Shang, 1766–1121 BC

China has a recorded history of over 4,000 years, beginning with or before the Shang dynasty. The Chinese culture was advanced during the Shang dynasty. There was a written language as seen in the engravings on turtle shells. Some historians define history narrowly to include only what has been recorded, but even by this narrow definition the events recorded on turtle shells qualify Shang as a historical period. People told fortunes by first writing on the shells and then seeing where the cracks appeared after they burned the shells. This "oracle" language was in the form of symbols. It later evolved into characters used in the Chinese written language. The symbols or characters representing the sun, the moon, people and other objects simple to draw are obvious and understandable to anyone. The present-day characters for smile and crying are still distinguishable even by people not knowing the language. One looks like a smiling face, and the other a crying face (please see facing page). Bronze vessels from the Shang dynasty exhibited in museums show how advanced technology and art were at the time.