The Economic and Political History of China: The Shang Dynasty - Essay Example

This stage was beneficial as it led to the formation of commerce such as textiles or bronze. However, it had a lot of conflicts with the Zhou (Fong, 1995). The feudal system of the Zhou was around 1045 BC and came into being after defeating the Shang. Their economic activities were characterized by a well-defined system where noblemen owned the lands while the peasant families were responsible for tiling. This phase had the benefit of improving commerce since it was commercialized. However, it led to class differences where a class of wealthy merchants emerged.

The open system of the Warring States lasted between 475–221 BCE and was characterized by technological advancement which benefited the people by producing large-scale economic products. However, this period was characterized by rapid reforms which benefited only a class of people while the workers on the ground continued to get poorer. The other stage was the centralist system of the Qin which lasted between 221–206 BCE. This period witnessed a rapid expansion of the Qin dynasty up to Vietnam in the south and Mongolia in the north.

This period prides itself on establishing a standardized form of weight measurement, writing, and length measurement. However, this period was also characterized by rebellions from the people after the death of their king which was the reason for the decline of Qin (Fong, 1995). The one constant thing with the different periods is that they were characterized by rapid development both economically and politically. B2. The Shang period saw the growth of the bronze period which contributed a lot to the promotion of the Chinese culture through the civilization in the Qin period.

The Qin period sustained various aspects of this culture which can be traced to 2,000 years. The Qin period was characterized by rapid civilization, especially in technological advancement. One of the major technological advancements in this period was bronze technology which was developed during the Shang period. Different centers were set up for the development of bronze technology which led to the emergence of advanced cultural centers based on bronze technology (Hung, 1980). The bronze made during the Qui period was heavily made influential in making expensive jewelry.

This period had bronze decorated and artistically made since the craftsmen who were responsible for this development were endowed with technological skills and technical skills which were developed during the civilization era in the open system of the Warring States. This enabled them to improve the culture of the Chinese people in the bronze trade by diversifying the uses of bronze not only in the making of weapons and tools but in the art-making of jewelry and beauty accessories (Hung, 1980).

Bronze is a major cultural phenomenon of the Chinese people which was developed during the Shang period. However, there are several instances of this culture in the Qin period. Some of the aspects of the Chinese culture which were dropped include the bronze vessels called the taotie.