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Shang- Important Oracle Bones * Oracle Bones were found as a medicine that grounded into powder. * They are made from animal bones or turtle shells used in recording the result of divinations of the royal house in Shang Dynasty. * From the record, we know that people in Shang Dynasty believe the Shang King can communicate with ancestors to predict future event through sacrificial rituals, and concubines can have military powers. * Moreover, the oracle bone writing was believed to be the origin of the Chinese writing system. Zhou-Bronze Zhou was the zenith of Chinese Bronze-making. Bronze were not only used in rituals, but also used as weapon, armor, or reward which had inscription of good deed on it. Bronze were also made into coins or music instruments. In Zhou Dynasty, music was believed to affect people and excellent way to build up harmony between rulers and common people. Han Silk Silk was produced by silkworms' cocoons which only produced once a year by a worm. Silk was originally used for the emperor's cloth and gifts to ministers. However, silk soon become the major trading-good to neighbor-countries for horses and cattle. Because of the silk trade, Chinese expends its border to Central to Asia secure the trading and known as Silk Road. Under the control of Han government, (20,000) humongous rolls of silk were used as tributary to nomadic groups, and Han government lost huge amount of revenues on gift of this sort.
Era of Division Buddhist Art * During the Period of Division, people lost faith in Confucianism, and started searching other ways of understanding the world and life. Then Buddha's concept of afterlife, which assert good deed will end up in a land of good music and food, become wildly accept by people. * Merchants and Missionaries from Central Asia constructed temples at Dunhuang with Buddhist ideas. Many statues, painting, or sculpture in the temples showed Buddhist teaching and stories. Tang Ceramic/Tri-color Glaze * With the success of construction of Grand Canal and the secure Silk Road, many trades and different cultures came into Tang from sea routes and ground routes. * People started to make sculptures of lifestyle and fashion from ceramics. Those ceramics showed Central Asia men riding a camel with foreign musician cloth, and plump women riding a horse to play polo. They were the evidence of people's lives in Tang and indicated the influence of varied cultures.