Zhaoge
alternate capital of Shang Dynasty
Zhaoge (Chinese: 朝歌; pinyin: Zhāogē), in modern Qi County, Hebi, Henan province, was the capital of the State of Wey during the Western Zhou period. According to traditional histories, it had been the last capital of the Shang dynasty, from king Geng Ding or Wu Yi through the final three kings. In the 3rd century, Du Yu stated that the Yinxu 'ruins of Yin' referenced in the Zuo Zhuan was Zhaoge.
However, archaeologists now locate Yin, the actual capital of the Late Shang, to a different site. In the early 20th century, archaeologists discovered the capital of the last 11 Shang kings, now known as Yinxu, on the edge of Anyang about 50 km (30 mi) north of Zhaoge.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Zhaoge” as alternate capital of Shang Dynasty. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as alternate capital of Shang Dynasty. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q837807. Authority coordinates are 35.602, 114.194. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zhaoge” 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.