Working for His Majesty

This volume deals with the Shang dynasty (ca. 1200–1045 B.C.) in North China, the first to leave written records, and its efforts—evidently with great success—which focused on the artisan corps, labor mobilization, farming, warfare, hunting, building, leadership, and culture that made it all possible. Keightley looks at oracle-bone inscriptions of the Late Shang dynasty, covering the period from Wu Ding (ca. ?–1189 B.C.) to Di Xin (ca. 1086–1045 B.C.). His account of Late Shang labor mobilization is based primarily upon information that can be gleaned from the oracle-bone inscriptions, whose dynastic biases and divinatory impulses must be taken into account. The complexity and belief systems of the rest of Shang life must never be ignored. The author had translated 102 Shang oracle bones in his dissertation; the present work has 341 of them, often with several charges on the bone or shell. The volume includes a glossary of Shang terms and phrases.