:20] Rong" in Zhurong means grand and bright
[50:22] . Put together, these two characters
[50:25] refer to a shaman who presides over
[50:27] joyous rituals. In oracle bone scripts,
[50:30] there are records of great shamans
[50:32] being enfeoffed as lords during the
[50:34] reign of King Wu Ding.
[50:36] >> The northern Yellow Emperor tribe had
[50:38] shamans. The southern Yan Emperor tribe
[50:41] had shamans, and Mount Wu is called so
[50:44] because it was a sacred mountain where
[50:46] ten famous shamans traveled between
[50:48] heaven and earth. The ancient state of
[50:51] Shangyong in the Chu region was simply
[50:54] a kingdom founded by Zhurong shamans.
[50:56] Yunnan, Guizhou, and Bashu were all
[50:59] recognized as prosperous lands for
[51:01] shamans. Why did both the Chishui and
[51:04] Shangyong states cast large bronze
[51:06] bells? Or why did the world's largest
[51:11] scale of Warring States bronze chime
[51:13] bells appear in Suizhou, Hubei, not far
[51:15] from the Shangyong state? Because Chu
[51:20] customs valued bronze, and bells were
[51:22] used for singing and dancing to welcome
[51:24] the gods during rituals. Look. Look at
[51:33] the masks of these local shamans, and
[51:35] you will better understand the bronze
[51:37] artifacts from Sanxingdui and feel the
[51:39] deep connection between them. However,
[51:48] no matter how active the shamanic
[51:50] culture was, how can we confirm the
[51:52] chronological order of rituals in
[51:54] Guizhou, Bashu, Chu, and the Central
[51:56] Plains during the Yin-Shang period?
[52:02] Searching for clues hidden in the earth
[52:04] , touching the traces left by our
[52:06] ancestors, magnifying the details that
[52:08] determined the course of history, and
[52:10] piecing together an unbroken scroll of
[52:13] exploration for the world. The hidden
[52:16] details are about to be revealed. The
[52:18] first large-scale bronze war in Chinese
[52:21] history.
[52:22] >> Not only are there copper and lead
[52:24] mines here, but it was also one of the
[52:25] most important production sites for
[52:27] bronze smelting and processing during
[52:29] the Yin-Shang period.
[52:30] >> You will discover that a bronze-working
[52:32] lineage existed along the Yangtze River
[52:35] , parallel to the Yin-Shang royal house
[52:37] . There are four major landmarks in
[52:40] this region. They are Yong, Peng, and
[52:43] Lu.
[52:44] >> You will be surprised to find that the
[52:46] shamans who invented the Book of
[52:48] Changes for the Zu-Rong are still alive
[52:50] today.
[52:51] >> We are about to bring you a surprise.
[52:53] Right in the Chishui region, the land
[52:55] of the Yan Emperor’s wife, and in
[52:57] today's Guizhou Guanling area, there is
[52:59] a script as ancient as oracle bone
[53:01] script that is still alive today.
[53:03] >> Youku Video and Henan Satellite TV
[53:05] culture. Presenting with dedication.
[53:09] Viewing a lovely China through the
[53:11] details of the Yin. Youku Video,
[53:14] arriving online everywhere on June 15th
[53:17] at 8:30 PM.
[53:19] >> This is the hidden detail. We are about
[53:23] to bring you a surprise. Right in the
[53:25] Chishui region, the land of the Yan
[53:27] Emperor’s wife. In today's Guizhou
[53:29] Guanling area. There is a script as
[53:34] ancient as oracle bone script, still
[53:36] alive today; a book written in this
[53:38] script remains a daily classic used by
[53:40] hundreds of contemporary Zu-Rong
[53:42] shamans. In 2004, staff at the Libo
[53:48] County Archives in Guizhou received
[53:51] photos of an artifact sent by a
[53:52] collector in Jiangsu. The photo showed
[53:56] an ancient ceramic vessel. It featured
[54:00] ten mysterious symbols, and the
[54:02] collector hoped to determine if they
[54:04] were Shui script. The Libo County
[54:10] Archives invited five local Shui
[54:12] masters and one expert from neighboring
[54:14] Dushan County to decipher the ten
[54:16] symbols using Shui divination methods.
[54:24] The result was that the Shui masters,
[54:26] while kept separate from each other,
[54:28] all read the same content; it was
[54:30] identified as a ceramic lamp from the
[54:31] early Northern Song Dynasty in Henan.
[54:37] The symbols above recorded a historical
[54:39] event from the Northern Song period.
[54:46] Archivists compared this result with
[54:47] historical records, and the content
[54:49] matched perfectly; Shui script is not
[54:51] only a living fossil of ancient
[54:53] pictographic writing still in use, but
[54:55] also a preserved classic. In Dushan
[55:02] County, Guizhou, an ancient folk song
[55:04] is still passed down today. It tells of
[55:11] an old man named Lu who lived in a cave
[55:13] year-round, creating characters on
[55:15] slate to divine fortune; the latter
[55:17] part of the song says Lu chose
[55:19] auspicious dates to build houses for
[55:20] others. By the time it was his turn to
[55:28] build his own house, all the good days
[55:30] in the book had been used up. He had no
[55:33] choice but to live in a cave by the
[55:35] water. The ancient script of Guizhou's
[55:41] Chishui is remarkably similar to the
[55:43] writing found on 4,000-year-old pottery
[55:45] in Shanxi to the north; archaeologists
[55:47] have identified at least 18
[55:49] pre-Yin-Shang pottery symbols that are
[55:51] written in Shui script. According to
[55:57] Shui folklore, the Shui script was
[55:59] created specifically for divination.
[56:02] This is just like the Oracle Bone
[56:04] script. As pictographic characters,
[56:07] Shui script retains more pictorial
[56:09] traces, yet its character-creation
[56:11] method is identical to Oracle Bone
[56:13] script, often leading to overlaps in
[56:15] semantic expression. Compared to Oracle
[56:21] Bone script, Shui characters sometimes
[56:23] appear reversed, swapped, inverted, or
[56:26] identical.
[56:30] >> While identifying that Northern Song
[56:32] dynasty porcelain bowl, researchers
[56:34] discovered that the diagram drawn by a
[56:36] Shui master from Dushan County looked
[56:38] remarkably similar to the I Ching Bagua
[56:40] . Once the news spread, it immediately
[56:43] drew the attention of the academic
[56:45] community. Many fragmented clues from
[56:48] the past began to converge. Scholars
[56:51] discovered that the Taiji diagram in
[56:53] the Shui script is very similar to the
[56:55] Hanshan jade tablet unearthed from the
[56:56] Lingjiatan site in Anhui. The
[57:00] Lingjiatan site is currently the
[57:01] earliest altar discovered within China.
[57:05] Dating back 5,300 years, both the Shui
[57:07] Taiji diagram and the Hanshan jade
[57:09] tablet Taiji diagram begin with the Gen
[57:12] trigram. The Zhou Yi, which became
[57:14] popular in the Central Plains in later
[57:16] generations, begins with the Qian
[57:17] trigram. Both diagrams rotate
[57:19] counter-clockwise. The Zhou Yi, however
[57:23] , rotates clockwise. Both Taiji
[57:26] diagrams represent the south as water
[57:28] and the north as fire, whereas the Zhou
[57:30] Yi represents the south as fire and the
[57:32] north as water. This is certainly no
[57:38] coincidence; according to ancient
[57:39] records, the great I Ching had three
[57:41] versions created in sequence: the
[57:43] Lianshan, the Guicang, and the Zhou Yi.
[57:50] Since the Zhou Yi was derived by King
[57:52] Wen of Zhou and became orthodox during
[57:54] the Western Zhou dynasty, the previous
[57:55] two versions vanished from history.
[58:01] Only a few descriptive characteristics
[58:03] of the Lianshan remain, such as it
[58:05] starting with the Gen trigram and
[58:06] presenting divination results as items,
[58:09] with each item called a "Yan." The Shui
[58:15] script matches these characteristics of
[58:17] the Lianshan perfectly, and the total
[58:19] number of characters is also 80,000. Of
[58:24] course, logically speaking, holding an
[58:26] old handwritten manuscript does not
[58:28] prove your ancestors possessed the
[58:30] original I Ching.
