Opinion/ Editorial

             In 1050 B.C, the Shang Dynasty was conquered by King Wu and his tribes. The Shang Dynasty was under King Wu’s power for a number of years. After King Wu died, the Duke of Zhou took over the dynasty and named it the Zhou Dynasty. King Wu was very clever for wanting to take over the Shang Dynasty and successful with creating the Zhou Dynasty.

            When the Zhou Dynasty took control, it benefited China by introducing new tools made of iron to help with agriculture. Without these, the people living in the Zhou Dynasty and people now would not have been introduced to tools. Also, when the Zhou Dynasty was China’s main dynasty, they introduced an aristocratic structure, which is a legal structure for China. This strengthened the society with a new structure for China. In addition, the Zhou Dynasty brought in new court rituals which added dignity and improvement to the government. Knowing that the Zhou Dynasty helped China in all these ways, it was a good idea for King Wu to conquer the Shang Dynasty.

            People may think that the start of the Zhou Dynasty was a bad thing and that the Shang Dynasty should have stayed in control of China. People would disagree with this because when the Zhou Dynasty had the battle of Muye, many people died and were injured which was not a good thing for China. If the Zhou and Shang Dynasties did not have this battle, China would not have been introduced to all of the new inventions and innovations during the Zhou Dynasty.

            The Zhou Dynasty conquering the Shang Dynasty was a very good idea and has improved China greatly.