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Yin ruins reveal prosperous age
By UNESCO website |
September 16, 2012, Sunday
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THE archaeological site of Yinxu, close to Anyang City in Henan Province, is an ancient capital city of the late Shang Dynasty (1300-1046 BC). It testifies to the golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts and sciences, a time of great prosperity during the Chinese Bronze Age.
The Shang tribe, an important branch of the Chinese nation, beat the Xia Dynasty and established a slave dynasty in central China. In about 1300 BC, Pan Geng, the king of the Shang Dynasty, moved the capital from Yan to Yin and built the latter into a magnificent city. The capital saw 12 Shang kings crowned over 255 years.
Around 1046 BC, the Shang Dynasty was overturned and Yin was deserted and turned into ruins, hence the name Yinxu, meaning the ruins of Yin.
A number of royal tombs and palaces, prototypes of later Chinese architecture, have been unearthed at the site, including the Palace and Royal Ancestral Shrines Area. There is also the Tomb of Fu Hao, the only tomb of a Shang Dynasty royal family member to have remained intact.
The burial accessories and inscriptions on oracle bones found there bear testimony to the advanced level of the crafts industry at the time, and the development of one of the world's oldest writing systems.
The archaeological site of Yinxu is inscribed in the list of World Heritage by UNESCO in 2006.
The Shang tribe, an important branch of the Chinese nation, beat the Xia Dynasty and established a slave dynasty in central China. In about 1300 BC, Pan Geng, the king of the Shang Dynasty, moved the capital from Yan to Yin and built the latter into a magnificent city. The capital saw 12 Shang kings crowned over 255 years.
Around 1046 BC, the Shang Dynasty was overturned and Yin was deserted and turned into ruins, hence the name Yinxu, meaning the ruins of Yin.
A number of royal tombs and palaces, prototypes of later Chinese architecture, have been unearthed at the site, including the Palace and Royal Ancestral Shrines Area. There is also the Tomb of Fu Hao, the only tomb of a Shang Dynasty royal family member to have remained intact.
The burial accessories and inscriptions on oracle bones found there bear testimony to the advanced level of the crafts industry at the time, and the development of one of the world's oldest writing systems.
The archaeological site of Yinxu is inscribed in the list of World Heritage by UNESCO in 2006.
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