商朝世袭的几代国王统治着中国北部，商朝军队经常和邻国及西伯利亚的游牧民族之间征战。它的首都，也就是今天的安阳，是繁华宫廷生活的中心。宫廷礼节，诸如谦让，对以故先人的拜祭，在这个时候都得到了高度的发展。为了巩固他的长期统治地位，国王成了先人的发言人以及精神崇拜的对象。从一些皇室的坟墓我们可以看出，贵族都用一些值钱的物品陪葬，可能是留着在阴间用的吧。可能同样是因为这个原因，成百上千的平民，也可能是奴隶，都被活埋，做了皇室贵族的陪葬品。
Thousands of archaeological finds in the Huang He (黄河), Henan Valley (河南) –the apparent cradle of Chinese civilization–provide evidence about the Shang (商) dynasty, which endured roughly from 1700 to 1027 B.C. The Shang dynasty (also called the Yin (殷) dynasty in its later stages) is believed to have been founded by a rebel leader who overthrew the last Xia ruler. Its civilization was based on agriculture, augmented by hunting and animal husbandry. Two important events of the period were the development of a writing system, as revealed in archaic Chinese inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones or甲骨文), and the use of bronze metallurgy. A number of ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions date from the Shang period; the workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.
成千上万的考古学家在黄河流经的地方发现了中国文明的摇篮-河南谷，从而证明了商的存在，大约是公元前1700年到公元前1027年。商朝，后期被称做殷，据说是由一个推翻了夏朝的最后一位统治的叛变领袖建立的。这个朝代是建立在农业基础上的，同时也有狩猎和畜牧为补助。这个时期最重要的事件，一是书写文字的发展，甲骨文可以证实这一点，二是青铜冶金术的使用。一些祭祀用的刻有文字的青铜器皿显示是商朝的杰作，而一些铜器上面的手工艺显示了这个时期文明的发达。
A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes. The capitals, one of which was at the site of the modern city of Anyang, were centers of glittering court life. Court rituals to propitiate spirits and to honor sacred ancestors were highly developed. In addition to his secular position, the king was the head of the ancestor- and spirit-worship cult. Evidence from the royal tombs indicates that royal personages were buried with articles of value, presumably for use in the afterlife. Perhaps for the same reason, hundreds of commoners, who may have been slaves, were buried alive with the royal corpse.
