5. What was life like in China 3, 500 years ago?Was it very different to life now? What did people do? How did they live?Let's find out.
The Kings
From 1700 until 1100 BC, the area of China around the Yellow River was ruled by a family of kings called the Shang. They were rich and very powerful. The king and his family lived in large beautiful palaces. They had many servants who made them food and did all the work in the palaces, so they had an easy life.
The People
The richest people lived in cities with very high walls. They didn't work, and spent their time hunting and horse riding. They were good at capturing animals.
Other people lived outside the walls. There were merchants (商人) and craftsmen (工匠), so they worked for their living. They were not poor, but they were not protected during wars.
Most of the people during this time were farmers. They lived in villages in the countryside. They worked in fields with tools made of stone, grew grain such as rice, wheat, and kept animals. The best place for farming was by the Yellow River. Here the warm, wet weather was perfect for growing rice. The farmers lived in small houses made of mud or bamboo. They had to listen to the kings and the rich people all the time and give them food and gifts. They didn't have a very easy life.
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During the time of the Shang, the Chinese discovered how to make bronze (青铜). Bronze is an important metal because it is strong and lasts for a very long time. The Chinese made all kinds of things from bronze, such as pots for cooking, cups for drinking, jewellery and weapons (武器).
But perhaps the most important development during the time of the Shang was writing. With it, people could pass on information about themselves, their lives and what they believed. Although the Chinese started writing at this time, they didn't have paper yet, so people wrote on animal bones, on bamboo, and even on turtle shells!
So, life for people in ancient China was quite different from our lives today.