Year 5

What were the major cities of the Shang Dynasty?

In this lesson, we will learn how the Shang Dynasty was amongst the first civilisations to create major cities. We will look in detail at two of these cities and their relationship with the Yellow River, as well as how rural life continued to flourish alongside these cities.

Year 5

What were the major cities of the Shang Dynasty?

In this lesson, we will learn how the Shang Dynasty was amongst the first civilisations to create major cities. We will look in detail at two of these cities and their relationship with the Yellow River, as well as how rural life continued to flourish alongside these cities.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Artefacts that tell us about life in Shang Dynasty
  2. Insights that can be drawn from these

Licence

This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.

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5 Questions

Q1.
Which of these was NOT a feature of the Shang Dynasty?
A stratified government
A writing system
Making things out of bronze
Correct answer: Using gunpowder
Q2.
Who was the most important group in the stratified system of government in the Shang Dynasty?
Correct answer: Aristocrats
Local chiefs
Peasants
Traders
Q3.
When did the Shang Dynasty end?
Correct answer: 1066 BCE
1066 CE
1600 BCE
1600 CE
Q4.
Empires usually start to collapse for one single reason.
Correct answer: False
True
Q5.
Over 3,000 years ago, the Shang people worked out:
Correct answer: The exact length of a year.
The exact length of the Yellow River
The exact number of people that were in the empire
The exact size of the earth.

5 Questions

Q1.
The capital of the late period Shang Dynasty was in
Beijing
Shanghai
Correct answer: Yinxu
Zhengzhou
Q2.
What is the name of the city that once existed at the modern city of Zhengzhou?
Anyang
Correct answer: Ao
Yinxu
Zhong Ding
Q3.
How thick were some of the walls surrounding the cities in the Shang Dynasty?
1m
Correct answer: 20m
50m
5m
Q4.
Which of these groups of people would NOT have lived within the city walls?
Correct answer: Farmers
Noble families
Priests
The Emperor
Q5.
The Shang Dynasty probably didn't trade with any other civilisations.
Correct answer: False
True