The Date of the Shang Period

THE DATE OF THE SHANG PERIOD BY HOMER H. DUBS Professor of Chinese, Oxford University The commonly given dates for the Shang period, 1766-1122 B.C., are derived, as is well known, not from any reliable records, but from ancient calculations. The first great Chinese history, the Historical Memoirs (Shzh-ji), by Sz-ma Tsien (lived ca. 145-ca. 86 B.C.), begins its dating of events only with 841 B.C. 1). The date 1122 B.C. appears first in the History of the Former Han Dyn- asty (Tsien-Han-shu), chap. 21, "The Treatise on Measurement and Chronology", and is the result of calculations by Han scholars,