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Shang · Daily Life
Two Questions on One Shell: An Ordinary Day in Shang China
On one turtle shell the diviner Wei asked, on the same day, whether the harvest would come and whether it would not. Oracle bones are royal records; ordinary people appear only as "the many".
Shang · Cities & Technology
Eight Hundred Kilos of Bronze: How Shang Status Was Cast
The 832.84 kg ding took eight body moulds, three per leg, over a tonne of metal and seventy crucibles; Lady Hao's tomb held 1,928 objects, 755 of them jade, more than 200 older than she was.
Shang · Daily Life
Nine Parts Millet: What Shang Diners Actually Ate
Bones from a Shang general's tomb show a diet that was nine-tenths millet, meat rationed by rank, bronze wine vessels in sets, and plum stones in a small jar.