Starter quiz
- Select all the colours that jade could be.
- brown ✓
- green ✓
- white ✓
- black ✓
-
- Jade is too hard to ______ with metal knives.
- 'cut' ✓
- A taotie is...
- a jade figure of a servant.
- a mythical animal-like creature that is often used as decoration on items. ✓
- a sandwich.
-
- Select all the things that were made of jade during the Shang Dynasty.
- taoties ✓
- weapons ✓
- mingqi ✓
- statues ✓
-
- Jade is a very hard...
- 'stone' ✓
- People of the Shang Dynasty thought jade was the most beautiful and precious stone.
- True ✓
- False
Exit quiz
- The Shang Dynasty symbols are exactly the same as the modern Chinese written symbols. True or false?
- True
- False ✓
- The Shang Dynasty writing is the __________ known writing in East Asia.
- latest
- earliest ✓
-
- Select the Shang Dynasty writing material that has lasted the longest.
- silk
- bamboo
- bone ✓
-
- What soft fabric is made from silkworms?
- 'silk' ✓
- What type of bones were oracle bones?
- dragon
- ox ✓
- tortoise shell ✓
- whale
- wolf
-
- Someone who read the cracks in oracle bones was called a...
- farmer
- bone maker
- diviner ✓
- chef
-
Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The Shang Dynasty created the first form of Chinese writing in which characters were used to represent words and ideas.
- The most detailed examples of this writing exist on oracle bones because they have survived longer than silk or bamboo.
- Questions were carved into them and then the bones were heated, causing cracks which diviners would interpret.
- Oracle bones were carved with questions about many subjects such as the weather, harvests, and Shang Dynasty rulers.
- The oracle bones have provided a wealth of evidence for historians about many aspects of the Shang Dynasty.
Common misconception
Some may think that the Shang Dynasty symbols are exactly the same as the modern Chinese written symbols.
There are lots of similarities between them but they are different. Lots of the modern Chinese symbols are clearly based on the ancient Shang Dynasty ones.
Keywords
Silk - silk is a fine, soft, shiny fibre produced by silkworms
Oracle bones - oracle bones were pieces of ox bone or turtle shell that were used by the Shang Dynasty to try to predict the future
Diviner - a diviner is someone who tries to find out things about the future
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