Yin Xu*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party China
TypeCultural
Criteriaii, iii, iv, vi
Reference ⇒1114
Region**Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription2006  (30th Session)
* ⇒Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** ⇒Region as classified by UNESCO.

Yinxu (Chinese: 殷墟; pinyin: Y?nx?; literally "Ruins of Yin" (IPA: [in?y])) is the ruins of the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty (1766 BC - 1050 BC). The capital served 255 years for 12 kings in 8 generations.

Rediscovered in 1899, it is one of the oldest and largest archeological sites in China and is one of the Historical capitals of China and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located in the very north of Henan province, close to the borders with Hebei， 河北， and Shanxi, 山西, near the modern city of Anyang, (位于河南安?市西北殷都区的小屯村) and is open to the public as the Garden Museum of Yinxu.

It is famous as the original source of oracle bones and oracle bone script, the earliest recorded form of Chinese writing.
Contents

1 History

1.1 Capitals


2 Archaeological discoveries

3 Excavation sites

4 See also

5 Notes

6 References

7 Further reading

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History

At the beginning of the 14th century B.C.E. King Pangeng of the Shang Dynasty established his capital on the banks of the Huan River， ?河 at a preexisitng village from c 5000 BCE. The city was known as Yin, and from that point on the dynasty that founded it would also be known as the Yin Dynasty.[1] Yin situated at the center of one of the first civilizations of China.[2]

King Wu Ding continued to use Yin as his capital and from this base launched numerous military campaigns (many led by his own wife Fu Hao) against surrounding tribes securing Shang rule and raising the dynasty to its historical zenith.

Later rulers were pleasure-seekers who took no interest in state affairs as social differences increased within the slave-owning society. King Zhou (紂), the last of the Shang dynasty kings, is in particular remembered as ruthless and debauched. His increasingly autocratic laws alienated the nobility until King Wu of the Zh?u Dynasty (周) was able to gain the support to rise up and overthrow the Shang.

The Zh?u (周) established their capital in Feng and Hao near modern day Xi'an and Yin was abandoned to fall into ruin. These ruins were mentioned by Sima Qian, in his Records of the Grand Historian, but soon they were lost and their location forgotten with the once-great city of Yin being relegated to legend along with the dynasty that founded it.
Capitals

The Shang dynasty had a sequence of seven capitals across its history with only the final one being the largest and a true city.[2] In chronological order,[3] these cities are: Fan, Bo, Shen (pre-dynastic); dynastic capitals: Xibo (also Bo of Tang, Yanshi, Honan), located in Xitazhuang township of Yanshi county at the Erlitou site; Ao (also Xiao), located in Zhengzhou prefecture, Henan province; Xiang, Xing, Bi, Bo, Yin (also Yinxu) locatd in Anyang prefecture, Henan province; Zhou Ge, Bo Gu and Yidu.
Archaeological discoveries

Yinxu is famous for its oracle bones, which were first discovered in 1899 by Wang Yirong, director of the Imperial College.[4] Director Wang was suffering from malaria at the time and was prescribed Longgu 龍骨 (dragon bones) at a traditional Chinese pharmacy. He noticed strange carvings on these bones and concluded that these could be samples of China’s earliest writing. He sent his assistant in search of the source of these bones and they were finally traced to the small village of Xiaotun just outside of Anyang.[5] In 1917, Wang Guowei deciphered the oracle bone inscriptions of the names of the Shang kings and constructed a complete Shang genealogy. This perfectly matched that in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian confirming the historical authenticity of the legendary Shang dynasty and the archaeological importance of Yinxu.[4]

The first excavations at Yinxu were led by Li Chi of the Institute of History and Philosophy from 1928-37.[6] They uncovered the remains of a royal palace, several royal tombs, and more than 100,000 oracle bones that show the Shang had a well-structured script with a complete system of written signs.[5] Since 1950 ongoing excavations by the Archeological Institute of the Chinese Social Sciences Academy have uncovered evidence of stratification at the Hougang site, remains of palaces and temples, royal cemeteries, oracle bone inscriptions, bronze and bone workshops and the discovery of the Shang city on the north bank of the Huang River.[6] One of the largest and oldest sites of Chinese archaeology, excavations here have laid the foundation for work across the country.
Excavation sites

At 30 km2 this is the largest archaeological site is China and excavations have uncovered over 80 rammed-earth foundation sites including palaces, shrines, tombs and workshops. From these remains archaeologists have been able to confirm that this was the spiritual and cultural center of the Yin Dynasty.[7]Burial pit at Tomb of Lady Fu Hao

The best preserved of the Shang Dynasty royal tombs unearthed at Yinxu is the Tomb of Fu Hao.