"The Defeat of Shang: The Change from Yin to Zhou and the Rebirth of China" Author: Li Shuo Publisher: Guangxi Normal University Press Douban 2022 Historical and Cultural Books

A Revelation of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties

Preface by Xu Hong; recommended by Luo Xin, Xu Jilin, Liu Suli and Yang Bin

Xu Hong: "Once you start reading this book, you can't put it down. In the end, I would like to use the word 'shocking' to describe my feelings and emotions."

★Boundary Monument: Start reading Chinese history with this book!

This book is a landmark work, as the author has reached the top of this research field. It will also be a work that cannot be avoided in similar research and writing.

At the same time, it also sets up a starting point: researchers or ordinary readers who are interested in classical Chinese thought, beliefs, ethics, customs, politics, and systems can start your exploration with this book.

This work is also the crystallization of social peace and wealth accumulation in the past few decades. It allows us to take a glimpse of why we are like this and why we are still here before we enter the dark historical passage again. It will encourage us to know ourselves and face the future.

——Liu Suli, founder of All Saints Bookstore

★The logic of mathematicians and the imagination of writers

A good historical work requires not only the logic of a mathematician, but also the imagination of a writer. In this light, Li Shuo's "The Conquest of Shang" is both grand and detailed: it details the emergence and disappearance of human sacrifice in the early Chinese civilization, and why "King Wu conquered Shang" was not just a simple regime change, but a milestone revolution in the history of the formation of Chinese civilization.

Therefore, I would like to summarize Li Shuo's insights as the "Shang-Zhou Transformation": For Chinese civilization, this transformation is deeper and more far-reaching than the Tang and Song Transformation two thousand years later!

——Yang Bin, Professor of History at the University of Macau, member of the Xiling Seal Society, author of Seashells and Shell Money: A Little-Known Global History

★Use archaeological findings to understand the profound literature and reconstruct the historical cognition of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou

In the traditional narrative of ancient history, the face of the Shang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty is vague. We know very little about the details behind it. What are the manifestations of King Zhou's "unrighteousness"? What was the life of the nobles in the royal family of the Shang Dynasty like? Who were the people of the Shang Dynasty? What secrets were there between their daily lives and sacrifices? This book uses a large number of modern archaeological findings, corresponding to oracle bone inscriptions and the hexagrams of the Book of Changes, to reinterpret the puzzling words and open an important page in the ancient history of China for readers.

After Wang Guowei, the importance of the Shang-Zhou Revolution in Chinese history has been deeply rooted in people's minds; and Li Shuo vividly depicted this importance.

——Luo Xin, Professor of History Department, Peking University

★Recreate the great transition from the coexistence to the separation of human sacrifice and early Chinese civilization

The first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (Erlitou), continued the custom of human sacrifice since the Neolithic Age, and reached its peak in the Shang Dynasty. King Wen of Zhou was detained in Yindu as a human sacrifice because he was suspected by King Zhou of Shang, and his eldest son Bo Yikao was also sacrificed by King Zhou. After that, King Wen developed the hexagram and line system of the Book of Changes, and recorded many events that King Wen of Zhou personally experienced and recognized, with the ultimate goal of calculating the strategy of "destroying Shang".

After King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he imitated the Shang people's practice of human sacrifice. After King Wu's death, Duke Zhou assisted in governing the country and completely banned religious sacrifices, destroyed all historical records related to human sacrifices in the Shang Dynasty, and created an idealized historical narrative without human sacrifices, as well as a secular political and moral system based on "virtue".

The most important affairs of a country are sacrifice and war. This book starts with human sacrifice, and tells why sacrifice and war were so closely related in the Shang Dynasty, and how the change from Yin to Zhou occurred.

——Xu Jilin, Professor of History Department, East China Normal University

★Discover the humanistic spirit of ancient times and recall the enlightenment of Chinese civilization

Going back to the origin, the change of dynasties from Shang to Zhou was the starting point of the rebirth of China. This was not a simple change of dynasties. The ritual and music civilization initiated by the Zhou Dynasty replaced the ghost and god culture of the Shang Dynasty; the humanism of Duke Zhou and Confucius defeated the "religious mysticism" of Wu Ding and King Zhou, laying the foundation for the Chinese people's beliefs.

★A new work by Li Shuo, a young historian and author of "Three Hundred Years of the Civil War"

Li Shuo has written influential historical works such as "Three Hundred Years of the Civil War" and "The Great History of Confucius"; this book delves into ancient history and uses vivid narratives to explore the national origins, beliefs and customs, wars and military, and daily life of the Shang and Zhou people. It turns piles of old papers and ruins into vivid plot stories, and uses historical materials to give flesh and blood to mythological characters (Jiang Taigong, King Wen of Zhou, King Zhou of Shang...).

【Content Introduction】

The opening work of "Li Shuo's History of China". Start reading Chinese history with this book!

This book mainly tells the story of the birth and transformation of Chinese civilization, from the emergence of the Xia Dynasty (Erlitou Culture) 4,000 years ago to the demise of the Shang Dynasty and the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty 3,000 years ago, a time span of more than 1,000 years.

Since the Neolithic Age, a primitive religion of human sacrifice has been formed in North China. The first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (Erlitou), also followed this human sacrifice culture, and it reached its peak in the subsequent Shang Dynasty. The Zhou people lived in a remote area in the west and had no tradition of human sacrifice, but they once surrendered to the Shang Dynasty and hunted Qiang people for sacrifice. King Wen of Zhou was suspected by King Zhou of Shang and was detained in Yindu as a human sacrifice. Finally, King Wen's eldest son Bo Yikao was sacrificed by King Zhou. King Wen learned the divination technology of the Shang people and developed the hexagram and line system of the Book of Changes - recording many events that King Wen of Zhou experienced and knew, with the ultimate goal of calculating the strategy of "cutting off Shang".

After King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he imitated the Shang people's practice of human sacrifice. After King Wu's death, Duke Zhou assisted in governing the country and completely banned religious sacrifices, destroyed all historical records related to human sacrifices in the Shang Dynasty, and created an idealized historical narrative without human sacrifices, as well as a secular political and moral system based on "virtue".

These measures of Duke Zhou created a new Chinese civilization. Five hundred years later, Confucius edited the Confucian "Six Classics" and systematically organized Duke Zhou's theoretical achievements. Duke Zhou and Confucius shaped the Confucian school, whose influence has continued to the modern era.

In summary, this book, with the help of archaeological materials and handed down documents, sorts out the entire process of the emergence, prosperity and demise of the ancient human sacrifice custom, as well as the great turning point from the coexistence to the separation of human sacrifice and early Chinese civilization. It reproduces the great efforts made by the ancients (Zhou people) to end the Shang Dynasty and the human sacrifice custom, and gives us a new understanding of the origin of Chinese civilization.

Li Shuo, a young historian, graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University (undergraduate) and the Department of History of Tsinghua University (master's and doctoral degrees), and is engaged in research on ancient Chinese history and historical geography.

He has written "Three Hundred Years of the Civil War", "The Great History of Confucius", "Liu Jinu, the King of Ships and Iron Horses: The History of the Opening War of the Northern and Southern Dynasties", etc., and published many academic papers in journals such as "Academic Monthly", "Historical Geography", and "Dunhuang Studies".