﻿478 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  and 
  tabus. 
  Not 
  the 
  reigning 
  king, 
  however, 
  but 
  his 
  deceased 
  ancestors 
  

   were 
  the 
  real 
  power 
  in 
  the 
  state. 
  Their 
  will 
  was 
  ascertained 
  by 
  divina- 
  

   tion, 
  and 
  elaborate 
  worship 
  was 
  paid 
  to 
  them. 
  Succession 
  to 
  the 
  

   kingly 
  office 
  was 
  of 
  the 
  fraternal 
  type, 
  from 
  older 
  to 
  younger 
  brother, 
  

   not 
  the 
  filial 
  one, 
  from 
  father 
  to 
  son, 
  usual 
  in 
  later 
  times. 
  

  

  Habitations. 
  — 
  Both 
  the 
  rural 
  population 
  and 
  the 
  city 
  poor 
  seem 
  to 
  

   have 
  lived 
  in 
  round 
  pit 
  dwellings 
  like 
  those 
  of 
  their 
  Neolithic 
  ancestors 
  

   already 
  described. 
  The 
  ruling 
  class 
  built 
  large 
  rectangular 
  timbered 
  

   houses 
  of 
  developed 
  type, 
  with 
  roofs 
  supported 
  by 
  rows 
  of 
  wooden 
  

   pillars 
  with 
  stone 
  or 
  bronze 
  bases. 
  (On 
  this 
  type 
  of 
  architecture, 
  

   which 
  has 
  survived 
  in 
  China 
  down 
  to 
  recent 
  times, 
  see 
  pi. 
  12, 
  fig. 
  2.) 
  

   These 
  structures, 
  which 
  in 
  some 
  ways 
  recall 
  the 
  megaron 
  house 
  of 
  

   ancient 
  Greece, 
  were 
  sometimes 
  erected 
  on 
  low 
  platforms 
  of 
  rammed 
  

   earth. 
  

  

  This 
  last-named 
  material 
  was 
  also 
  used 
  for 
  walls 
  about 
  towns 
  and 
  

   enclosures, 
  just 
  as 
  it 
  still 
  is 
  in 
  portions 
  of 
  China. 
  This 
  method 
  of 
  

   erecting 
  walls 
  and 
  platforms 
  is, 
  or 
  once 
  was, 
  common 
  throughout 
  the 
  

   North 
  Temperate 
  Zone 
  of 
  the 
  Old 
  World 
  ; 
  in 
  Babylonia, 
  for 
  example, 
  

   it 
  was 
  already 
  at 
  least 
  2,000 
  years 
  old 
  when 
  the 
  Shang 
  period 
  opened. 
  

  

  Dressed 
  stone 
  and 
  brick 
  did 
  not 
  appear 
  in 
  China 
  until 
  many 
  cen- 
  

   turies 
  later. 
  Literary 
  references, 
  however, 
  perhaps 
  based 
  on 
  con- 
  

   temporary 
  evidence, 
  attribute 
  to 
  the 
  Shangs 
  a 
  varied 
  and 
  developed 
  

   architecture. 
  

  

  Tillage. 
  — 
  The 
  economic 
  foundations 
  of 
  the 
  Shang 
  civilization 
  were 
  

   animal 
  husbandry 
  and 
  especially 
  agriculture. 
  As 
  previously 
  noted, 
  

   the 
  ox-drawn 
  plow 
  was 
  not 
  yet 
  known 
  in 
  China 
  ; 
  but 
  tillage 
  was 
  carried 
  

   on 
  by 
  the 
  peasantry, 
  direct 
  descendants 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  Neolithic 
  popula- 
  

   tion, 
  with 
  the 
  aid 
  of 
  hoes, 
  mattocks, 
  and 
  apparently 
  foot 
  plows, 
  shod 
  

   with 
  stone 
  or 
  shell. 
  There 
  is 
  also 
  some 
  indication 
  that 
  irrigation 
  was 
  

   already 
  being 
  practiced 
  during 
  Shang 
  times. 
  

  

  The 
  staple 
  crops 
  were 
  wheat, 
  millet, 
  and 
  perhaps 
  rice. 
  Of 
  these, 
  

   the 
  first 
  originated 
  in 
  western 
  Asia, 
  where 
  it 
  had 
  already 
  been 
  domesti- 
  

   cated 
  probably 
  thousands 
  of 
  years 
  before 
  the 
  Shang 
  period 
  began. 
  

   Millet 
  was 
  an 
  inheritance 
  in 
  China 
  from 
  Neolithic 
  times, 
  and 
  later 
  

   on 
  was 
  the 
  only 
  cereal 
  regarded 
  as 
  sacred 
  — 
  itself 
  a 
  sign 
  of 
  a 
  high 
  

   antiquity 
  on 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  workings 
  of 
  religious 
  conservatism. 
  There 
  

   is 
  also 
  some 
  reason 
  to 
  believe 
  that 
  rice 
  was 
  grown. 
  

  

  Beer 
  was 
  brewed 
  from 
  millet 
  and 
  perhaps 
  from 
  rice, 
  though 
  as 
  to 
  

   the 
  processes 
  employed, 
  we 
  know 
  nothing. 
  No 
  spirits 
  (distilled 
  liq- 
  

   uors) 
  were 
  known 
  in 
  China 
  for 
  something 
  like 
  2,000 
  years 
  after 
  the 
  

   Shang 
  period. 
  

  

  Animal 
  husbandry. 
  — 
  Animal 
  husbandry 
  was 
  also 
  economically 
  im- 
  

   portant. 
  Species 
  both 
  of 
  the 
  wild 
  pony 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  wild 
  ass 
  are 
  known 
  

   from 
  eastern 
  Asia, 
  although 
  neither 
  has 
  ever 
  been 
  domesticated 
  ; 
  but 
  

  

  