From China's Past: Unraveling the Mysteries of Life in China’s Ancient Capital

Yinxu, the capital of the Late Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), is China’s archaeological holy land. Since the identification of oracle bones near what is today the city of Anyang at the turn of the 20th century, through the first official archaeological digs at the site in the 1920s, and later astounding discoveries like the tomb of the warrior queen Fu Hao, Yinxu has exerted a particular hold on the imaginations of generations of Chinese.

But most of what we know about the Shang pertains to a narrow slice of society: the nobility, priesthood, and royal family.

Take the oracle bones, for example. The inscriptions — over a hundred thousand have been unearthed to date — cover everything from politics and the economy to culture and state ideology. However, only the royal family had the right to summon diviners and inscribe their questions onto turtle shells or ox bones. The record they represent is as fascinating as it is limited, full of questions like “Will my hunting trip be successful?” or “Will it rain soon?”

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