Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 10, 2025

Archaeological Observation of the State Form of the Shang Dynasty

(Abstract)

Wang Lixin

Significant changes in the cultural landscape of the Central Plains at the turn of the Xia and Shang periods, together with relevant textual sources, indicate that the emerging Shang polity developed as a state formed through a military alliance led by Shang Tang. In the early Shang period, Shang culture expanded outward in waves to surrounding regions as part of a strategy to secure external resources. However, during the Dongxianxian phase and the late stage of Yinxu Phase I, the spatial range of Shang culture contracted twice, even as the distribution of Shang-style ritual bronzes expanded. This suggests a shift from continuous territorial expansion to the acquisition of regional resources through trade or tribute, while the alliance-based nature of the state structure remained essentially unchanged. Archaeological evidence identifying two distinct categories of political entities supports early Zhou records describing the Shang administrative system of “internal and external domains,” indicating that this system reflects historical reality. The Shang state was a coalition of regional polities or clans centered on the Shang Kingdom and governed through a system of internal and external administrative relations.