Shang capital refers to the Shang state of Xia Dynasty and the capital of Shang Dynasty. The Shang people frequently moved their capital, mostly due to river disasters and wars. In Xijing Fu, Zhang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty said, “the people of Yin moved frequently, eight before and five after.”. The so-called “Qian” refers to the period from the first ancestor of the Shang Dynasty Qi to the time when Chengtang moved its capital in Bo to destroy the Xia Dynasty, also known as the “pre Shang” period, which lasted for more than 400 years. The Shang state moved its capital eight times during this period. The so-called “Hou” period lasted for more than 600 years from the establishment of the Shang Dynasty by the Tang Dynasty and the Xia Dynasty to the destruction of the Shang Dynasty by the Zhou people. During this period, the Shang Dynasty moved its capital five times.
There were seven capitals in Shang Dynasty. Since the establishment of the capital of Bo in Tang Dynasty, Zhongding “moved from Bo to Xiao”, Hejia “moved from Xiao to Xiang”, Zuyi first moved from Xiang to Geng, and one year later he returned to Xiang due to the flood of the Yellow River. Then he “moved from Xing” to Yan “, Nangeng” moved from Xing to Yan “, and Pangeng” moved from Yan to northern Mongolia, saying Yin “. Only then did the capital and Yin finally be settled, and there should be seven times of capital relocation. In addition, because Geng Du was the capital for only one year, historians often omit it. If omitted, there were six capital cities in the Shang Dynasty, and the capital was moved five times.
According to documents, the Shang Dynasty moved its capital five times. According to the Bamboo Annals, Wang Zhongding of the Shang Dynasty “moved from Bo to Xiao”, Hejia “moved from Xiao to Xiang”, Zuyi “lived in shelter”, Nangeng “moved from shelter to Yan”, Pangeng “moved from Yan to northern Mongolia, saying Yin”. However, archaeologists have so far only found four capital sites, namely Erlitou, Zhengzhou mall, Yanshi mall and Yin Ruins in Anyang. The four sites all have a large area of more than threeorfour million square meters.
Archaeologists have found important relics such as large-scale palace base sites, tombs and workshops in these four sites, such as the No. 1 Palace found in the middle of Erlitou site, covering an area of 10000 square meters. Large scale city walls were found in Yanshi, Luoyang and Zhengzhou. In the Yin Ruins of Anyang, a large-scale sacrificial field in the imperial mausoleum area was also found. From these findings and literature records, we can know that the Shang Dynasty has established relatively complete state institutions, with various officials, standing armed forces (three divisions on the left, middle and right), laws and regulations, criminal laws and regulations, etc. However, the academic circles still have different views on the relationship between the above-mentioned capitals and the names recorded in the documents. Only the Yin Ruins in Anyang were the capitals of all kings after pan Geng.
After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, there were several migrations, that is, Zhongding Zibo (now Shangqiu, Henan Province) moved to Kan (now Zhengzhou, Henan Province), he Meijia moved to Xiang (now Neihuang, Anyang, Henan Province), Zuyi moved to Geng (now Hejin, Shanxi Province), Zuyi moved from Geng to Xing (now east of Wenxian County, Henan Province), Zuyi moved from Xing to bi (now Shandong Ze), Nangeng moved to Yan (now Qufu, Shandong Province), and he Pan Geng moved to Bo (now Shangqiu, Henan) from Yan (now Qufu, Shandong), and moved to Yin (now Anyang, Henan) in the 14th year of Pan Geng. It can be seen that only when Zuyi was in power, he moved the capital three times. After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, several migrations also covered Henan and Shandong, and one involved Shanxi, but they were not far from the Yellow River.
After Zhongding’s death, his younger brother wairen succeeded him to the throne. Shortly after wairen succeeded to the throne, the two feudal states of Shang rebelled. One of them was “fan” and the other was “Pi”. Fan was a descendant of the Shen family. There was a marriage relationship between the Shen family and Tang. After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, there were generations of princes; PI was the place where Che Zheng and Xi Zhong lived during the Xia Yu period (now the southwest of Pixian County, Jiangsu Province). After the founding of the people’s Republic of China, Tang granted Pi as a vassal; Zan and PI were two princes who were close to Shang. During this period, they judged Shang and shocked the government and the public.
After the death of wairen, his younger brother he Pengjia succeeded to the throne. In order to ease the increasingly sharp contradictions within the royal family and change the adverse situation after the rebellion of Zan and PI, he moved the royal capital from hustle and bustle to Xiang (now the southeast of Neihuang in Henan), which temporarily eased the contradictions within the royal family. This was the second capital move after the establishment of the Shang Dynasty.
According to the annals of the Bamboo Annals, “he Pei Jia is well-known. In the first year of Gengshen, the king ascended the throne and moved to the prime minister. In the third year, Peng Bopi was founded. In the fourth year, LAN Yi was conquered. In the fifth year, he was recruited into the class. Peng Bo and Weber attacked the class. He was a guest. In the ninth year, Zhi was founded.”