However, it seems to have been a Zhou name for the earlier dynasty. In Japan, Korea and Vietnam, the Shang are still referred to almost exclusively as the Yin dynasty ( In, Eun and Ân for Japan, Korea, and Vietnam respectively). Since the Records of Emperors and Kings by Huangfu Mi (3rd century AD), it has often been used specifically to describe the later half of the Shang dynasty. It has been a popular name for the Shang throughout history. The name Yīn ( 殷) is used by Sima Qian for the dynasty, and in the "current text" version of the Bamboo Annals for both the dynasty and its final capital. The Annals were interred in 296 BC, but the text has a complex history, and the authenticity of the surviving versions is controversial. A closely related, but slightly different, account is given by the Bamboo Annals. His history describes some events in detail, while in other cases only the name of a king is given. Working from all the available documents, the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian assembled a sequential account of the Shang dynasty as part of his Records of the Grand Historian. Many events concerning the Shang dynasty are mentioned in various Chinese classics, including the Book of Documents, the Mencius and the Zuo Zhuan. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization. More than 20,000 were discovered in the initial scientific excavations during the 1920s and 1930s, and over four times as many have been found since. The Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones – turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts have been found. Excavation at the Ruins of Yin (near modern-day Anyang), which has been identified as the last Shang capital, uncovered eleven major royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites, containing weapons of war and remains from both animal and human sacrifices. The Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history firmly supported by archaeological evidence. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th to 11th centuries BC, with more agreement surrounding the end date than beginning date. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. The Shang dynasty ( Chinese: 商朝 pinyin: Shāng cháo), also known as the Yin dynasty ( Chinese: 殷代 pinyin: Yīn Dài), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty.
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