Shang Civilization
shang dynasty history book
Shang Civilization is a history of the Shang dynasty by Kwang-chih Chang (Chinese: 張光直). It was published by Yale University Press in 1980. It is dedicated to Chang's doctoral advisor, Li Chi, who had died the previous year.
Synopsis
After the front matter, there is a 66-page prolegomena, "Five Doors to Shang". This is followed by part I, "The Shang Society from An-yang", and part II, "Shang History beyond An-yang". There is a brief epilogue, "Shang in the Ancient World", followed by a postscript that notes some additional material that had come to light since the original manuscript was finished in 1978, and after that the standard back matter.
Reception
Shang Civilization was widely reviewed in scholarly journals.
“Shang Civilization” enters the record as shang dynasty history book. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Shang, Civilization and shang can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Shang Civilization” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Shang, Civilization and shang provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q138544174. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1980 and 1978.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Shang Civilization” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.