Shang's Inheritance System

Guided by the historical value of Marxism and based by the documents, archaeological materials and oracle inscriptions, this thesis probes comparatively comprehensively into the system of succession of the Shang Dynasty on the base of the research achievements of the predecessors.It is divided into five parts.In the first part, I date back to the research results on the system of succession of the Shang Dynasty ,and put forward to my view by comparing with every school's standpointIn the second part ,1 probe into that the Shang people's system of succession during the Pre-Shang (prior to Shangjiawei) period was that the king's younger brothers had more preferential rights of inheritance than his sons from their marriage, life style and pedigree.In the third part, we prove that the system of succession in the former and medium term (Shangjiawei - Zujia)was opposite to the counterpart in the Pre-Shang period from the Shang people's marriage, economic base, ancestral temple name, genealogy and patriarchal system.In the fourth part, I conclude that primogeniture was finally conducted since King Kangding died.In the last part, the main points are summed up.