Starter quiz
- Select the things that a bronze ding was used for.
- making bronze
- offering sacrifices to gods ✓
- offering sacrifices to ancestors ✓
- keeping food cold
-
- A person who was in someone's family in past times is known as ...
- an ancestor ✓
- a ding
- a sacrifice
-
- Bronze dings showed that someone had a high status.
- True ✓
- False
- Bronze dings were decorated with ...
- cartoons
- flowers
- animal facial features ✓
-
- Bronze is made from ...
- two rocks
- metal and rock
- two metals ✓
-
- The Shang Dynasty offered sacrifices to their gods or ______.
- 'ancestors' ✓
Exit quiz
- Jade is a ...
- very hard metal
- very hard stone ✓
- very hard plastic
-
- Jade is only green.
- True
- False ✓
- Jade was very ______ during the time of the Shang Dynasty.
- cheap
- expensive ✓
-
- Match the keyword to the definition.
- taotie⇔a mythical animal that is often used as decoration ✓
- mingqi⇔jade figures of servants ✓
- Lots of ______ weapons were found in tombs.
- 'jade' ✓
- Jade Shang Dynasty weapons would have been ...
- ornamental ✓
- used in real battles
-
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Archaeologists have used the Shang Dynasty's jade artefacts to try to understand their lives.
- Jade is too hard to be carved and instead must be worn away, taking great skill and patience.
- The large number of ornamental jade weapons found suggests how important warfare was to the Shang Dynasty.
- The Shang Dynasty made many real and imaginary animal figurines out of jade, including the mythical taotie.
- Mingqi are jade figures of servants, which were buried in the tombs of the wealthy to serve them in the afterlife.
Common misconception
Some might assume that jade is always green in colour.
Jade is a natural stone and so the colour varies greatly. It can appear as many colours including black, brown, yellow, white, green and blue. Different colours have been more desirable at different points in Chinese history.
Keywords
Ornamental - something that is ornamental is used for decoration
Taotie - the taotie is a mythical animal-like creature that is often used as decoration on items
Mingqi - mingqi are jade figures of servants, which were buried in the tombs of the wealthy to serve them in the afterlife
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