Regarding origin of Shang Dynasty royal family, there have been constant disputes in history, including Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Hebei, and Northeast. With more and more archaeological discoveries, most of theories were eliminated, leaving only Hebei theory and Northeast theory. At present, location of early Shang discovered by archaeologists is in Hebei, which is basis of Hebei theory. So why do I say that Shang dynasty came from northeast? This is a migration route. The merchants were originally in northeast, migrated to Hebei during Xia Dynasty, and later joined forces with Dongyi people to destroy Xia Dynasty. In this article, we will talk about evidence and hints that merchants originated in Northeast.

1. Merchants originated in Liaohe River basin.

The merchants were originally nomads, and nomadic areas stretched from Liaohe River basin to Yanshan Mountains. What evidence? First, we analyze myth of national origin. The Historical Record of Yin Benji states: “ Yin Qi, whose mother is Jiangdi, has a daughter from 娀 family, who is second concubine of Emperor Ku. The three of them took a bath and saw a black bird. drop eggs, and Jiangdi took it and swallowed it. Pregnancy contract. "That is to say, ancestors of Shang Dynasty in legend were born of birds, so Shang Dynasty used a bird as a totem, which later turned into a phoenix.

Most of ethnic groups that use bird life as their origin myth are located in northeast, and Sushen, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Jurchen have similar myths. The Goguryeo monument records origins of Goguryeo: “The foundational foundation of King Zou Mou's ancestor descended from Beifuyu, son of Emperor of Heaven and daughter of Hebo's mother. He was born from an egg and was born with holiness. “The origin of Manchuria in Ming and Qing Dynasty is as follows: three fairies bathed, Fokulun swallowed a red fruit brought by a sparrow and became pregnant, and gave birth to Bukuli Yongshun, ancestor of Manchuria.

The case mentioned above belongs to merchant's paternal ancestor. "Xunzi Chengxiang Pian" said: "King Qixuan was born in Zhaoming, lived in paving stones and moved to Shang." In other words, Qi was born in a grindstone. And "Shiben Yupian" also writes: "Qi lives in Bo, Zhaoming lives in a bar." In ancient times, whetstone was birthplace of Liao River. "Huainanzi · Dong Xingxun" said, "The beam stones come out of Liao." "

It is already very obvious: ancestors of merchants came from Liaohe River Basin in Northeast China, where Hongshan culture once originated. The Liao River Basin is cradle of northeastern nation.

Then, is Hongshan culture in Liaohe Basin connected with merchants? A large number of nephrites have been found in Hongshan culture, and these nephrites were once mistaken for Shang nephrites. differ from each other. There is an amazing consistency". Thus, Hongshan culture has a certain connection with Yinxu culture.

However, Hongshan culture was not necessarily created by pre-Shan people. According to DNA analysis, haplogroup of inhabitants of Hongshan culture is dominated by N, followed by C, and O is in third place. Therefore, influence of Hongshan culture on Shang Dynasty does not mean that Hongshan culture was created by ancestors of merchants.

From a customary point of view, most of male hairstyles in tombs of Yin Ruins are braided. The braided hair of ancient Chinese is mainly distributed in northeastern region. In addition to Jurchens and Manchus, there are Fuyu, Goguryeo, Khitans, Mongols, and so on.

Secondly, people of Shang Dynasty were nomads who knew how to run a business.

The ancestors of Shang Dynasty did not live by agriculture, but by animal husbandry. Ancient history testifies that ancestors of Shang Dynasty tamed cattle and horses and invented vehicles - such is behavior of nomads. The Chronicle of Bamboo Book records: "In fifteenth year of emperor's reign, Prime Minister Shanhou Xiangtu began to practice horseback riding, and then moved to Shangqiu"; in "Shiben Zopian" it is written: " Xiangshi rode, and Hai served as a cow strong>". Guo Moruo said: "Xiang Tu made a riding horse, and Wang Hai made a conquering bull, that is, he tamed bull and horse as a means of transportation."

In ruins of Ruins of Yin, a large number of wagons were discovered, which are earliest wagons in China. According to data, domestication of horses by man took place around 3500 BC. in Eurasian steppe. The earliest wheels in world were found in Sintashta culture in Urals. This kind of carriage was later introduced to Central Plains by nomads, and traders may be people who brought carriage to Central Plains.

A large number of carriages were discovered in ruins of Ying

Merchants often trade their livestock, sheep, horses, and neighboring tribes. Around time of Xia Dynasty, Wang Hai, first king of Shang Dynasty, drove cattle and sheep to North China Plain to trade with Yi family. As a result, Yi family killed Wang Hai and seized trader's property. . Later, Shangjiawei, Wang Hai's son, killed Yu Yijun for revenge and took cattle and sheep. It can be seen that at beginning of Shang Dynasty, nomadic pastoralism was mainstay, and agricultural peoples did not have such a large number of cattle and sheep.

Now we call people who know how to do business "merchants". This is because people saw that people of Shang Dynasty knew how to do business and traveled through Central Plains. It also reflects from outside that farmers do not know how to run a business. The agricultural peoples are self-sufficient and have little need for trade. However, nomads have only one industry and must do business to get more resources. The Shang Dynasty discovered a large amount of currency originating from South China Sea and Indian Ocean, which may prove that business of Shang Dynasty was relatively advanced.

The currency of Shang dynasty

After traders traveled south to Central Plains, they used large numbers of cattle and sheep to conquer Dongyi tribe and finally forged a military alliance. For example, Shang Tang once asked Gerber why he did not offer sacrifices, and Gerber replied that there were no cattle or sheep here. Therefore, Shangtang gave Gerber a large amount of cattle and sheep. As a result, Ge Bo directly killed cattle and sheep and ate them, and Shang Tang used this as an excuse to destroy Ge's country.

Later, Shang Tang allied with Dongyi tribe to destroy Xia and founded Shang Dynasty. After founding of Shang Dynasty, Shang Dynasty opened up many pastures throughout country. According to General History of Chinese Economy, pastures of Shang Dynasty reached Liaoning in north, Shaanxi in west, and Shandong in east. The king of Shang Dynasty sent high-ranking officials called "Mu" or "I" to manage pastures. Later, these local officials became feudal states, so "mu" became meaning of princes. In ancient times, people were called "cattle breeders", who ruled people, and local princes - "state shepherds".

The kings of Shang Dynasty considered hunting a necessary activity. Historically, only dynasties founded by Xianbei, Khitans, Mongols, Jurchens, and other ethnic groups regarded hunting as a military activity, while monarchs of agricultural dynasties usually took up farming to show that they valued agriculture. Hunting is also a kind of military training that can keep nobles in fighting style. Therefore, ruler of Shan had to personally participate in hunt, and hunt was large-scale and frequent. Horse riding is a problem for monarchs of purely agricultural dynasties, not to mention frequent hunting.

Sacrificing and hunting painted with red bull inscriptions

The Shang Dynasty was also most typical era of slavery in ancient China. Generally speaking, slavery is result of victory of one race over another. The number of slaves in Shang Dynasty and brutal methods are unique in history. However, most of sacrificial pits in Shang Dynasty were indigenous people, as well as Qiang people, who were later taken over by war. This kind of slavery is a tradition of nomads, when they conquered a foreign race, they inevitably reduced it to slavery and killed it. The later Zhou people were farming, and farmers needed a lot of labor, so they paid special attention to strength of people, so slavery was rapidly reduced under Western Zhou Dynasty.

Thirdly, where did descendants of Shang dynasty go?

In beginning of Shang Dynasty, migration always took place. Shangshu Zhengyi reports: "From Qi to Chengtang, fourteenth generation moved to capital eight times." The people of Shang Dynasty were constantly migrating because they were constantly changing pastures. After founding of Shang Dynasty, country of Shang Dynasty continued to migrate and was very unstable. It wasn't until Pan Geng moved to Yin that Shang dynasty stabilized.

It will take a long time for nomads to integrate into an agricultural civilization. After arrival of traders in Central Plains, they have not yet fully adapted to farming life, so they continued to migrate. Since then, as agriculture has become more and more important, merchants have also moved from nomadism to settled life. It should be noted that distance of movement of capital in Shang Dynasty was very large, and this was not migration of agricultural peoples who took turns farming. In any case, merchants eventually integrated into agricultural nation and became one of important sources of Han people.

Shan Dynasty Migration Map

3000 years ago, Zhou people destroyed Shang Dynasty, and people of Shang Dynasty seemed to disappear into history after that. According to historical records, Shang Dynasty people had two main locations: first, most of them lived in Central Plains, they lived in North China Plain and accepted rule of Western Zhou Dynasty. The Song State is land of survivors of Shang Dynasty. According to molecular anthropology studies, Gong family haplogroup of Song Dynasty is C-F8989, and their common ancestor lived more than 2900 years ago, which coincided with period of Song Dynasty.

Genes of a Duke of Song Dynasty

There are also many businessmen who have returned to their hometown in northeast, such as Jizi who migrated to Liaohe River Basin. To prevent return of people of Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou assigned Zhaogong Yuyang to guard Liaoxi corridor. Among them, Ji-tzu led tribe to migrate to Liaohe river basin, where bronzes of Ji-tzu were discovered. During Warring States period, Yan State captured a large area of ​​North Korea Jizi, and North Korea Jizi was in decline, so it could only retreat to peninsula.

According to genetic studies, Donghu and Sush peoples of Northeast China belong to haplogroup C and shared a common ancestor 2,700 years ago. 2700 years ago, Duke Qi Huang attacked Shanrong in north, which led to eastward migration of Shanrong and other ethnic groups, among which Sushen migrated directly to Songhua River basin, and then turned into Jurchens. ethnic group. Therefore, it can be concluded that merchants are closely connected with them.

Generally, merchants are same as Xianbi, Mongols, and Jurchens later. They conquered Central Plains by force in early times, and at same time brought backward slavery to Central Plains. They also occupied land in early days and turned it into pasture. But in later period, Amendu gradually adopted a new culture and production methods and gradually integrated with indigenous peoples of Central Plains. After fall of dynasty, a small number of people returned north, but most of them remained in Central Plains and integrated into Han people.